Multibarrel Predator Gun J. C. Munnell
you will be able to get off a shot. One evening this past winter I had
Multibarrel guns come in many forms. Gun on left is a “Bockbuchseflinte” or a two-barrel gun, with shotgun over rifle; center is a Drilling, and four- barrel gun on the right is a Vierling.
foxes, etc., almost always presents some- what of a conundrum to the hunter: Do you prepare for the very close, almost in-your-lap shots often required because of terrain and heavy vegetation, or do you plan on being able to spot your prey on the other side of a fairly large field? In other words, should you load up your trusty 12 gauge, perhaps with a reflex sight or a red dot scope, or should you
H
unting eastern coyotes and (where permitted) bobcats,
sling your favorite scoped rifle and have a go, perhaps from an elevated stand? This conflict is why hunting with a buddy is so popular here in the East. While one calls facing a field with a rifle in his lap, the other, likely sitting back-to-back, has his pump, semiautomatic or double shotgun at the ready for the hungry and rapidly arriving but silent song dog or a red fox coming from up wind. Chances are, prepared in this manner, if anything responds to your call, most likely one of
just hung up the phone after talking with a friend with whom I had hoped to hunt coyotes that weekend. Unfortunately, some last minute business prevented him from accompanying me and I was left with the choice of either going solo or trying to enlist some other friend on rather short notice. If I chose to hunt by myself, then the question became how to be armed. The place I had hoped to hunt was a few miles out of town on a farm whose owner was only too happy to have someone rid him of all the coyotes they could shoot. (Our “enlightened” state permits fox hunting only in the proper season and with the proper fur-taker license and grants very few special per- mits for bobcat hunting, viewing these critters as desirable – and “scarce” – rev- enue sources rather than as hen killing predators. Maybe I can understand the part about the not-too-often seen bobcat, but foxes … ?) My/our stand was to be on one edge of a small field in fairly thick woods, but also was overlooking perhaps fifty yards of open field. In any event, while pondering my
Ammunition for author’s ugly Drilling: 2⁹ ⁄₁₆ inch 16 gauge shotshells to the left and right with two 8 x 57R handloads. Rifle round on the left is a reduced charge loading using a 164-grain linotype cast bullet and the other is a full power hunting load using a 196-grain jacketed Norma bullet. (I also have hunted deer with this gun.)
Page 92 Spring 2013
dilemma and the sorry state of friends with business to take care of, my mind wandered to a few long-owned but sel- dom used European combination guns I had bought many years ago (when they were much cheaper!). The thought of one in particular smacked my consciousness with all the force of a well-aimed 2 x 4; a German over-under 12 gauge over a 22 Savage Hi-Power. Now, even semi- somnambulant old-timers like your present scribe can, on rare occasions, have the proverbial light go off in my mind. (Query: Will this still be possible when your mind must use government- mandated CFLs?) That gun would solve my dilemma, and very nicely. I would be prepared for any shot presented. The only “problem” was that I would have but one shot regardless of whether it was with the rifle barrel or the shot barrel. In reality, this really should not be a prob- lem at all as it simply requires me to do my part in the first place. The concept of the combination gun, most often in the form of a “Drill-
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