Milsurp After Hours

Field & Stream has an article entitled "The fifty best shotguns ever made". The idea not being limited to the best expensive artistic super models, but....

What makes them great? Artistry, innovation, reliability, ergonomics, durabiltiy. Every gun on this list has at least one of those qualities: most possess several.

On one page. In a box to itself is a list of six of the worst ever. One of them is the only shotgun I got. Had it since I was a kid. My dad gave it to me. Killed a few birds with it in my youth.

MARLIN GOOSE GUN: THE PIPELINE. Never mind that it's a bolt-action shotgun with a 36-inch barrel, making it as suitable for polevaulting as for shooting. Marlin's goose gun, which was introduced in 1962 and sold for years, has misses built into the design: It has a rear sight. There is no better way to miss with a shotgun than to line up the sights and shoot it like a rifle.

The Marlin model 55.

They were ugly but cheap and functional.

Marlin and Mossberg made a lot in more conventional length bbl's also.Always seemed like the penultimate "farmer's" guns after double barrels got spendy.I had one with a Poly Choke when I was young and foolish.Never shot anything with it and gave it to a friend for the barn.

John

There were a lot of adds for them in aussie once we lost our semi-auto's. I think there was a line of thought that people would take them up for the multi-shot capacity.

Don't know how well they sold but I can say I know absolutley no-one who owns one.

I know one bloke who owns one and he's had it for years and loves it.

I have a bolt action .410 that I got for the youngest sprig.

He, now being all but 14, and taller and stronger than his sire has graduated to the double 12 and I've been playing with the .410.

growing up I would borrow my uncle's bolt action 12 it had a 26 inch barrel and was sure handy to have around and a lot of fun at ham and turkey shoots.

Aughnanure wrote:I know one bloke who owns one and he's had it for years and loves it.

I have a bolt action .410 that I got for the youngest sprig.
He, now being all but 14, and taller and stronger than his sire has graduated to the double 12 and I've been playing with the .410.

Don't knock the .410. I have two 410s a S/S Belgian folder hammer gun and a single Cooey hammer gun both which I use regularly. I tried to get an Ishapore 2A1 .410 SMLE but some "Rat" outbid me during the night.

>410 are highly under rated and are perfect for small quarry. It is seen as "Macho" to use a 12 bore (especially when you are picking the shot out of your dinner) I even use a Precharged Air Arms 200 .22 Airgun for rabbits.

I have five guns now (the wife said she would leave me if I didn't cut down what I spend on guns. So, I bought another gun Cabinet)

---------------------------------------------------------------

I am not a Pheasant Plucker,

but a Pheasant Plucker's son

I am only plucking Pheasant

'til the Pheasant Plucker comes.

I've got two....... one is the goose gun with the 36 in bbl and the other is a standard version with a 28 in bbl. both are excellent shooters and both have killed at least a dump truck full of game over the years. I inherited both from my dad. I have killed over 100 ducks & geese with the 36er and somewhere near 8 whitetail and numerous small game with the 28 incher. my mom bought the 28 in 1963 for Dad and he picked up the long one at a estate sale in 1966. I used em over the years even before he gave up shotgun hunting at age 70. He still hunts today at age 83 but with a Remington 700 in 243.......less recoil.

by the way..........the model 55 doesn't have a rear sight ! It only has a raised tang on the receiver that is just for reference like a raised rib on a shotgun.

I am very skeptical of those best and worst lists.

I think as long as the design is good it's mostly

what you grew up with and what you learn to use.

my dad has a nice kassnar sxs 12 that neither me or him can take hunting with any real hope of sucess.

Why? is it a bad gun? No it's a very nice sxs double.

does it throw bad patterns? NO it shoots very well

Why do we not use it for hunting?

Both of us are used to shooting a different type of shotgun. Me my mossberg 500at. Him a savage over and under and more recently a Remington wingmaster That I got him for Christmas one year.

While hunting most of the shots are quick and at fast moving quarry. Both of us have the automatic reaction of using the barrel as our lineup point. and we do this on the sxs instead of using the center rib.

so shot goes in front of or behind what we were trying to hit instead of hitting it. We know we do this we tried not to and the time it took to remind ourselves not to use the barrel allowed the game to escape.

With sxs in our hands we might get something

With our pumps or the o&u nothing is safe

like I say it's all in what you get used to using.

GG