I would like to ask those who have hammer guns,have you hunted much with them,specifically DG?
Did you find any advantages or disadvantages?

I’ve never hunted DG, but most all of my bird hunting is done with a SxS hammer gun. You can see this gun and my Gordon Setters featured in the Fall 2007 edition of Double Gun Journal.

I've shot plains game in Zimbabwe and two bison in South Dakota. Personally, I love hammer and underlever doubles for black powder cartridges, both express and bore rifle calibers. I never cared for nitro double with hammes, though. The hammer doubles are much less in price and the workmanship is outstanding.
Cal

If you have stalking safeties you can carry it with hammers cocked.
I had a 450 BPE Alex Henry with them and used it for deer. Stupidly sold it though.
You quickly learn how to re cock them, so they are plenty fast enough.
Really, how fast do you need to shoot two more shots? One second more at most; learn to cock both hammers at once.
I know, everyone here has stopped a charging chipmunk, but most haven't. It's a sport.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
If you have stalking safeties you can carry it with hammers cocked.
I had a 450 BPE Alex Henry with them and used it for deer. Stupidly sold it though.
You quickly learn how to re cock them, so they are plenty fast enough.
Really, how fast do you need to shoot two more shots? One second more at most; learn to cock both hammers at once.
I know, everyone here has stopped a charging chipmunk, but most haven't. It's a sport.

So the disadvantage would be that you have to re-cock the hammers after the first two shots? excuse my ignorance here,when you break the gun open to reload,the hammers do not re-cock themselves?

quote:

Originally posted by Bill73:

So the disadvantage would be that you have to re-cock the hammers after the first two shots? excuse my ignorance here,when you break the gun open to reload,the hammers do not re-cock themselves?

Nope no auto-cocking feature on most period hammer rifles.
That and if one has an early enough specimen with non-rebounding locks you have to bring the hammers to half cock before you open the rifle.
- Mike

I have 4 hammer English/Scottish 12 bore doubles 3 hammer English/Irish/French 16 bore doubles; 1 English Hammer 28 bore double; 1 Thomas Bland Hammer .450 No.2 NE double and 1 John Rigby 450-400 BPE hammer double. I love hammer doubles and shoot them regularly. Headed to Sidenda Camp next April for Ele/leopard/croc and will take the Bland and my Francotte hammerless. No difference to me in handling or accuracy except I generally find that the hammer doubles are more accurate. Exceptional quality as Cal states.

My .28 bore English double has accounted for as many birds as all the others combined. Get a gun that fits.

All future purchases will be hammer guns.

Three points about hammer guns in my experience:

-- can you cock both hammers with one sweep of your thumb?

-- can you open the barrels with the right hammer cocked?

-- does your thumb ever slip as you cock one or both barrels resulting in an AD?

Gather the Italians make hammer guns with a top safety similar to that on hammerless doubles. Believe that's a good idea.

Regards

quote:

Originally posted by Tim Carney:


-- can you open the barrels with the right hammer cocked?


Regards

My brother and I hunted rabbit and duck with a little Damascus twist SXS 28 gauge hammer shotgun when we were kids but only problem was once the right hammer was cocked it blocked the top lever from moving over enough to open the action. The hammers had heavy springs and narrow heads so with our small hands we had to be very careful when uncocking the right hammer to open the action if a shot was not fired. We never had an AD.

I would not like to have a large bore BPE like that as an AD when holding the gun off the shoulder when uncocking a hammer to allow the top lever to open a loaded gun would be an interesting and likely painful experience.

Hammer Guns

Yes, I have hunted DG with a hammer rifle, a double barrel hammer 8 bore loaded with lead bullets and black powder. I learnt to shoot with by Grandfathers hammer side by side 12 bore shotgun 56 years ago, mainly hunting rabbits at night from a tractor in the sugar beet fields in England, but that is another story. Anyway, I am no stranger to hammer guns.

If using for DG pick a rifle with rebounding hammers, this means that they are always in a “half cock” position, this makes them safe and fast to operate.

If the hammers have a half cock position, then the hammer(S) must be placed on half cock before opening or damage to the firing pins may result. The only safe way to carry a loaded hammer rifle with these hammers is at half cock anyway, so it does not slow down your reloading. This type may feature a stalking safety, these are nice to have but, in my opinion, stalking safties should be reserved for a rifle destined for plains game rather than DG.

In my experience the hammers have to be at half cock in order to apply the stalking safety, not full cock.

The big advantage of hammer rifles is their cost is usually cheaper than hammerless rifles. If I was to do this again my first DG DR would have been a hammer rifle, rather than the CB Vaughn .470 hammerless box lock non ejector I ended up purchasing. Not that I would ever sell this rifle, but I later found an Army & Navy rebounding hammer .470 that I would happily hunt DG with. The cost saving at that time would have paid for another African Safari.

I have never cocked both hammers at the same time, I see no need for this, I consider this unsafe. I cock the hammer as I am raising my rifle on target, much as I would move a safety to fire. After cocking the hammer if I had to move more than one or two steps, I would lower the hammer back to half cock, I can do this instinctively with out looking at it. When the rifle is cocked the muzzles will never “sweep” a person.

I always cock the right hammer first, front trigger and never had any issues. I believe this is the correct way and follows on my boyhood training using a side by side shotgun where the front trigger fired the right barrel which was always less choked than the left, allowing for the fact that if you missed with your first shot the bird would be further away for your second shot so the rear trigger fired the left barrel that was more tightly choked. Of course, you could always select your left barrel first if you needed it. The same as when using a double rifle, I have on occasions loaded a soft and solid so I could select either depending on the situation.

I am left handed and have never seen the need to change any operating system on a DR, in fact I think they are ideal for a lefty exactly as manufactured.

Finally, the action, top lever or Jones under lever. My Manton .470 is top lever just like Granddads old Westly Richards shotgun, works like a charm. My Manton 8 Bore has the classic Jones under lever, initially I thought it was awkward but I have learned to love this action, on a fast reload when I “snap” the action closed (one had on the wrist the other on the barrels) the lever is almost self locking, it just needs the slightest touch to complete the lock up. She has worked well for Ellie, Buff and Hippo.

Hammer double rifles offer great value for money, I wouldn’t hesitate to take on any game with the appropriate caliber.

I carry both barrels cocked. I see no reason not to. Only as I am approaching game, be it quail or elephant. Keep your hand clear of the trigger/trigger guard. Shot a lot of game with a hammer gun and it doesn't get any better.

Appreciate the comments gentlemen,thanks for the detailed explanations.

I had one for awhile, I didn't like it all, it was slow and awkard, not my idea of a DG rifle and didn't like one ina shotgun..If they were as good as some declare howcome we went hammerless as soon as we could?? Like many thing in gundome they have nostalgia and that takes presidence with some, self included to many instances but not of hammer guns, not my thing..

Cause some of us like to drive '78 Land Cruisers/'89 Broncos and hunt with Ballards and Sharps. Others love Blasers. Thank God we ain't all alike.

Dutch, that's cute and its correcct, but Ive stood a couple od Buffalo close call charges, and you can't make such a comparison because if your worng if can very likely be fatal..There is more to living than nostalgia..Having an edge is such instances is critical and speed is handy as hell..