16ga.com ~ View topic

Member Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Posts: 989 Location: Las Vegas

Jeff: If you don't have one I would say they didn't make one! Laughing

Matt

As a friend is fond of saying, "Pretty is as pretty does."

His name isn't Forrest is it? Wink

I once saw an Austrian made four barreled contraption that would shoot a .22 rimfire, a 16 ga shell, a 7x57, and some kind of 11 point something or other MM round for heavy stuff I've never seen or heard of before or since. It was fully engraved in the Germanic fashion and had to be the damnedest combination of wood and steel I ever laid eyes on. Next to it an A5 would look svelte. It also had a name I could probably say only after quaffing a half case of Beck's and a couple or five shots of shnoppes-something like a dopplequadtrippeneargashplittenlaudengaboomer.

I also wonder what the owner's hunting pants looked like when it came to pockets for all the different ammo he'd have to be toting around. They were probably a precourser to today's yuppie camping bloomers--a place for everything and everything in its place supported by both belt and 'spenders out of sheer need.

I was once passed by a yuppie wearing a pair of these bloomers fully loaded as he was jogging down a mountain trail. He sounded like a runaway gypsy tinker's wagon going over a cobblestone steet at full speed. It was deafening I tell you.

Did not Winchester once offer a recoil operated humpbacked 12 gauge auto that just did not cut the mustard and damned near got them sued except it was so bad it was laughable and actually helped sell more A5 autos than the best Browning saleman on the planet at the time?

Say that 5 times fast and in one breath. I'll catch you if you pass out and if you dont weigh too much, and if I'm paying attention when you do. Laughing

Guest

Shotgun taste, and what we prefer is all so subjective, Take the sidelock SxS. They are the "ultimate" in shotguns for many, but I've alway felt they look a little goofy. Some have such silvery and heavily engraved sideplates that I think I'm seeing grandma's serving platters attached to a gun. Too much for me.

Speaking of the double, since when is are two-barrels soldered together more streamlined than one barrel? Are they? I don't know. I do like my boxlock OU and SxS's, but they are no more handsome to me than a classic repeater like an A5. But then I like the A5's without a vent rib better than the ribbed models. It's all in our minds, and that's a good thing.

I have enjoyed my 16 gauge Rem 11 (humpback) so much that I'm in the process of getting an older 20gauge Belgian A5 just because I seem to shoot them well, and I want to try a 6 1/4 lb A5 "Twenty" in the grouse woods. The horror! Hey, it's been good to free myself from the tracks I had been following and to do something different. My meager gun battery is certainly morphing a bit, but I'm enjoying the variety, and the increased consistency of the birds dropping out of the sky!

Member Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Posts: 989 Location: Las Vegas

I put the new wood on my Sweet 16 but didn't like the finish. I've always been a fan of oil finishes and found an old timer at the gun club who did a nice job for me at a very reasonable price. After he got it back to me he told me "Now you can put it away as a collectors piece!" [b]NOT!

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y142/nevcom/IMGP0591.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y142/nevcom/IMGP0592.jpg

Member Joined: 25 Jul 2006 Posts: 781

CF16,

You already know my opinion but for the rest of you....this is a classy finish on a classy gun. Nothing could make this gun look better.

Jeff

Guest

It looks GREAT! Shocked

Joined: 19 Jun 2004 Posts: 1480 Location: Mpls, MN.

Winchester model 1911. Mfg. from 1911-1925, almost 83,000 produced, laminated birch stock. Forever will be known as "The Widowmaker", the knurling on the barrel was to cycle and cock the gun, but, guys had a habit of trying it with the butt on the ground and loosing their grip on the barrel at the end of the actions travel, which let the gun fire, sometimes with disastrous endings.

The words, "Winchester", "Autoloader", and "Successful" will never be seen in the same sentence.
Best,
Ted

Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 380 Location: Northeast Ohio

I'm really enjoying this topic, as I am in the process of ressurecting my Dad's (he's passed on about 15 years ago now...best friend I ever had and a truly moral man) Rem. Model 11 Sportsman 16 ga. It's beat to hell but I still enjoy using it..... partly because I used to hold it and pretend I was knocking ringnecks out of the sky when I was just a tyke too little to go with him. I'd practice, and pretend, and oil it down until finally I was old enough to tag along with him and all of his neat buddies. I remember once quietly getting up before dawn, getting dressed and suddenly appearing, primed and ready to go as he and his pals were headed out the door to the pheasant belt of northwestern Ohio (circa mid 50's). I figured he'd have to take me if I used that ploy!! I think I was five years old.

Needless to say, Mom helped intervene, and among some loud wailing as I recall, I had to wait a few years before my first hunt!! The Model 11 went out the door without me that day. I used to marvel at the rabbits and cockbirds they would bring home and place in the sink as they started to turn the bounty into wonderful wild meals. I was surprised that the rabbits weren't white like Peter Rabbit from my story books!! That was the gun I eventually started out with and I'll have it until I'm gone. I use it sparingly because I have others that I shoot a bit better and meet my current needs more appropriately, but I enjoy knowing when my cheek hits the stock, that my Dad's face once also pressed against the same spot. I've taken many species with it and ran a few skeet straights with it too.

It also tickles me to use such an old classic design that came from the genious of John M., in an era when much less was wrong with the world and is so closely linked to the famous A-5. Someday I hope to latch onto a Sweet 16.

On another note, Ted indicated successful Winchester autoloaders have been rare. I like the classics and someday may toy with a model 50 and or Super-X Model 1. Anybody have any thoughts on whether or not they are to be avoided? I've heard the 50's are good but need to be kept in tune in some unique way with a certain kind of adjustment, and that the model-1 was ok but just expensive to make and not popular as it didn't have as good a feel as an 1100. I know the Super-X did not come in 16 ga. Did the model 50?

I apologize for the length of this post and for any spelling and punctuation errors. I don't know how to use the spelling and grammer tool while logged on and whenever I try something new my whole post dissapears, which is a personal tragedy as I am super slow on the key board as well as long winded!!

Hope you all have a great 2007. This site has proven to be a one of a kind resource to me and has provided great help on reloading the 16 and with a couple of gun purchases recently.

Thanks to all.

Grouse Gunner.

Joined: 19 Jun 2004 Posts: 1480 Location: Mpls, MN.

The model 50 was butt heavy, completely out of balance, due to parts (too many of them) being installed in the wood to operate the recoil mechanism. The Super X1 is a complete failure, poorly balanced, heavy and ill functioning, but, the good news is, several companys will sell you the rebuild kit with all the redesigned parts (lots of them, by the way) to replace all the junk it is built out of, and make it a functioning, but, heavy and ill balanced autoloader. Take your pick.

Want a classic? Buy an A5 or, the best kept secret in the autoloader world, the Browning double automatic. Yes, it is a 12, but it will make you believe it is a 16, or a "twentyweight".
Best,
Ted

Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 380 Location: Northeast Ohio

Thanks for the info.Ted. I had noticed the butt heavy feel on some model 50's but hadn't handled enough of them to really get a good opinion, as you don't see many in the smaller guages. As far as the super x , I was mostly interested because of the era in which it was made ( I'm nostaligic to a fault sometimes). The super x didn't feel all that bad to me and I was thinking of it as a heavier 12 ga. for skeet and waterfowl. I did notice it was a different animal than the 1100.

However, I'm not in love with either model and was just thinking about toys that wouldn't break the bank if ever I found a real deal on either. Due in part to your helpful info., I'll now probably focus on a sweet 16 or other classic like my model 12 or Ithaca 37. I have always wanted a sweet 16 and dependent on the state of my budget at any given time, it will remain my first priority. It's the only A-5 I'm interested in but I admire the whole Belgian A-5 line.

I've been tempted by double auto's many times but I do not like the safety and although very interesting and nice, (and they certainly fit my nostalgia criteria) as an individual thing, they just do not feel quite right for me.

Thanks again for the tip. I'll keep up the sweet 16 search and "pull the trigger" when the stars are all lined up, I can conceal the purchase from my wife, and th right one beckens me at just the right time. I will definitely own one, worst case scenario it will have to wait until retirement buy-out time in just a few years.

Regards and Happy New Year.
Grouse Gunner

I just reread these posts. Discussed grandpa's gun. Here's my grandpa's and then my dad's gun. I reblued the barrells and reciever and redid all the wood. I know it did not up the value to anybody else, but it did to me.Sorry it's not a 16 gauge.[/im[URL=http://freeshare.us]

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