Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Koneski
Art, I'm curious as to what the LOP and DAC/DAH are? Cool looking gun. Thanks for sharing this with us.
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Drops are about 1-3/4" and 2-3/4". LOP is 14-1/2".
It weighs less than 10# and balances rignt on the hinge pin. It feels incredibly good, sort of like a SBT with more drop, but it is more dynamic because there is no forward weight bias. It really would make a nice all around gun.
The two things in my mind that really stand out are the action sculpting and the lock/hammer. The action appears to be a double forging that has been totally sculpted in an asymmetric pattern. The left side was reduced in three distinct steps, and the right side left closer to original to match the lock, but the firing pin angled to strike the center barrel. The hammer is massive compared to my 10 gauge Parkers, but comfortable and very easy to cock. The feel of cocking has that certain smoothness and precision you feel with really high quality lockwork. The operation itself takes some getting used to. Due to the double angled firing pin and the period of the lock, you need to return the lock to half cock before opening the action. It will open without it, but it is hard on the mechanism. The move to the half notch is probably 75% of the total travel. This seems odd, until you realize that the half cock is a safety notch and the movement on to the full cock position is only about 1/2" and is very light and fast to accomplish.
One other thing to note is that I have seen several comments over the years that British and European 8 gauges seem to have larger chambers than the Parkers etc. I spent quite a bit of effort getting ready to try this gun and finally came up with a die to reduce the industrial shells. I also tried removing the outer brass layer from the Winchester industrials, but this left them with a thin rim. After shooting a couple of slug loads I, like an idiot, tried the industrial shells and found that they fit perfectly without alteration. The condition of this gun is incredibly original and the bore diameter is correct for an 8 bore, so I have to presume that this was the normal chambering.
All in all it is and interesting gun, and I want to shoot some trap and clays with it. Being a rifle kind of guy since I was a kid, every time I pick it up and cock it, an image goes through my mind of a guy in sweltering heat with a pith helmet, a large blackpowder bore rifle and an elephant with huge tusks. It is from an era not long after and related to a gun that a colonial hunter would have used. It makes you pause to think that U.S. Grant was the president when this gun was delivered to it's owner.
I have only owned two guns I thought might be worthy of a magazine article.
The first was the absolutely highest quality Collath I have ever seen, in person or in print. It was covered everywhere in high quality engraving, a briar stock, numerous gold inlays and lettering. The barrels were a work of Damascus art, struck to an extremely light weight, and with longitudinal reinforcing ribs on the back 8 inches of the barrels. These were milled into the barrel surface and the metal removed around them.I thought when I bought it that it was a 14 Gauge and that someone had opened the chambers to 12 Gauge. I found out after I sold it that it was likely one of the proprietary Collath chamberings, of which that was the most common; a 12 guage shell designed for a 14 bore barrel.
This Scott 8 gauge is the other due to it's quality, condition and "oddness".