The case for: Shotguns designed before the Great War are better than anything since
OK, I meant for the title to be a little bit of a hook. Oh no, the world's biggest hater of click bait has made click bait!
But I do kinda mean it and I think I can make a case for making that statement. It may not be an absolute universal truth but my opinion is that there are good reasons for saying or, or at least exploring it. I thought a little freeform discussion might be fun.
I'd better admit it up front. I'm talking largely about Browning designs. His shotgun designs include:
Model 1887 Winchester. I am not terribly up to speed on this one and am not really including it in my statement.
1897 Winchester-- big fan, long time. I've been into a bunch of them and used one in competition for many years--95% slugs and buckshot.
Stevens Model 520-- big fan since childhood.
Remington Model 11 / Savage 720 / Browning Auto 5. Big fan.
Remington Model 17, which, it's fair to say, became the Ithaca Model 37. Today's descendant is the Browning Pump Shotgun, the BPS. I'm an admirer of the 37 but not a huge fan, however, the BPS is, I believe, as good as pumps get today, with one big, easily-overcome exception.
Superposed. Not relevant here. None of JMB's shotguns were necessarily designed as "fighting" guns, but all can be and have been adapted, with the exception of this one.
And I don't think it's too far off to say that many of the more recent designs could not exist as they do without incorporating features from earlier designs either by JMB or his contemporaries. It's just that ergos and quality are so much better on some of the old stuff, or maybe that's just what I'm accustomed to.
What I love about '97's, first and foremost, seldom discussed but a biggie for me-- no lifter to contend with when loading the magazine. What serves as the shell lifter is up out of the way with the bolt closed. Not only do I not have to mess with a lifter, the carrier is a cradle for rounds going in, a guide. If I fumble one on the way into the mag, it just lays on the carrier awaiting my next move. The ultimate advantage here is what I call the twofer load. Just drop a round into that cradle, and put another round in right behind it-- and push them in. You just loaded two rounds with one motion! With minishells I can get a threefer!
Also-- the slender wrist of the stock. This is seldom seen in more modern guns. My impression is that it's because more modern guns are using beech or birch or some other wood that is not as strong as walnut (which in some guns even walnut seems like a bare minimum). Birch, pine, whatever it is they're using these days has to be thick to compensate-- again, my impression.
Overall quality. This is simply not present in so much of what we get these days. I have much to say about that with regards to the gun industry, but it is of course, every industry, and that is a book unto itself. On these older guns you know quality must be there if the gun is still here and working after 120 years (one of my 97's) or 77 years (the other). Fill in the blank here, how many of today's pump shotguns will take a lifetime or three of use? When people tell me they want a simple shotgun or maybe a .22 for their kid, my standard advice is, "go the the gun store, used department, and get something at least 60 years old".
