Is anyone still buying side by side 12 bores ?

[Pistonbroke]

I have my grandfather's JP Sauer sbs here. Dad took it be valued once and it's stamped as being choked 1/4 and 3/4. Right barrel was measured as full choke,left the gauge wouldn't go in so it's even tighter. A lot of drop in the stock too so it suits shooting ground targets. Gunsmith wondered if it was for shooting wild boar,but if you hit a fox with it he doesn't get up,

 

[Derrick Hughes]

The multi million pound second hand shotgun market would probably disagree with you.

Only guns handed in to police are due to bereavement, illegally kept or knackered in my experience.

I've seen skip loads being handed in , those who don't shoot are getting rid as it just to much bother to renew a licence, my two were good guns , got 10 quid each at a gun shop , he said they would be handed in if not sold quick , he hands hundreds in a year

 

[chaffcutter]

Local gun shop was giving a side x side away with every gun they sold a year or so ago!

 

[A1an]

I have a Beretta side by side I use for game shooting sometimes, they are lovely guns and feel more special to use IMO - its not as good as my O/U but that adds to the interest / skill required ...... I like a challenge !

depends what it is but they can be worthless - extremely expensive and anything in between

I have never seen a Beretta s/s

 

[Weasel]

I sold mine for £10

Your pushbike??

 

[adzy]

I have never seen a Beretta s/s

626 model has been made for decades but never sold in massive numbers because the availability of good quality boxlocks for much cheaper made them an expensive alternative. That said, they are brilliantly engineered and as good as if not better than much more expensive bench made Spanish or English guns. I had a pistol gripped single trigger one (very rare indeed) a few years ago that was great for walked up game. Sold it when I couldn't afford to shoot as much as I used to.

 

[Clive]

I have never seen a Beretta s/s

you have now - 486 Parello, single trigger and pistol grip, only a few years old, they still make them, i had the stock fitted when it was new

 

[penntor]

Local gun shop was giving a side x side away with every gun they sold a year or so ago!

I tried to sell a single barrel Baikal to a gun shop a few years ago, he told me that he would give a free one away with every double barrel anyone buys.
I have two sbs's, an AYA Yeoman that was my 21st birthday present and the main sbs that I use, a Fredrick Williams box lock sbs that was my grandfathers 21st birthday present. He was born in 1900.

 

[A1an]

you have now - 486 Parello, single trigger and pistol grip, only a few years old, they still make them, i had the stock fitted when it was new




View attachment 1011065

thats f***ing beautiful!

 

[Hampton]

you have now - 486 Parello, single trigger and pistol grip, only a few years old, they still make them, i had the stock fitted when it was new




View attachment 1011065

Good gun that. It replaced the silver hawk which was a heavy, Ill balanced piece of crap.
would still go Spanish if I couldn’t afford English though, but that’s just personal preference.

 

[Swarfmonkey]

you have now - 486 Parello, single trigger and pistol grip, only a few years old, they still make them, i had the stock fitted when it was new




View attachment 1011065

I'm liking that. I've always had a soft spot for a PoW type stock on a side by side.

 

[ollie989898]

That's a good point.

Clay shooting puts several times more lead into the environment each year, and lots of cartridges for clays still have a plastic wad.

However, we never hear a whisper about switching to high speed steel for clays...

I should think the sport does away with lead and switches to something more environmentally friendly. I know clays used to be made from bitumen, if they still are, that needs to stop and go to a bio-alternative.

 

[Farmer Roy]

I should think the sport does away with lead and switches to something more environmentally friendly. I know clays used to be made from bitumen, if they still are, that needs to stop and go to a bio-alternative.

it was for environmental reasons, not for purchasers or consumers of "game" birds, that the US went to steel shot years ago

can you imagine how many kgs / tonnes of lead were dropped into lakes during duck season there ?

 

[Bald Rick]

A gentleman only uses a side by side

Preferably Damascus twist, sidelock, ejector, well known provenance , English Oak butt, well engraved, gold inlay initials or family crest on escutcheon

Need I say more?

 

[Dry Rot]

I had a hammer s/s Greener, both barrels full choked. It was a pigeon gun for shooting live pigeons before they invented clays. A lovely gun. I sold it to a Japanese client.

At one job I'd moved to, I was grumbling about not having a gun to shoot rabbits with. My boss promptly lent me his s/s sidlock Churchill.... They don't make bosses like that any more.

 

[Kidds]

Oak stock? OK for the case but the stock must be walnut!

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Unless it's something unusual or a top premium make then one local gunroom (Roding Armoury in Abridge) send them in bundles of 10 to Africa, for £5 a bundle, for villagers to use to scare lions away....

 

[Vader]

While lead free game shooting won't be long.

As far as I know it will still be allowed on clays, but for how long?

Seems strange that you won't be allowed to shoot a pheasant, but standing in the exact same spot with a clay trap to throw similar target, you can use lead.

As pointed out earlier it's the game dealers that are pushing for it.

Lot of chance of poison with a few pellets.. load of bollox.
All water pipes here still lead.
I never knew lead was meant to be poisons as kid, used to chew airgun pellets.
Smelted lead to make toy soldiers.

People will eat a lot more dangerous stuff in processed food or spray chemicals on their bodies without thought..

 

[pycoed]

thats f***ing beautiful!

It is - apart from the single trigger: it's just wrong on a SBS

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

I had a hammer s/s Greener, both barrels full choked. It was a pigeon gun for shooting live pigeons before they invented clays. A lovely gun. I sold it to a Japanese client.

At one job I'd moved to, I was grumbling about not having a gun to shoot rabbits with. My boss promptly lent me his s/s sidlock Churchill.... They don't make bosses like that any more.

In the 1950's Dad used to drive his boss, Joss Abel-Smith, of aristocratic heritage, to the best shoots in the country. Joss only went to do business with clients and let dad take his stand instead using Joss's pair of Purdeys. He even loaded for him if business was quiet!

Now THAT'S a boss!

If he hadn't died suddenly he'd have been my godfather.