Single Shot Shotguns.

[sm]

Dave's Fault; his thread about SxS got me thinking, daydreaming, remembering...

Yes I admit to having "this thing" about the Single Shot Shotgun.

Growing up when I did, and how raised - everyone had a single shot. For some this was the ONLY gun they had. Served to put food on the table, take care of varmits, and since folks back then learned to shoot, they never felt undergunned if two legged varmits intruded. Add money was tight, so one hit what pointed at - didn't waste ammo.

I recall my Mentors & Elders being concerned about the "state of affairs". Gubmint was going to put a stop to sending in postcards from back of magazines and ordering guns and having them delivered to your door COD by the postman.

Missles from Cuba being pointed toward the Continental US, Riots, Ongoing Concerns of Communism, Civil Defense training, drills...

Fellow be smart to hoard up Single Shot Shotguns, Single Shot .22 Rifles, and a Medium Frame Revolver. Have plenty of .22 ammo, a single stage reloader and components for reloading shotshells and them .38spls.

See the Medium Frame Revolver most used and carried by Police, was the Model 10. Folks were buying up and hoarding them Lee Hand-Held Reloaders too.

Now some folks had a "bit more money", so Lever Action Rifles like the Model 94 in 30-30, the Bolt Guns like Model 70 in '06, Ruger MKI in .22lr, Gov't Model of 1911 and Browning Highpowers were ALWAYS included.

Folks wanted Reliable, Proven firearms. Might not be a gunsmith, or be in a positon to get parts...

One never knows the where or when of next encounter - CRSam

Single Shot Shotguns were at the top of this list, truth is, still is for some folks...

Versatile, Proven Reliability, Proven in Taking care of what needed taken care of from "right here" to "out yonder a bit".

---

Too many kids learned to shoot single shot shotguns. Too many kids took their first dove sitting on the ground, safely handed the gun to an adult and tried to outrun the dog to get their "first bird". Allowed only one bird taken off the ground...well sometimes "egg money" , or "barter" got that bird mounted.

Too many deer felled by kids on first hunt with a single shot and a slug, even from a lowly .410. No matter how much venison a person eats, it just never seems to taste as good as that first deer felled by a single shot.

You had "half" of a Double Gun , I mean that extra shell in fingers , fire, pop that latch, spent hull pops out, insert that other shell, ...you get right good with a "half double gun"...so the Dangerous Game was only a Rabbit running at you...matter of correct basic fundamentals is all...

--
Pick-Up trucks just ran better with that single shot shotgun in a gun rack...

Family Sedan always more "comforting" with a single shot shotgun when the ladies ran to town, on a road trip, picnic for the kids at church, school...family reunion...
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The back door in the kitchen was ...well it was supposed to have a single shot shotgun in the corner behind it...

Fireplaces always put out more heat with a single shot shotgun above the mantle...

The breezes always more steady and cooled better with the windows raised and that Emerson Window fan in a window...

Single shot shotguns are responsible for this too, ask anyone - has to do with one of these shotguns being behind that kitchen door, above the mantle...

--

Nothing in the world feels so good and smells so great as sheets just off a clothesline that have been out in the sunshine...

Bird Droppings are not welcome on them sheets...the doves for supper are ...

Women just naturally kept some shells in the clothes-pin bag,...the single shot shotgun next to the line, just in case a critter needed attention...
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Pa out chopping wood , well a "whack" might be replaced with a "bang" or three .... Might be a snake, better if'n a rabbit, or squirrel, or maybe that deer he'd been noticing...

...if a critter wants to invite themselves for supper...be hosptitable...

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Rite of passages - yeah it was okay to have your little body heave, sob and tears saturate your feet when you stuck that muzzle at the base of family dog's ear and slapped that trigger...

Adults would take back the shovel you had dug a hole with, covered up the dog with dirt. Word were said, and the single shot was handed back to you.

You fired off a round in Respect, each in turn did so...natural order of things...

--

A new puppy just has to get into the Hills Bros Coffee can, and tump out the shells. Feet too big the puppy manages to get a paw in the can and the other front paw gets out from under him because he slipped on a shotshell...

Momma wipes tears of laughter from her eyes with her apron, Pa done spewed his coffee, and a kid bops his head on the coffee table...

Supper was not burnt, just the way new puppies and shotshells fixes supper is all...

You get a bit bigger, and rabbits in the snow, that puppy is now a dog with a red bandana around its neck.

Rubbing two "two-bits" together gets a squirrel come around that tree...

Then one day you find yourself holding a kid and talking about "this" single shot shotgun...

With "popcorn' loads that kid annnouces they got the Pigeons out of the barn...

They didn't have to say a word, stupid grin from ear to ear, Pa with a swelled out chest, and Ma just a beaming with pride.

Ma don't fuss when Pa and the kid are a bit late...grin tells Ma there is venison in the bed of the truck..."Ma, he was out there....and I saw him...and I...
"With this one here...". That spent hull gets a special spot on the mantle...

--

Where'd did the years go...?

Now you got a Grandkid, if you had known how much fun these were, you would of had them first. Oh well, paybacks are hell, spoil 'em like crazy and then send 'em home to their parents.

That Grandkid gets lessons, shoots that balloon, grinning, excited, still safely opens the gun and spent hull pops out. Grandkid hands the gun back, Grandparent says " keep it - it is yours now".
Parents must have allergies, having to wipe them eyes...but that grandkid has a big smile and excited eyes...

Yes you are supposed to laugh at the phone when told grandkid just put every box of that single shotgun ammo into the basket at the store. Funny thing about kids, takes them 3 days to pick up a pair of dirty socks...they can fill a shopping cart in 3 seconds with "their" shotgun loads...

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Folks at the gun shows, pawn shops, gun stores...no they ain't looking at the new offerings...they see these single shots over in a spot to themselves, worn bluing, scratched up stocks...folks given them strange looks as they shoulder , grin, wipe a tear and leave with 'em.

--

Now the fella could of chosen from a selection of shotguns to tote , instead he chooses that old single shot. Dog gets excited seeing a gun in hand, and just knows there is some peppermint in that fella's pocket, also knows there is at list one stick of Beef Jerkey ...

Heads down the property, dog , single shot shotgun...oh the gun will work, fella can fell what he sees...

Just sometimes better to just tote and take it all in...tossing a peppermint to the dog from time to time...

Single shot shotguns just seem to do this better too...


Steve

 

[Third_Rail]

Single shot shotguns are inexpensive when purchased used ($40-50, tops) and I too have a certain fondness for them. I don't feel bad about leaving one in each room loaded, "just in case".

 

[Onmilo]

Yep, all the choices in shotguns out there right now and I am considering buying one of the Baikal made Remington single barrels with the multi-choke option.
Single shots still have a lot of use to them.

 

[kudu]

Yep, I started with grandpa's single shot H&R 20 gauge shotgun. Got my first deer with that gun, and a few reabbits and squirrels.

Unfortunately that gun got stolen from behind the kitchen door where it always was kept. We never had need to lock our doors out here in the country before that time. The dog we had at the time scared off the two legged varmint before he got into the house more than a step or two, but whoever it was got grandpa's old shotgun.

I always look at the used gun racks to see if I can locate it or one like it, but never have found one like it.

 

[Okiecruffler]

Steve, beautiful as always. I have to admit, even with my unnatural attraction to the 311's, I have a very old, very ugly Western Feild 16ga single that occupies a place of honor in my cabinet.
Didn't take me long to figure out that hunting rabbits in the briars was just this side of impossible with my heavy double. That weight that was so perfect for dove and quail became an anvil in my arms. Those sexy barrels seemed to grab at every thorn armed vine. But there was no way I would defile those barrels with a hacksaw.
35 bucks of lawn mowing money bought that 16ga single from the town pawn shop and a few minutes in dad's shop with a hacksaw turned it into a rabbit assault weapon. The cut wasn't square, wasn't pretty, to this day it still sports the sharp metal ridge where the barrel broke off before the blade could cut thru. People would look at it and laugh, the rabbits didn't laugh. Mom finally declared that no more rabbit could be put in the freezer, needed room for the corn and beans. I think I ate rabbit every night for 2 weeks.

 

[sm]

Figured some folks around here had some Respect, Reverance, Memories and Stories to share.

I remember more that one fella running straight in Trap with one, collecting some "folding dollars" stuffing these in bib overalls and leaving in a old truck...leaving that puff of smoke from tailpipe to say "thanks fellers".

Hey John! or is it Freezer Filler ?

kudu, yeah I know just how you feel, someday one will whipser to you from a rack someday.

The old one's for little monies - sure can tell some stories can't they?

I got my mom a NEF 20ga youth model some years ago. Fixed Mod choked bbl and that sucker produces some of the best patterns/ groups.
Funny part is, Gun Buddy ordered it for me, numbers got mixed and instead of wood and blue, came in with nickel reciever and black wood.

Yeah I got ribbed out dove hunting with it...Me of all folks out dove hunting with a tactical black shotgun. Young game warden not used to seeing folks actually taking game with one, he was checking licenses and plugs, I could not resist "fellas that can't shoot have to have repeaters...".

My buddies snickered, Game Warden didn't get it at first, then his mind went back in time, grinned, remembered his youth...shouldered mom's gun and commented he needed to check on a single shot he had with memories...

Primer only loads to teach a young'un, popcorn loads for the next lesson, then loadings for other tasks...

This here big kid still likes lobbing slugs at paint buckets out yonder...how raised, just what you do...

I turned out all right...

 

[JohnBT]

My first single shot was an old Savage or Stevens .410 that my uncle got in one of his multi-gun trades. I think the guy threw it in for free because it didn't have a magazine. It was a bolt action. Being a big kid with skinny fingers I could feed it pretty fast.

I believe this was the gun we later used as a loaner for visiting kids. By then there was a magazine for it but if you worked the bolt too hard it would fly off over your shoulder and hide in the weeds.

I still prefer the Winchester 37's, especially the .410, but any will do. My uncle has a bunch of them and I like 'em all.

There's a 99.5% boxed Model 37 .410 on www.gunsamerica.com/guns/976682454.htm if anybody is interested. I don't need another, but it sure is nice...

John

P.S. - Oh yeah, only $750.

 

[sm]

JohnBT,

I was just a grinning, reading your post. Got the warm fuzzies, thinking how I would really like to have a Win 37......I mean I really would.

Then, as always you post a great picture...a link...my mind is "thinking" how though a NIB model 37 would be nice ..I am more of a "has character" type of guy...as you stated great guns, "tossed in" or little monies...I like these...

I was doing okay until the last line of your post.

Good Grief!!

If would have known back then what we know now...we'd have hustled for more soda bottles, sacked more groceries...not taken that gal to the picture show ( much less bought her popcorn and a soda) and not spent monies on some the dumb stuff we did...

We'd bought 37s for investing...

Boy are guys dumb or what? We blow money on "girls" and no money for guns.
Girls have Grandpa's and Daddies wrapped around little fingers and get guns for nothing...

Something is very wrong about this...very wrong indeed.

 

[sm]

I just did a quick count of folks I know that keep a Single Shot Shotgun handy.

I came up with about 50 folks , includes some from THR that have shared in postings, PM, Email or landline with me...

Pssshaw! These things ain't ever going to lose favor...

 

[lawson]

one of my hunting mentors (dad's best friend), now only hunts quail & dove with an old Iver Johnson single shot 12 gauge, despite the fact that he owns over 20 shotguns. he said after all these years, he finally realized that follow up shots are often wasted in the desert. now, i do usually hunt with a repeater (an old model 12), but i try to take his lesson to heart and not rush the follow-ups.

 

[JohnBT]

There's also a used 20 ga. on GA for $250.

"Winchester Mod# 37 single shot 20 gauge shotgun w/28" smooth round barrel. The wood is in very good condition & the bluing is thinning on the barrel. The blueing is about 75%. This is a Pre-1964 manufacture w/no serial # visable. NO pictures available at this time.. but will add later."

There are plenty of 37's out there. After all, they made more than a million of them.

Looking at the Blue Book, a .410 in 100% condition is listed at $400 plus about $150 for "truly new in box."

A 12 ga. in 90% is $125.
A 20 ga. in 90% is $150.
A 100% 28 ga. is $1650.

I'm still doing dumb stuff...I've just slowed down a tad.

John

edited to add: Mint 20 ga., unfired, no box, $375. www.gunsamerica.com/guns/976687805.htm

 

[ACP230]

The single shot around here is an Ithaca Super Single 20 gauge with a modified choke. (The one with the lever under the action.)

My brother got it for Christmas a long time ago. When he went on to a Savage 311 16 gauge, my youngest brother used to hunt grouse for a few years. Then it sat around, used only occasionally, until my sons came along. Both used it for some early grouse and rabbit hunting. My younger son has a 12 gauge Sears pump, but decided to carry the 20 a few times this fall because it was lighter.

We also took it out last summer, stuck a 410 adaptor in it, and busted a bunch of clays. As much fun, and almost as addicting, as eating salted peanuts.

 

[bakert]

I seldom hunt much any more due to lack of hunting areas and a gimpy left leg that kinda hinders me more than a bit. Still use the repeaters for dove but when I go squirrel hunting rather than my Rem 870 or 10/22 rifle I find myself carrying a H&R topper 20 gauge single barrel most of the time. The main area I go to has some of the wildest fox squirrels in the early part of the season I've ever seen. Normally only get one quick shot. The single works good and is easy to carry for an old guy like me. Feel hampered with only one shot? Hell no!
BTW I'm another one that started with a 12 gauge Win 37 about 55 years ago.

 

[Dave McCracken]

Good thread, Steve. I bet I can think of 50 folks with singles myself. A couple of the shotguns come to memory.

A cute down 20 gauge wielded by a 10 yes old, proud as heck he hit more clays than his older sibs.

A woods runner 16 with maybe 20" of barrel left and better accuracy with a round ball load than most muskets. Kicked like heck but had lots of venison behind it. Same for bunnies, quail, timber doodles and other targets of opportunity.

A 20 gauge owned by a survivalist who chopped the barrel, skeletonized the stock, added a saddle ring and carried it on a GI web belt as a take along tool for food gathering.

Son's little NEF 12, cut down to fit a 13 yr old. He's moved on to an 870 but I'll take the memory of his grin when he hit his first clay to the grave.

And the H&R that was my first shotgun and started the ball rolling on all this....

 

[riverdog]

The single I like best is the BT-99

16 yd sigles is a one shot game by definition, so why shoot an O/U or pump? Rhetorical question -- singles work great.

 

[GunnySkox]

I saw an NEF 12-gauge single-shot at Wal*Mart last week, and I about up and bought it right then.


Just somethin' about shotguns, I think.

~GnSx

 

[scbair]

Memories, indeed. My first shotgun, a Christmas present, was a Stevens 20 gauge single-shot. Memories of squirrel and rabbit hunts with Dad and the ol' hounds do bring a tear to the eye. The "pop" of the ejected round, and that waft of gunsmoke . . .

My "truck gun" to this day is a shortened H&R "Topper" 12 gauge I bought for $27.77, NIB, when I was in high school. Cut the barrel to 20", fitted rifle sights, mounted an elastic buttstock carrier for some extra rounds. Loaded with Brenneke slugs, it's a good 50 yard deer gun; with 00 buck, it's a close quarter hose! With 1-1/8 oz. #6s, it's a fast-handling and capable bunny gun.

Added to the above, it's short & light enough to be carried one-handed for a full day afield.

As for self defense, only one shot? Well, sure. Who wants to be first?

 

[foghornl]

Oldest brother has it now, but my first shotgun was "Pops" [Grandfather on Dad's side] Savage/Stevens Mdl 94B 16-Ga. It had that "Tenite" stock & fore-end. That shotty had a ferocious "bite" on both ends...

Don't believe that one has put a Bambi in the freezer in my generation, but has taken many a dove/rabbit/squirrel/duck. And quite a few clay targets, too.

 

[ArmedBear]

I'm buying a single shot from a guy I shoot trap league with. It'll be the most expensive gun I own.

Ever tried an old Ithaca trap gun from the 1920s? They're still a winning gun. They're amazing. If Ithaca REALLY wants to make a comeback, I think they ought to do it by resurrecting that model, and making SxS doubles, not high-end pump guns (an oxymoron these days). If they can do American-made for a halfway reasonable price (that being somewhere around $1100-1900, not a really tough standard), I think they can make a good go of it.

I'd like an Ithaca pump gun for the hell of it, but I probably won't be buying one. I have an 870 and it's all the 12 G pump gun I need. But an Ithaca double, top-quality, brand new and made in the USA? There'd be a waiting list.

 

[Dave McCracken]

Some of the Geezers have 4E and 5E Ithaca SBTs. They're wondrous trap guns.

CSM had the last 100 actions found when cleaning out a building,IIRC. They were offering new SBTa for about $7K. Dunno if they're all gone.

 

[V4Vendetta]

I used to have a single shot Iver-Johnson. I forget the gauge & barrel length, but I loved the way you just had to thumb the lever to open the chamber. It felt like a John Wayne movie.

 

[Fred Fuller]

Can't let this thread go just yet.

Used to be EVERYONE started with a single shot shotgun. My dad used to run the 'country store' in our community, and special ordered them for parents from the hardware wholesaler for presents on Christmas and birthdays (this pre- GCA '68 of course). I always knew in advance who was going to be REALLY happy on those events. Except when it was my turn... .

I too started with one, the same sort of Stevens that a lot of kids started with. It did't last, someone stole it out of my dad's pickup in the parking lot of the store not long before he retired, after I had long moved on to other shotguns.

Pretty much every farmhouse had one or two, and most of the farmers in those parts kept either a single shot 12 gauge or a single shot .22 as a truck gun to dispatch varmints or anything else that needed shooting. No one was ever very far frorm a gun in those days, it wasn't a big thing, it was just normal. Half the vehicles in the parking lot at school were pickup trucks with shotguns in the rack.

I have picked up the occasional single shot through the years when the price was right, and still have several of them. Right now the only one handy is a NEF youth model 20 ga. Its place is behind the front door along with a partial box of birdshot handy, for varmint rousting.

lpl/nc

 

[Onmilo]

Ya know,,,,,
If Browning would actually make the BT-99 with a 26", invecta-choke barrel, a plain, field style stock, and a price tag under $400.00,,,,,
I would buy one.

 

[goosegunner]

Not much to add, except that I really like singel shot shotguns. This one have been in the family since the early 1930, and have been in use almost every authum after. Only interrupted by ww2, when the gun was hidden in an attic.

 

[Kar-el]

I just picked up an Ithaca 66 lever action 20 gauge shotgun, with rifle sights. I saw four or five of them at a local gun shop. This one was $40. The others were 12 and 20 gauges with varying levels of wood. Their prices were $40-$60. (My friend picked up a Daisy .22 for $20)


Why I didn't buy them all I don't know. :banghead:


I took the 66 out and shot $5.99/15 Winchester slugs through it. I was hitting a tin can at 60 yards. It shot about 1&1/2 inches to the right. I think I might just redo the stock and pretty it up a bit, she deserves it!

I also shot 3 inch Brenke(sp?) slugs through it. In that short little shotgun it kicked a bit! My friend who was enjoying his new Daisy .22 decided to take a shot after watching me. He loaded the 3" slug took aim and FLINCH! He forgot to cock the hammer! I don't think he would have hit within 3 feet of the can we were shooting at.

Had a good time ribbing him about it later.