Hunting with hammers

[C.O.B.]

I love shooting clay targets with a hammer gun but I wasn't comfortable using my 16ga lifter in the grouse coverts. I have used one while quail hunting and will take a 28ga with me in a couple of weeks.

[edgarspencer]

As a rule, Parker hammer guns have notoriously heavy hammer springs. I found it just about impossible to cock both hammers with my thumb as I was raising the gun. Like Dean, and because I hunt alone, I walked with both hammers cocked, and the gun opened. I would occasionally drop a shell out of the chamber, so I found that a single strip of Scotch tape, lengthwise on the shell, was all that was necessary to keep them in place.
One of the few times I ever limited on grouse, was with an 0 frame 16ga. lifter, which is now firmly in the grips of another member. I had a grade 2 top lever, 0 frame 16, which was also a joy to carry in the Maine woods. I had Walter Eiserer lighten the hammer springs, by hand filing, and polishing, and that was all that was necessary to be able to cock both hammers with my thumb.