Preserving Antique Shotguns
As someone who spends a lot of time working to preserve late 19th century and early 20th century double guns, I have thought a lot about why some high quality and once very expensive shotguns have been well preserved and others have not. The formula for the...
Choke Tube Mysteries Explained
Need help deciding on the best choke tube for your shotgun? Here is your guide to different choke types and choosing which is right for you. Searching for the best choke tube? Which is it? Traditional, wad-retarding, ported, un-ported, the one your buddy uses? The...
Watch: Steel vs. Alloy Upland Hunt Showdown
For upland hunts, should you grab a light alloy shotgun or a heavier steel shotgun? Steve Gould and Travis Mears hit the field at Greystone Castle for an upland hunt to find out if shotgun weight really matters. We’re putting an alloy receiver and a steel receiver...
Early 20th Century Affordable American Doubles
If a person wants to hunt with the same double barrel shotgun that his or her grandfather or great grandfather used in the early 20th century, the odds are ten-to-one it would not be one of the premium brands that today dominate side-by-side competitions and shotgun...
Uncle Earl’s Shotgun
“Uncle Earl left the shotgun to me, and I planned to honor him that day by hunting with it one more time.”
Collecting Guns
A simple but effective technique has proven workable to many gun collectors. And it’s almost as classic. One of the finer points of gun collecting, if not the finest, is the ability of concealing from your wife: (1) the fact that you have actually purchased a new gun...
Winchester’s Haunted House
Said to be haunted by the ghosts of those killed with Winchester rifles, the home is an interesting site even without the superstitions.
A Hunter’s Guide to Classic Imported Doubles (Part 2 of 2)
Click Here to Read Part 1 This is the second half of a two-part article on classic European doubles imported into the U.S. between the end of our Civil War and the start of the First World War. Part I, which was published in Sporting Classics July/August 2025...
Woodward/Purdey
The change from side-by-sides to over-and-unders is unquestionably the biggest shift in game guns during our current era. The undeniable success of the superimposed shotgun at all manner of competition has led most of us who pursue wild birds to believe we’ll bag more...
Double Barrel Doves
I swore to lock up the 28-gauge Perazzi, safe and sound, and return it when asked. But I simply could not, would not, make this trip without her. I have always been lucky with dogs and shotguns. Or maybe just unlucky with everything else. In any event, one evening the...