Single barrel shotguns, anybody still use 'em?

[30-30remchester]

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.

 

[Wyatt p. Tato]

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.

 

[turnerriver]

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

 

[tops]

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

 

[fiddyate]

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.

 

[Cal44]

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.

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.

 

[Just another 22 shooter]

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.

 

[Knigge]

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..

 

[silentflyer]

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.

 

[nrz]

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

 

[Drm50]

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

 

[Rangerpat]

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.

 

[H Richard]

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

 

[Double-O-Dave]

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.

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

 

[flundertaker]

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 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!

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

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.

 

[M3Stuart]

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

 

[Hootowl]

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.

 

[Sixgun100]

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.

 

[model70hunter]

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.