My first 16g - a belgian sideplate.

[B. Dudley]

I have worked on plenty of 16g guns, but never have owned one as a personal gun. I pretty much liked to just stick to 12g and in the last few years have added a couple 20g guns to the fold. But still stayed away from 16g gun. For a little bit I considered picking up a 16g sauer hammer gun a few times since I figured, if I wanted to have a hammer gun to shoot some, it may as well also be a 16g. But that never happened.

I recently saw this belgian “guild gun” and it just spoke to me as being both interesting and of good quality. I worked out a fair deal with the seller and I got it last week. I also had the chance to shoot it and it seems to fit me pretty well.

It is a 30” 16g extractor gun that is a sideplated boxlock of sorts. It is kind of like a Lefever in that all of the mechanics of the gun are mounted to the frame, and the plates are just for aesthetics, access and inspection. The plates on this gun are hand detachable, but each independent from one another as the screws go into the large central block that extends into the stock head. I have not tore into the action at all to explore its mechanics. But it should be an interesting journey.


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