Sometimes you did this involuntarily, making your ears ring.įiring that shotgun was a major rite of passage. Of course the twelve-gauge side-by-side had double triggers, so if you didn’t mind the recoil you could fire both barrels at once.
You fired the right barrel first and saved the shell in your left barrel in case you missed and needed to follow up with a second shot. The left barrel had a full choke on it, which made for a tighter shot pattern. My dad treasured his old English shotgun. My dad’s car keys may have been the only keys in the house. He apparently never wondered what a five-year-old was doing with a razor blade.
I once verified this by cutting open one of my dad’s cartridges in the spirit of scientific inquiry. These were Eley-Kynoch cartridges, and the double aught bucks (called SGs, the British designation for small game) contained eight lead balls. The double aught buckshot was for deer and wild boar, although it was a good idea to always carry a couple of rifled slugs (my dad called them ball cartridges) in case you encountered dangerous game. The number eights were for snipe and partridges, the number sixes were for doves, and the number fours were for ducks. Growing up in my family, you got to know the proper order of use for shotgun shells. Thought I’d share some of my dad’s wisdom this Father’s Day.
