Hunting with hammers

[TxHuntermn]

I just cannot imagine why the "peanut gallery" is not clamoring for more info on the 12 bore Husky model 20, 12bore in the first pic, with the beautiful mirror finish polish job on the action, and the gorgeous sanded down wood!

Got that beauty in a Laredo Pawnshop for $100!!!! It is butt ugly, but a hoot to shoot!

[TxHuntermn]

I am such a terrible gun photographer!! I wish I could take a clinic from Bruce Day. Here are a few pics, including one next o a 1 frame DH, to give some scale.. it is a sweet little gun!

[Southpaw]

Originally Posted by Mark Ray

Glad to Dean! It is one of my absolute favorite guns. It is a London "guild" gun, originaly made in the late 1880's. Back Action, 28 bore Hammer Gun with very finely struck 30" barrels. the gun has nice dimensions with only 2 " drop at heel, and weighs a hefty 4lbs, 7oz. It was re-proved in the 1930's in London for 2 1/2" nitro at 3 tons, and is choked 550" in the right, and 556" in the left. The gun was probably refreshed in the 30's when re-proof, and then put away, as it is literally a 95% finish gun. It is marked AW Gamage on the action plates and rib. AW Gamage was a very high end Department Store in London in the 1800's thru the better part of the 20th century. Kirk Merrington looked the gun over, and said that it is a dead ringer for a Purdy of that vintage. I need to get the gun back to Kirk, as it has begun "doubling" if both hammers are cocked. Funny, I have taken very few photos of this gun, maybe ill pluck it from the case this evening and take a few. Even with the diminutive 2 1/2" RST's, the gun is a death ray for doves. I shot a limit of Snipe with the gun this year, and it is my "go to" Quail gun along with my little Mark DeHaan .410.

Very nice, a unique gun in a classic style that you can actually shoot well enough to make it a regular grab. That doesn't always happen. I like the Dehaan guns as well.

Bruce shared on the site the table on fps and patterns for 28 gauge compared to others. Speed kills and knowing ballistics performance of 28 gauges can see why you used the term death ray, its an accurate description of the gauge and obviously you got a fowling piece that gets it done. Dilly, Dilly and Tally-Ho.

[TxHuntermn]

A few more, oh, and 29” tubes, not 30

[Dean Romig]

Those pictures are fine for my purposes Mark.

I'll send you the necessary info for my FFL guy in a PM.





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[TxHuntermn]

Dean, this is one of the few guns I own that I have had to “stiff-arm” guys I have hunted with over the last few years. In my fantasy life, I would peddle the gun for a graded, straight stocked 20 Parker, a straight stocked elsie .410. But........even then........I just dont know!

Back to the original thread theme....I love hunting with hammer guns, but most often I will shoot hammers when shooting from a blind or stand (read ducks and doves). Walking up behind dogs in our country, which is generally thick, and thorny and “cactusy”, and usually with two,other shooters in the flush squad, I generally just feel more comfortable dealing with a hammerless gun. Also, it has been my experience, that when shooting with “new guys” (which due to business entertainment, etc I hunt quail frequently with folks I dont know well), invariably someone sks to shoot my gun on a covey rise. Even after a quick primer on handling a hammer gun, issues occur. Twice in my adult hunting career, fellow hunters have “fanned” a hammer and sent an accidental discharge downrange. This happens, when looking at the pointing dog, while walking quickly over rough ground because th dog handler is urging them to “move up!”, they have thumb on hammer in anticipation. One stumble, and a hammer is fanned. Try to get out a few times a year by myself, with one dog, afoot, and shoot a few quail. Shoot! Those hammerless guns need love too!

[Dean Romig]

I completely get that Mark. Who could fault your logic?! Safety is and always should be paramount.





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[Southpaw]

I think 99.9% of responsible hunters and gun owners will adamantly agree there is not a game animal out there that is worth an accidental shot that could hurt or kill someone, yet it still happens and mostly from slim minority of irresponsible or ignorant hunters and gun owners. I don't know the statistics but for shotgunning, quail hunting and turkey hunting have to be most dangerous. I think its rare to see deaths from hunting with shotguns and with all the mandatory hunter safety classes, but still. Quail hunting I can see how things happen so quickly and with people getting excited in the pursuit, but turkey hunting, I will never get that one.

Hammer guns just have a different technique and mindset to operate safely. My first gun that I got when 12 was a 20 ga H&R hammer single shot. Still have that gun, and have not shot it in over, heck I can't remember last time I shot it buts been decades. Probably because of a love hate relationship. The hammer was so stiff when I was a kid I was terrified that when pulling hammer back my thumb would slip and gun would go off. Or, if I pulled hammer back but did not shoot and had to release hammer, my thumb would slip. That model once gun was cocked you could not open action. I spent hours as kid working that hammer back and forth on an empty gun learning to mount the gun and pull hammer back at the same time.

[C.O.B.]

Mark your 28ga hammer gun looks a lot like my W.R. Pape 28 hammer gun. Eric Eis, Mike Smith and myself just returned from a Quail hunt in Georgia where we spent a morning with just hammer guns. Mike and I had 28's while Eric's gun was a 20. A report on our excellent adventure will appear seperately

[TxHuntermn]

My vertfirst gun was an Iver Johnson Cycle Works .410 hammer. It had been my great grandfathers, and passed down the line to me. By the time i got it, it had had many homemade repairs, including my dad’s homemade mainspring craftes from an acme jaw trap spring. That sucker was STRONG. And an additional issue was that the hammer spur checking was worn smooth. When i first got the gun, it took both thumbs to cock the gun!! The gun was marked for 2 1/2” shells only, but I must have shot 2,000 rounds of 3” shells out of that gun! I always had to be equipped with my “barlow” knife to pry the hulls out.