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< 16ga. Guns ~ New Spanish Best or used English? |
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Posted:
Sat Jul 30, 2005 8:01 am
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Joined: 26 Apr 2005
Posts: 743
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Guy, you're correct. John Browning never really did complete work on the Superposed. His son Val finished it, and they still had quite a bit of tinkering to do before they came up with a good single trigger, even after the gun went into production. Nothing at all wrong with the Superposeds--I really like them--but like the Parkers, they were expensive to make and quite complex. But they did (and do) work.
As pointed out above, copies of the Purdey and H&H are indeed available, at a fraction the price--from Spain. Although the design is the same, the Spanish copies won't have the fancy wood, they won't have had the hand labor put into them, they won't have the same degree of fit and finish--but they are very good guns, and you only pay a fraction of the price for them.
And whatever you do, don't take Ted's advice and read Bodio. The guy likes those strange French things with the sliding breech . . . Darne guns! |
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Posted:
Sat Jul 30, 2005 10:14 pm
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Joined: 19 Jun 2004
Posts: 1480
Location: Mpls, MN.
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Mr. Bodio has owned many, many guns. Perhaps his first love is small bore, English ornthologists guns used by the like of Meinhertshagen, and others, to take the small songbirds (with little damage to plumage, and body structure) for the London museum's collections. He is a bit of a generalist, and will find fault with neither varnish or oil finishs, splinter or beavertail fore ends, straight, pistol grip, or Prince of Wales grips. That is because he is an outstanding game shot, and if the gun fits, he isn't concerned with those details.
He is a man of humble upbringing, and humble lifestyle, who has none the less managed to own shotguns from William Evans, Holland & Holland, Boss and, yes, Darne, among others. His Darne 12 gauge was specifically ordered by him with regulated slug barrels, with choke boring to his specifications in each one, and he can quite literally hunt big game anywhere in the world with slugs in the morning, and fold down the rear sight and hunt birds with shot in the afternoon with it. This is important if you will be traveling the world and wish to use just one gun. I don't know of another author who could share information like that. Because he is well traveled, he owns obscure guns like a single shot flint muzzle loading rifle that was hand made in the hills of Mongolia just since the change of the millenium, and can explain why the gun is enormously practicle in that part of the world, both for visitors, and locals. He can teach you how to use the same muzzle loading rifle to take birds. His magazine rifle experience is quite in depth as well.
The topics of his books run from cooking, to guns, falconry, to travel, love, to loss of same. He has lived a full life, and can write competantly on much more than one subject. There are very, very few writers of his caliber alive today, in my humble opinion.
I can't understand why anyone would advise someone not to read Bodio.
Best,
Ted |
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Posted:
Mon Aug 01, 2005 6:55 am
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Member
Joined: 12 Mar 2005
Posts: 6535
Location: massachusetts
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Oh come on Ted, I think Larry is just lightheartedly yanking your chain. I don't specificaly recall reading anything by bodio. However, his name rings a bell somewhere in my somewhat punchy old melon... or was that Bo Dodie Oh Doe by B. Boop. Seriously though, I will try to locate something by him for the winter monthes.
By the way, I have a friend who shoots a French sliding breech 16 ga. double occasionally for skeet. I fully understand why the French named it a Darne gun. I've heard my friend call it some much more, shall we say "colorful" names. I think the French should stick to the things they are best at, like cooking, pretending they still make great wine, and acting snotty. |
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Posted:
Mon Aug 01, 2005 10:10 am
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Member
Joined: 27 Jun 2005
Posts: 283
Location: Texas Panhandle
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16gaugeguy wrote: |
Oh come on Ted, I think Larry is just lightheartedly yanking your chain. I don't specificaly recall reading anything by bodio. However, his name rings a bell somewhere in my somewhat punchy old melon... or was that Bo Dodie Oh Doe by B. Boop. Seriously though, I will try to locate something by him for the winter monthes.
By the way, I have a friend who shoots a French sliding breech 16 ga. double occasionally for skeet. I fully understand why the French named it a Darne gun. I've heard my friend call it some much more, shall we say "colorful" names. I think the French should stick to the things they are best at, like cooking, pretending they still make great wine, and acting snotty.
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The french can't cook, they just pour sauces over things to disguise their poor efforts.....
go see the Belgians or the Germans for real food
my 2 cents / opinion
Does Mr. Bodio have a first name? Any suggestions for the reading list of his work?
rayb |
_________________ anything other than the 16 gauge is a passing fad
(kind of like smokeless powder) |
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Posted:
Mon Aug 01, 2005 10:32 am
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Member
Joined: 26 Apr 2005
Posts: 743
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It's Steve Bodio. I was just jerking Ted's chain and he knows it . . . expect I've owned more French guns than Ted has, although he's certainly ahead of me in Darnes. And he gets a bit sensitive on the subject. |
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Posted:
Mon Aug 01, 2005 10:45 am
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Joined: 19 Jun 2004
Posts: 1480
Location: Mpls, MN.
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Jerk my chain at will...just leave the guy who isn't here out of the fray...bad form in my humble opinion.
Best,
Ted |
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Posted:
Mon Aug 01, 2005 11:32 am
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Joined: 21 Jul 2005
Posts: 25
Location: Somerset County, NJ
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16GG
1. Stirring things up again ???
2. ROFL........... Ask me and I'll tell you all about my 16 gauge Charlin. But wait, Ted already did that when I compared it to a Darne. (Sorry, Ted I couldn't resist)
3. I'm going to Belgium in September for a wedding. While I'm there I'll likely stop in Herstal at the Custom Shop. Anything that you want me to pick up for you while I'm there?
LMAO, JCM
PS: I bought a Kolar trap combo this weekend. |
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Posted:
Mon Aug 01, 2005 12:31 pm
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Member
Joined: 12 Mar 2005
Posts: 6535
Location: massachusetts
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Yeah, bring me back a nice blonde. Good on the kolar. No wonder they(the french) have so many sauces. I understand they invented perfume for similar reasons. Although being partly Irish, I really shouldn't bring up the subject of cooking. The majority of the Irish are conservatively Catholic and believe ferverently in boiling the hell out of anything they eat. Mulligan stew was probably concocted out of a shortage of pots and although it is very good, it was also just a matter of pure luck . Now let me see, who else can I p*** off while I'm at it. |
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Posted:
Tue Aug 02, 2005 4:38 am
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Member
Joined: 26 Apr 2005
Posts: 743
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It would indeed be "bad form", Ted, if one were taking serious shots at someone "not present". But if I weren't around on a forum and someone said something about that crazy Brown, the guy that shoots pheasants with a 16, wouldn't bother me in the least. After all, it's true. |
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Posted:
Tue Aug 02, 2005 6:48 am
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Member
Joined: 12 Mar 2005
Posts: 6535
Location: massachusetts
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Brother Larry, I'm still waiting to see a video of you in a kilt chasing a winged pheasant around the back forty. That would be the bonafides on the matter of you being a tad out of plumb. Everybody here probably knows my porch light flickers somewhat. |
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Posted:
Tue Aug 02, 2005 9:42 am
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Joined: 21 Jul 2005
Posts: 25
Location: Somerset County, NJ
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I'll second the motion about the porch light.
JCM |
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Posted:
Tue Aug 02, 2005 12:15 pm
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Member
Joined: 12 Mar 2005
Posts: 6535
Location: massachusetts
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you know what that means JC. You just took my advice to drop quite a wad on a new trap gun. Who's screwier, the nut or the other nut that listened to him? One of us is bananas and I think it's us. Wait a second...let me try that again....oh to hell with it. |
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