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Member Joined: 31 Oct 2005 Posts: 446 Location: Wisconsin

Sears Model 20's are stought guns but with a single action bar and must be pumped vigorously. MY first shotgun was a Sears model 20 12 gauge which I have to this day.
The early M37 16's weigh about 6#'s 4oz with 28" barrels and are just marvelous to carry and use.
I can't remember how many high grade shotguns I have purchased that the owners never shot let alone used on a sloppy day! Beautiful Model 21 'Duck' with 32" barrels, the original owner couldn't bear to take it into a duck blind. Purchased and took goose hunting in muddy corn field, Giant Canada at 50yds dead in the air with Kent TM #1. My gain, thier loss!-Dick

I use my Browning Citori feild grade for bad weather that poly finish is ugly but tough. Just can't bring myself to soak an LC or Fox. The finish on my Merkel is hand rubbed I don't think it would hold up if the wax wore off. I don't mind using all of them and scratching them up I'm not going to sell them anyway.

Member Joined: 06 Nov 2006 Posts: 128 Location: NE

Man, you guys are making me feel bad, my "best" guns are coming up on your "beater" list. Crying or Very sad

berg

Member Joined: 15 Jul 2007 Posts: 230 Location: SW Idaho

Don't get me wrong. I use my guns and scratch them plowing through brush and bumping things. That happens. I am talking about super wet conditions that will eat the insides out of any gun and rust any gun.

Member Joined: 09 Jun 2005 Posts: 885 Location: Wisconsin

Mine is a Charles Daley 20 ga. semi auto. Works for me and it's cheap.

Joined: 11 Nov 2007 Posts: 72 Location: SE Wyoming

I tend to be a one gun guy - mostly because I've only got the one gun and seems to do everything I ask it to do. I use it and don't really baby it until I come out of the woods - then its TLC time.

Until I get another, it will serve as my top shelf, beater and everything in between gun.

While I'd like to have a bevy of side by's, I'm really my father's son and will make do with what I have.

"Beware the man who shoots one gun" and all that (r)

I use my best guns in any weather while upland hunting but for waterfowling the most suitably chambered guns I have are the pumps, so my best doubles don't see much use for ducks. (As an observation: I note that as I grow older it is tougher to have a lot of fun out in miserable weather for upland birds. So my buddies and I tend to have some coffee instead and wait until the downpour stops before we chase the birds.) I do use the best guns I have without regard to weather though.

Quote " rayb, it was never my intention to degrade anyones gun here, fact is, your beater could be my best. Back to the original question. do you use your "pride & joy" regardles of weather? "

hey, ...your point and mine are the same..

weather doesn't influence which gun goes out; the task determines which one goes.....and since they are all my pride and joy, they can all go out and play if they're suited for the task... Very Happy

rayb

Most of my "best" guns were inherited from my grandfather over twenty-five years ago. For the first 15+ years, I turned them into safe queens. Now, I use them as often as I can (except when shooting steel shot). I realized at some point my grandpa bought these guns to shoot, not to make them museum pieces. I get more enjoyment out of these old guns carrying them in the field rather than looking at them in the safe. Very Happy

But truth be told, when the weather gets really nasty and I am going to the duck blind...I use my wife's "best" guns.

Member Joined: 31 Oct 2005 Posts: 446 Location: Wisconsin

From the age of 13 to about 30 years old, my only shotgun was the aforementioned Sears Model 20 12 gauge and I still have it, not a 'beater' to me and frankly any well manufactured and cared for gun is not a beater. You can take a gun out in any weather and as long as you maintain it correctly after, it won't be a problem.
Those of us that go to Gun Shows know what beaters are, they are the guns that someone uses, abuses and are not maintained.-Dick

Member Joined: 30 May 2007 Posts: 216 Location: Tennessee

Picked up a Browning Sweet 16 (I guess you would call it a parts gun) Belgium gun, ventilated rib barrel, new ill fitting Japanese stock and fore-end, all screw heads messed up for but metal condition and bluing showing normal wear for $500. Had screw heads fixed, gun internally gone through/cleaned and stock fitted. Great general use/beater gun that will last a lifetime for about $600.

Joined: 26 Feb 2007 Posts: 190 Location: Washington State

I have an older 870/16 and a 311A that I use when the weather is iffy. My Citori, Rizzini, and new BPS get a little better treatment. But none of them get rode hard and put away wet, if Ya' know what I mean...

Joined: 05 Aug 2007 Posts: 4 Location: Lake Arrowhead CA

You bet I keep my "nice guns" for nice weather. My 16 ga Ideal grade, The SO Berreta, and the 20 ga DeHaan stay at home when the weather is foul or looking like it could be.
On those drippy days as today was, out comes the trusty old 870 plain barrel. I can strip it down, dry it off and oil all of the vital parts in a few minutes. It also gets preferance when duck hunting because of the possibility of a dunking.
Some guns are worth protecting and some, like a Timex are meant to take a licking and keep on ticking.

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

I have a Tobin that was used pretty hard the first year I restocked it. I did use low pressure English ammunition, but, it went hunting where I did that year, rain, freezing rain, snow, and very, very cold.
Most Tobins are 100 years or so old at this point in the ballgame, and, I've come to believe there exists a defect in the design-quite a few out there are off face, but, putting measuring tools to hinge pin and lump reveals not much wear. I suspect the heavy cuts that are required to get the lockwork under the sidelocks (only the sears and sear springs are carried on the sidelocks on a Tobin, the rest is tucked into cuts in the frame under those locks) actually allow the action bar to bend, and I believe this defect is hastened with modern, high pressure ammunition.
So, I have decided to pretty much treat the old girl like the old timer she is, and call it my bluebird weather, grouse hunting implement. Rainy, cold, or otherwise miserable days pretty much call out for a pump, and that is what I use then. I have a Darne that also gets used pretty much when I need it, it is a 12 with little and no choke and short barrels. Nothing remarkable about that gun, save it has a factory sling, and is helpful for lugging old, tired dogs out of the woods when they can't go any more. Also, old father too, I sling the Darne and carry his Silver Snipe when he has had enough.
I used to run into a British airways pilot while hunting a Federal WMA on wednesdays, who kept a Range Rover, an English pointer, a Golden Retriever, and a Boss O/U here in the twin cities. The Boss, was worth more at the time then my house, I imagine, and I couldn't believe he hunted with it. But, he did, although he made it clear he hadn't bought it new. He also made it clear his "good guns" were back home.
He called my Gordon a "meat dog" a dog that pointed and retrieved-his Pointer would lock up, he would load the gun and flush the woodcock (that is all he hunted), and, after the shot, his Golden would retrieve the bird.
Haven't seen him in decades, and wish I knew how to get hold of him. Some folks beaters are more valuable than others. I'm sure, with my 20 gauge Darne, my Gordon, my mixed bag of rough shot grouse, pheasants, and woodcock, and my old pickup, I was the very image of a raging heathen to him.
Best,
Ted