Hunting Prep

Am Shooting Journal ^ | 9/19/2016 | L Case

[w1n1]

Gettin Ready for Shotgun Season
Like many of you, I am much better at just doing stuff than getting ready for it. I guess it’s all about being prepared, and I was never the sharpest Boy Scout in the troop, or something like that. But some things are too important to not prepare for. Depending on what and where you hunt with your scattergun, your season is either coming up fast, or is already here. September is often the last call for getting shotguns and other paraphernalia ready, so let’s talk about what you need to do to get out there and sling some lead or steel.

First, pull those scatterguns out of the gun safe and look ’em over. I’m sure that you would never put a shotgun away at the end of the season without a thorough cleaning, but if somehow this did happen, now is the time to rectify it.

Open the action and make sure everything seems to function properly – action, trigger, safety, etc. If there are any problems, you may (yes, I wrote “may”) have time to get it to your gunsmith for repair. But if there are any questions with functioning or the safety, do not take the shotgun to the field. Read the rest of the story here.

[Mr. K]

did any one else get wood from that picture?

[rjsimmon]

Shotgun season???

[PAR35]

What’s the best gun to use when hunting shotguns? How quickly should you field dress one when you take it?

[onedoug]

‘Can’t wait to shoot me up some trap ‘n skeets.

[Carriage Hill]

Nice hardware.

[TexasGator]

“What’s the best gun to use when hunting shotguns?”

Depend on the gauge of the gun you are hunting.

“How quickly should you field dress one when you take it?”

I usually field strip my new guns the day I bring them home.

[Paladin2]

Deluxe Checkering at least...

[circlecity]

"What’s the best gun to use when hunting shotguns?"

I will avoid the smart-alecky response and seriously ask, what are you hunting? Just as you need the proper tool for the task at hand, the proper gun depends on what you are hunting. You probably wouldn't want a .12 gauge to hunt rabbits and squirrels. If you are hunting deer in a state that doesn't allow hunting with rifles then you probably would want a .12 gauge loaded with slugs.

[gaijin]

What is .12 gauge..?

[freedomlover]

I dont know but I bet it has one helluva recoil.

[circlecity]

a typo. Next question.

[Pollster1]

I will avoid the smart-alecky response . . .

I'm sure you knew that any post starting that way was guaranteed to generate those responses.

[real saxophonist]

A typo twice. Okay, next question: Where’d your sense of humour go?

[SgtHooper]

LMAO!

[circlecity]

I thought my response was pretty witty myself.

[circlecity]

"I'm sure you knew that any post starting that way was guaranteed to generate those responses."

Actually, I was being serious because someone else had already dished up the snarky comment.

[circlecity]

"A typo twice."

I just washed my keyboard and I can't do a THING with it.

[real saxophonist]

Just messin’ with you... 8~)

[Paleo Pete]

OOOOOOHHHH WEEEEEE!!!

A Winchester Model 12...suhweeet...don’t see many of those...

Too bad mine was stolen in 1975. Great 16 gauge, poly choke, looked about as nice as that one (3rd from left) I have a 16 gauge Winchester model 1200 now, close to the model 12 but modified a little for mass production, still a nice one, I’ve had it about 25 years, does the trick.

Then again that Remington 870 is a nice one too, I’ve used a couple, not a thing wrong with an 870...

Never did care much for semi auto, always carried a pump and like them really well. My father had a 12 gauge model 12, took it out hunting ducks in the late 60’s with a couple of uncles, he was the only one who could shoot at all, and he had to knock the ice off his Model 12 first, their semi autos all froze up and refused to work. One of them was a Remington 1100, one an old Browning “humpback”. Looked just like the A-5 in this picture, except that it was obviously old. I never did know the model number. My uncle had it for many years, not sure when he got it, but he liked it pretty well. That was the first shotgun other than a 410 I ever shot, that old Browning just about knocked me on my 10 year old ass...

One I always thought was weird was the Ithica pump, the thing ejected the spent shell out the bottom from the same slot where you put it in. No ejector slot on the side like the ones pictured here. Just one on the bottom, same place the shells were loaded into the magazine. I don’t know how, but it worked. Someone we knew when I was a kid had one. I never had a chance to open it up and take a look since it wasn’t one of ours.

This piece reminds me it’s about time to pull my cleaning kit out, I clean everything about twice a year whether they’ve been shot or not. I think this time the .22 rifle is the only one that’s seen any use since the last cleaning.

That’s another interesting one, Springfield Model 16, made around mid 1940’s. Friend gave it to me, stock broken in half at the pistol grip. I glued it back together, filled in some gaps with wood filler, did a bunch of sanding and refinished it with polyurethane, looks good now and works fine.