Well... besides me.

Some call them single shot shotguns but we always called 'em single barrels. Where I grew up everybody had a long Tom 12, an H&R or a Winchester 37 behind the door of every farm house.

I took a walk in the woods other day and brought my single action Ruger & H&R 12 ga along.



I've carried guns like those for 40 years (the Ruger I pack is usually a rimfire) and I still feel like there's a place for a single shot and a shell belt with a good selection of different size shot.

AND I could do a whole 'nother thread on single shot 22 rifles too!

Simple doesn't go outta' date, IMHO.

GF

I still have my Sears 20 ga. Winchester built, I think.
It's the first gun that I ever bought.
As I have posted before, don't know why I didn't buy a 12.
My bro and I took turns with a 12 double hammer gun.
And we borrowed other guns, all 12s.
And shells available and shot size was always a consideration.
Adding a different gauge just confused things.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

In 1988 I inherited my dad's Iver Johnson 20 ga. Champion single barrel shotgun that he inherited from his father. Still goes bang after all these years and although it's outdated by today's standards I still enjoy shooting it. Like most people in their late fifties I have an undying appreciation for firearms that are made from steel and wood.

There's an Ithaca M66 "Super Single" 20 gauge here.
It's been a while since I shot it but when I want to introduce someone
to shotgun shooting it usually comes out.

Also an ACME 12 gauge single that my grandfather used to have.
It's too tired to actually shoot any more but still worth having around,
I think.

I have an old H&R crack barrel in .410 shoots great with just about any .410 load. Keep it for snakes. Frank

I had an Iver Johnson Champion 12ga single that I bought at a garage sale in the mid 60's for $5. It had already been cut to 22".
I used that shotgun more than any other for hunting till the time I quit hunting in the 80's.
I sold it after that as I had no use for it,,you tend to do that when you're younger..

I now have a Meriden 12ga hammerless that I restored from a basket case. Pretty sleek looking shotgun for it's time , I think about 1915/16 time period. Meriden was gone by 1918 anyway.
The 32" bbl draws some looks as does the twist steel pattern bbl.,,OMG it's going to blow up!
I shoot it w/low pressure smokeless handloads. The extra tight Full choke still does the job reaching out there.
I'll post a pic if I can figure out the new computer program..

I shoot 3-8rds of trap every week with my trusty Beretta single.
Does that count?

I have a 16-gauge H&R that was owned by a friend that passed (much too young). Don't really have a use for it, but I hope to give it to his grandson when he gets a little older.

We always kept the 12-gauge H&R with 5 slugs at deer camp when I was younger. Somebody always ended up knocking their scope outta whack or having a problem with their fancy deer-getter. It kicked like a mule, but it kept you in the game for a day.

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Because of the metric system?

Every year for the opener for Pheasent season i break out my trusty old Stevens shotgun. It was my first shotgun and it's still fun to take out.

One great advantage for us older folks is its light weight. Those hills keep getting steeper. I started off with an ancient H&R 12 gauge SS when I was a kid, and don't remember an instance when one shot wasn't enough. I just sold a very nice H&R Greenwing in 20 ga which belonged to my son, and had a surprisingly difficult job in finding a buyer. One of these days, guns like that may be the only ones we are legally allowed to have.

I purchased one new in box this year. My reason was their adaptable nature.

For a very reasonable price I obtained a Rossi that was both a single shot 12 gauge and came with an iron sighted .308 barrel to swap out.

The purchase of additional chamber inserts allows me to use whatever ammuntion I have left over or laying around.

Although I don't really use it any more, my old Stevens 940A 12-gauge (complete with the Irish Setter engraved on the side) is leaning right here next to my desk. My dad gave it to me in 1964, I think he bought it at Sears. And yes, it's loaded.

I have one a 12 GA. in the gun safe as both of my sons learned to bird hunt with it. Their only complaint was it kicked like a mule.

The OP and I are from around the same area....we called them single barrels also....still do for old times sake......I grew up on a farm near the Eel river and we always had a 16 ga. single barrel Winchester or a JC Higgins 16 ga. single barrel on hand, always had one hanging in the gun rack along with a bolt action single shot rifle 22 rifle - had a box of WW super X in the glove box with half a dozen shot shells.....it was the norm in the 50's,60's & 70's.....still have those guns and still use them on occasion when the need arises or I feel the urge to reconnect to past times and folk's. Can't begin to imagine how many deer, rabbits, squirrels, ground hogs, skunks, foxes , quail and raccoons those old guns accounted for over a span of 7 plus decades.
I have a newer H&R 20 ga. single bl that I have taught my grand kids how to shoot.....perfect gun to teach gun safety, proper handling, etc.

I used a Winchester 370 20 guage when hunting rabbits with my dad and his beagles. It was more about the chase than harvesting rabbits. Dad and the dogs are gone and I haven't used it in some years but I suspect that 370 will be with me for a good long time.

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Mike SWCA 2865 NRA Benefactor

I always thought of a single shot shotgun as being pretty useless for home defense.

Maybe I was wrong. Checkout this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D08sUXRBUHs

I bet that guy can get the 8 rounds on his sling plus the five on the butt downrange just as fast as someone with a slide action shotgun when you count doing a reload.

I have two single barrel guns.

This one was found in my wife's grandmother's storage shed about 40 years ago. Wood has been refinished, the butt-stock cracked (and repaired) at the wrist, pitting on the barrel, and lots of "patina". We know her grandfather used it and suspect it may have been passed down from her great-grandfather. No serial number and no way to get a definitive date for it, but it probably goes back to the 1920s or before. And, yes, it still shoots.



I bought this one for my father-in-law in 1975 as a motorhome defense gun. He returned it to me about 20 years ago. I refinished the wood. I still have the box of ammo I bought with the gun. I don't think it's ever been fired.

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Lorin

I have a H&R .20 gauge rifled shotgun that I use on the whitetail every year, and at camp when we check are sights I out shoot everyone.

The first gun I bought with my own money was a Ithaca M66. I worked for a fishing guide cleaning customers' fish at a nickel a pound one summer when I was twelve. I saved my earnings and at the end of the summer, my father took me to the Navy Exchange and we bought the shotgun and a box of Remington shells. I stunk of fish for quite a while and I couldn't stand eating fish for years but that gun was mighty pretty and those cool, green shells were beautiful...I used it to hunt rabbits and squirrels, shoot "stuff" and clay birds that my friends and I threw with a hand thrower...I still have and shoot it once in a while.

When my daughter was around that age, she said she wanted to go deer hunting with me. I bought her a H&R Pardner Youth Model in 20ga. We went hunting once but she asked me not to actually hurt any animals. She fired one shell at a can and that was it...It's been in the safe waiting for a grandchild to come along someday...But, I took it to the range one day and it proved to be a nice, light and handy little gun for woods bumming so I use it for that to shoot rabbit, squirrel and "stuff".

Actually, this guy is a tad slow. I remember my grandfather walking around with one round chambered and two in between his fingers in his left hand. He could shoot off those thee rounds as fast as a pump.

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- The Federalist #46 -

I have always been an admirer of single shot guns. They teach patience and skill. Most 12 gauge single shot shotguns kick like a mule. I bought my first shotgun in a Gibsons store in Hobbs, New Mexico at age 12. The clerk just looked at my dad who shook his head yes. An Ithica 66 12 gauge. It cost me a whopping $24.95 new. This was in 1965, a different time then. There are 2 different kinds of single shots. By far the vast majority are inexpensive but very functional guns with that are great to carry. The other end of the spectrum are the HIGH dollar single shots by Dakota and others. Many British makers made high dollar safari single shot rifles. One of the interesting single shot 410's is the seldom seen model 20 Winchester. The trigger assembly is milled steel. Though stocked in gumwood, I saw many examples priced in the $800 range, and actually saw an excellent example sell for over $1,200.

You could take away all my long guns as long as I have my 20 ga single barrel I would be happy. Took me over 60 years to get one.

I keep this Iver Johnson 20 gauge at our house in the mountains. We spent two weeks every summer in North Georgia when I was growing up, they had a 16 gauge H&R single barrel that I looked forward to shooting.
Regards,
turnerriver

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turnerriver

My son has the 20 ga. Iver Johnson I got new for Christmas in 1953 when I was 12. I have an old model Stevens 12 ga. that I use every year or two to shoot a round of sporting clays. No true doubles. Larry

Funny you brought this up.

I just carried a 1975, unfired, Long Tom H&R 12 gauge in and put in a safe.

I bought it at gun show for $50.00.

Tuff products even makes speedstrips for shotguns.

Not sure how that works, but I guess you could hold it in your left hand while shooting.

I have my Grandpa's Iver Johnson 12 gauge in the safe. I cut my teeth hunting quail and pheasant with my other Grandpa's 410 Iver. Over the years I found a 410 very close to the one i hunted with and got it. A couple years ago I found a 20 gauge with the solid rib at an auction and got it for $35. All three are a far cry from pristine, but all are very shootable and and get used a couple times a year.

I still have the Beretta single barrel 16 gage my father gave me when i was 8 or 9...must have been back in 1973 or 74..

I have a Winchester Model 41, 40 single shot bolt action, my Grandfather gave me when I was 10yo. Took my first squirrel and rabbit with it. It will always be in my gun safe till I pass my guns along to my step-son.

4 of the guys I trap shoot with have BT-99 single barrel shotguns.

Single Shots

My dad was a shotgun man. He was Trap shooter and avid bird hunter. When
my 6th birthday rolled around(1956), he got me Stevens/Springfield 94. It is
12 g. -30"fc. He cut stock off to fit me with slip over recoil pad. Dad bought
low brass shells for me. He said won't kick anymore than 20, with better pattern. My mother made me little hunting vest, my chest size was two 12g
loops on each side. I still recall dirt in my back pockets from 1st Mark 5 that
I touched off.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

In 1993 I paid $129 for my single-shot New England Firearms 10ga. that shoots 3 1/2" magnum shells through a 28" full choke barrel.

It is an excellent turkey hunting gun with a range out to about 50 yards.

I also use it as a loaner gun when one of my buddies need to borrow a shotgun, they usually only borrow it one time.

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"Life is short, hunt hard"

I guess my Browning BT99+ doesn't really fit in this post.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

When I was a teenager, I used to occassionally duck hunt with a man know as (no fooling) "Larry the Cajun". Everyone called him that, no "Mr.", or "Sir", or even "Larry", just "Larry the Cajun". Larry hunted with an old, beat up 12 ga. single barrel shot gun, and he also held two shells between the fingers of his left hand for reloads. But, Larry the Cajun also held a third shell in his mouth that he would literally spit into the open chamber of the piece to reload.

Larry the Cajun was both fast, and accurate with the gun. We didn't actually recognize how fast he was until one day when we had just emptied our guns on a flock of ducks and unknown to us, the game warden had eased his canoe up to our duck blind. The game warden wanted to know which of us had an unplugged shotgun. Well, my 12 ga. Mossberg was plugged, so that left Larry the Cajun. The game warden "asked" him to demonstrate his shooting technique, and was greatly surprised to see Larry the Cajun loose 4 shots as fast as, if not faster than a fellow with a pump or semi-auto shotgun.

Larry the Cajun's other gun was a single shot .22LR rifle, but that's a story for another day. By the way, remember those old Mossberg bolt action shotguns? Someone offered to give Larry the Cajun one once, and he turned it down because it was too slow.

Regards,

Dave

I will agree he is pretty good but those looked like fairly light loads. He may have been a tick slower using defensive load. I dont know about keeping up with a guy running a pump. My 590A1 holds 9 and is quick!

I started my hunting career with a 20 ga. H&R Topper. Killed my first deer with it too. Today a 20 SS stands guard in my shop and a 12 SS stands guard at my lake house.
During my Dad's life a 12 ga. SS lived behind the seat of his pkp.

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S&W Accumulator

I my 12 gauge H&R to my BIL but I still have my 20 gauge H&R.

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But then, what do I know?

I have 20+ 16ga single shots. Started out with a Winchester 370 in 16ga when I was a kid.
Recently seen a full set of 7 Winchester model 37A still in the origional boxes and never put together. 12, 16, 20, 20 youth, 28, 410, and 410 youth. Sold pretty darn high.

Had the barrel on this H&R cut to 18.5" and added a fiber optic front sight. Just gave it to a good friend this week as a Christmas present for use as a Home Defense Gun.

When I was about 7 Dad bought me a Stevens model 94 in 410. With it I bagged my first Duck, Squirrel and rabbit. It was full choke, we ate everything I brought home. The trick was to shoot just past the nose so the pattern hit the head and neck. If I brought home any that were "shot up". I would hear about it.

I taught my son and my wife to shoot shotguns with it. My grandson has it now.

I had my Paternal grandfathers single barrel White Powder Wonder in 12 gauge and it had a fluid steel bbl. I took lots of game with it using low brass rounds.

One year I went after my 2nd Turkey with it, low brass reloads in 7.5 shot.

I took my biggest gobbler with it. The turkey will testify that an ounce and an 1/8th coming out of a very tight choke is extremely lights out.

One gun I really liked for turkeys was the 10 gauge single shot like Ranger Pat describes. I had the short bbl one. It took no prisoners.

Yeah, me too, only mine is a Browning. Doubles are a little tough, but I figure it's character-building.

I have 2) 1940's Iver Johnsons a .410 (Dad's first gun in about 1949) and a 20 Ga. that a truck sign painter gave to my dad in 1968 to take on our first pheasant hunting trip when we lived in IA. It is from the 1940's too. Both are in excellent shape but I don't have time to shoot much of anything these days.

Several years ago I did get to go pheasant hunting with a friend in Sioux Falls,SD a couple of years in a row. He said what the hell are those things and I said old , very little used singles. He said thats no fun and I said really it is...the birds have one chance to get away and I have 1 shot to get em'!!

I really want to find a Champion Series 12 Ga. and 16 Ga. so all 4 are in the collection. What a cooooooooooool post! Thanks!!

No way not me........but I do remember a time when I did and it was the same one.

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Paul
S&WCA #2726

I was going to ask the same question, mine is a Weatherby (SKB):

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Jim
Many K and N Frames

My favorite shotgun is my H+R 20 ga topper single shot. It has a 26" barrel i sent to Mike Orlen and had threaded for choke tubes, and a 18 1/2" barrel for HD or a camp gun.....finish by Krylon

here's my 20 ga Topper

Attached Images

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My first shotgun was a Stevens single shot in 12 gauge that kicked real good for a little kid. My Dad bought it new when he was 18 and I still have it. Safety doesn't work right so has a rubber plug in the chamber now and is a wall hanger in my man cave full of hunting stuff.

I bought a single shotgun for another wall hanger that has the name Silver King on it and even older than the Stevens. Scary thing is the chamber has no end and a 3 1/2 inch 12 gauge fits in it. Too loose with it's single pin to ever attempt to shoot though. Cost me ten bucks at my buddy's pawn shop.

When I was around 12 or 13 my Dad bought me my first gun. It was a Stevens 20 gauge that I still have. I never used it much and it looks brand new. I always preferred shooting his Mossberg Md 46b .22.

When I was 14 I made my first firearm purchase. Worked several months to save up for a 20 ga. H&R. Shot many squirrels, rabbit, Doves and many other critters. Later got hold of a 30-30 barrel and it became my first deer rifle. It belongs to my son now. It was his first shotgun/deer rifle. Had to cut the stock to fit when he started using it and regret that. The original stock was walnut but I could only find "hardwood" when he outgrew the shorty.
First gun was a Marlin (I think) single shot 410 I got for Christmas when I was 12. This gun was stolen when Mom passed leaving our home vacant.
I now own a Springfield model 957 bolt, single shot 410 that was given to me by a family friend whose husband had passed away and a "Zulu rifle" converted to 12 ga. The 410 sits by the back door itching for a shot at squirrels raiding the fruit and nut trees and in its off time is ready with a load of #2 buck shot for 2 legged thieves. The Zulu I have never shot due to its age and the fact the firing pin is broke. It has family history and It sits proudly in the safe.
Regarding the video, In deer rifle mode the I can reload the H&R as fast (or faster) as a bolt gun using the same technique.

What kind of pattern does a shotgun like that hold after being cut down? I have a couple h&r toppers and have considered cutting the barrel to legal length on one of them, they hold good paterns now but I was curious about the difference going from a full choke to no choke after they are cut.