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Starting Gun?

outdoor

outdoor

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If you think about it almost everybody should start with some sort of single shot gun. My whole family used a single shot and they shot deer with it. But after one year I fell that I should get a pump, but yet I should stay with a single shot. One shot is all that matters!
 
get a bow!
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Since I started shooting archery i have not picked a gun up since!
 
The single shot shot guns with the pull back hammer style are supposedly more dangerous than using a pump with only one shell in it. I bieve the reasoning is behind younger hunters not being able to pull the hammers completely back into the lock position and creating accidental firings. Someone help me out here and tell me if this is what you have heard also.
 
Been shotgun hunting for 18 years now and I only use a single shot 16 gauge.Old hammer gun that kills as good as the others.....
 
I bought a single shot Winchester Model 37A for $23 new when a hardware store closed. It was my first gun (having learned on a single shot .410). One day hunting with the 37A, my thumb slipped off the hammer as I was pulling it back. I had it far enough back that it had enough force to have the firing pin hit the primer. Since my grip on the gun wasn't the best (thumb still up near the hammer), when the gun went off, it drove the hammer back into my thumb. Tore a nasty gash. This only happened once in almost thirty years of owning the gun but once was enough. The suggestion of one shell in a pump/autoloader might be a good one.

Since your posting to IAwhitetail, I assume you will be hunting deer. Thus, the .410 is not an option (at least in Iowa). I would discourage anyone from starting a beginning wingshooter with a .410. Been there as a kid and it was extremely frustrating. My plans are to start the boys with a 20 gauge. YMMV
 
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The single shot shot guns with the pull back hammer style are supposedly more dangerous than using a pump with only one shell in it. I bieve the reasoning is behind younger hunters not being able to pull the hammers completely back into the lock position and creating accidental firings

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nope. not on current manufatured guns. most all hammer guns have a "transfer bar safety system" if you pull the hammer back part way, or if the hammer is on full cock, and should fall forward, it WILL NOT FIRE. the transfer bar slides up to wedge between the hammer and firing pin, when the trigger is fully pulled. only then will the gun fire. the hammer hits the bar, which hits the firing pin. if the trigger isn't pulled, the hammer can't reach the firing pin.

older guns do not have this feature
 
That sounds like a great safety feature they have incorporated into the new single shot guns. I was refering to the old style hammer that jnrbronc was probably referring to. Thanks for the info T-ROY.
 
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nope. not on current manufatured guns. most all hammer guns have a "transfer bar safety system" if you pull the hammer back part way, or if the hammer is on full cock, and should fall forward, it WILL NOT FIRE. the transfer bar slides up to wedge between the hammer and firing pin, when the trigger is fully pulled. only then will the gun fire. the hammer hits the bar, which hits the firing pin. if the trigger isn't pulled, the hammer can't reach the firing pin.

older guns do not have this feature

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T-Roy:

Wasn't the transfer bar safety mechanism an invention of Bill Ruger? I was thinking it first came out on Ruger revolvers in the mid to late 1980s.
 
i think so. i think it started on ruger pistols, and has now been incorporated on most all hammer guns
 
"Since your posting to IAwhitetail, I assume you will be hunting deer. Thus, the .410 is not an option (at least in Iowa). I would discourage anyone from starting a beginning wingshooter with a .410. Been there as a kid and it was extremely frustrating. My plans are to start the boys with a 20 gauge. YMMV "


I agree 100%, started with a 410 myself and it was definately frusturating. Heck, Id hate to try to bird hunt with that thing today!
 
The gun that I use is old so its harder to pull back. When come deer season I have to go with out anything on my hands. I frezze them off. I had a shot at a deer come down a hill but I had to shoot late because it was hard to cock back. When I see that deer my heart is faster than a cheedea. I get so nerves that I'm shaking. I could have gotten a deer sooner but I was so had to cock, and sometimes I didnt know if it was back all the way 20-gauge
 
If I was told to only keep one, It would be my 870 Remmington. They are easy for a young shooter to handle,durable,and you can interchange the barrels,for slugs.
I cut my teeth on a winchester single-shot 12 gauge,couldn't hit a bird to save my life. When my dad finally saw the frustration,he helped me buy my 870 and I started dropping birds like crazy.
26 years later and I still use it every year.
 
.410 pump is the way to go for pheasant hunting!! I'm 33 and use one in the late season during the cold days. Of course I also hunt over a Britney that holds point like crazy (instinct, not training taught her this) so I get very close shots and I don't turn the birds into hamburger!
 
The single shot that 20 Gage uses is at least 30-40 years old. My brother (his uncle) used it 19 or 20 years ago on his first deer hunt. The crazy story that goes with that gun is two days before the deer season that year my dad finds the gun and it hadn't been shot for years. In fact if I remember right it was in the grainery down at the farm for a number of years. But it was so rusty that we couldn't break it open. After a ton of WD40 and some grunting we got it open. Dad shot it a couple times then gave it to my brother to use for deer hunting. Two days later my brother (20 gages uncle) dropped his first deer with one shot. The following year he goes out and drops his second deer with one shot. Then he retired from deer hunting- two deer with two shots!
 
My personal thought is that no youngster should be started on a 410 for any reason. The round is balistically inferior with a very small shot load strung out in a long shot line requiring a full choke to be at all effective. Most of the guns are built from a cost saving view point rather than shooter's comfort and sucess viewpoint. All of the single shot guns I have seen have barrels that are to light to swing and stocks that are too long with either too much drop or are too straight, all of which increase felt recoil. If you start a child on a 20 gauge youth modle either pump or auto with an improved cylinder choke you are giving them a gun they can and will use for many years. My son and I still both still use the Remington 1100 20 gauge that he started with 28 years ago.
 
If im muzzleloader hunting, one shot, one kill is pretty appropriate, if im shotgun hunting I go under the 5 shot, five kills theory. My first gun was a youth 20 guage 870, I hunted just about everything with that gun. A single shot is just preference, I don't think they are all that great of guns, I have a .410 single shot and 10 guage single shot. Maybe they have improved over the years, but as far as hunting goes, 3 roosters is the limit, 6 ducks, unlimited crows, as many tags as you want deer hunting, and a single shot just isn't economical for me, you never know what hand you are gonna be thrown while hunting, and how many shells you are gonna need to get the job done. So when I have a kid someday, I'm gonna pass down my 20 guage to him, then after he outgrows it, whatever gun he wants he will have.
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Picked up a bow and never looked back. My guns get cleaned and oiled twice a year, but mostly sit in the closet.
 
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