Shotguns

In the late 1890s, Boss & Co. Proprietor John Robertson dedicated himself to perfecting the single trigger for sporting guns. History would prove that, in fact, it would take someone of Robertson’s singular genius to commercialize the advancement we now take for granted.

In America, you would be hard-pressed to find a more magnificent collection of fine shotguns than at the Safari Club International Convention, held this year during the first week of February at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. One of our perennial favorites there is Austrian, Peter Hofer. Mr. Hofer specializes in drilling shotguns that include rifle barrels in a brilliant display of artisanal workmanship befitting royalty. At the 2017 SCI convention, he unveiled his latest creation, “The Peter Hofer Special Double Shotgun with Hidden 17 Hornet Rifle Barrel.” We asked him to explain the intricacies of designing and building it.

− Irwin Greenstein, Publisher, Shotgun Life

There were at least two Browning Superposeds in Ernest Hemingway’s life. One of them was a very early model that may have come indirectly from Val Browning, the son of John Browning, the genius who designed the gun. However, neither its serial number nor its fate are yet known. However, the second B25 − as the Superposed is still known in Europe − is a standard–grade 12-gauge field gun, Serial No. 19532, with double triggers and 28-inch barrels (both choked Full) with a ventilated rib. It was made in Belgium and sold to Master Mart, a retailer in Fremont, Nebraska, on 26 October 1949 for $195.20. After that, we don’t know how, when or where Ernest Hemingway acquired the gun, whether new or second-hand, or what he accomplished with it, but we know where it is today and how it got there.

Suppose you were a connoisseur of fine shotguns. And suppose you possessed a vision of the best way to sell those beautiful firearms to fellow disciples of the shotgun sports. And finally, let’s suppose you were a successful retired banker with the time and resources to make your vision a reality.

Through its many incarnations the Weatherby over and under has continued to stand for a quality gun at a reasonable price.

Mention Weatherby, and most people associate the company with its line of magnum rifle cartridges and the associated rifles. The Weatherby name also stands for quality and that carries through to the company’s shotgun line as well.

Once you have handled a really well-balanced shotgun, you will never again be satisfied with less. One shooter, back in the 1990s, described it as being like the first time you taste a really great French wine. Your palate changes forever.

In November 2015 we visited the legendary OSP Shooting School in Fulshear, Texas to evaluate a pre-shipment model of the Mossberg 930 Pro-Series Sporting 12-gauge semi-auto under the guidance of clays instructors extraordinaire, Gil and Vicki Ash.

Vintage orange recoil pads that conjure an era we might call the “Golden Age of Shotguns” bestow today’s bird guns with a classic, abiding romance. Let yourself drift and that autumnal ginger color invites the fragrances of pipe tobacco, dewy tweed, musky dogs and wet feathers.

Chris Batha’s British Ordnance Company originated from a happy accident that brought to market a bespoke tour de force attractively priced at $32,000.