Old School Cool – Part 1
I continue discussing “old school cool” guns and their modern-day worth. The memories that come back are like they were just a few months ago. The memories make me want to renew my use of them, and thankfully, I can. All of these are still in my safe and will stay with me until I’m gone.
The Old School Cool Husqvarna
As a youngster, I was promised an old 12-gauge hammer gun by an extended family member when I returned home from Europe with my family. Sadly, the promise never materialized. As I matured, the desire for an old hammer gun was still very strong. I just liked the nostalgia of them. So I had always kept an eye out for a good quality one. When I was able to purchase my own, I did so. What I found was an old Husqvarna model 101 from the WW1 era. It had short chambers, but I knew I could purchase some well-made ammo of correct dimensions from a company that catered to the older guns, RST Ltd. They provide low-pressure ammunition of proper size for old-school guns. I wanted a nice load for upland birds, grouse, quail, and partridge.
A Second Husky
Shortly after purchasing the little Husky, I found another that used a Greener-type cross bolt to aid in a tight lock-up. This one, a model 103 of slightly pre-WW2 vintage, would become my primary upland old school gun. The shotgun muzzles mic’d at .719 and .720, so it is skeet to improved cylinder choke. Stock and forearm fit are nice and tight, the firing pins are intact, and both chambers receive strong indentations on primers. The barrels measured 24 inches in length. Even though it is a 12ga., it carries as a small-framed 20 or 28ga. gun, the shot payload of the short 2.5” shells being 1oz. on par with a heavy upland game load for a 28ga.
My First Trip
This little old school cool gun is so nice to carry during a day of light upland bird chasing. My first trip hunting with it was with a group of Minnesota friends during their annual grouse hunt. Walking the fall woods when the hardwood leaves are turning made for an extremely memorable time. Several grouse were taken, and the little gun had a few shots presented, but no hits were recorded. This was my first grouse hunt as well, and the little gray rockets always seemed to place a tree or thick shrub between themselves and me.
My best chance came at a place I thought looked very promising. I was in a small stand of pines elevated slightly above a small swamp. There was a fallen tree right on the edge of the pines where it opened up to the swamp below. As I came to the fallen tree, a buddy 60-70 yards to my right called out. When I replied, I dropped the little double to one hand, and at that moment a grouse erupted from the other side of the tree, not 3 yards away. I got the gun to my shoulder, hammer cocked, and pointed at the grouse. Then pulled the trigger where the grouse was and bagged a handful of birch leaves. I had shot where the bird was instead of where it would be.
The Husky’s Future
The little Husky double has accompanied me on grouse hunts in Montana and Minnesota, blast and cast trips to the Idaho Snake River valley. It will be used for Hungarian partridge on the Wyoming sagebrush plains later this year. In my retirement, the little gun has gained a second life. My shotgunning has become more relaxed and less “bagged game” focused, as I place more emphasis on enjoying the entire experience of the hunt.
An Old School Cool Double Rifle
I’ve wanted a double rifle since I was a youngster and reading the stories in hunting magazines of the 70s. The stories of African big game and European driven game placed my yearning for a classic double gun. I acquired my first when I was in my 40s, a Valmet 412 with .308 Win. barrels, not quite the epitome of a classic double, but definitely old school cool.
I struggled to get the barrels adjusted to hit the same point of aim at 100. The best I could do was one barrel zeroed 1.5” high at 100, the other 3.5” higher at 100. Theoretically, it should work well, but I still couldn’t get my head wrapped around the two widely different impacts. Eventually, I sent the 308win. barrels down the road and kept the gun with the O/U 12ga. barrels. Later, I would acquire a combination barrel set for it in 12ga./30-06.
A Second Double
My second double rifle I acquired 10 years later, after I had decided to go with a caliber better suited to the shorter distances that suited the style of gun. I contacted a seller and made an offer on a Merkel O/U 9.3x74R they had listed on a public auction site that had gone through several cycles and received no bids. The seller countered my offer with an excellent proposal, and I accepted. At last, I had my classic old school cool double rifle.
Old School Cool 9.3x74r
It would be hard to get more old school than a 9.3x74R. The 9.3x74R has gained popularity with American shooters lately. Ruger’s offering of their No.1 in that caliber, perhaps, made us look a bit longer at its useful practicality. The old 9.3 is suitable for medium game, as well as big game and dangerous game. In Europe, it is a classic wild boar and red stag caliber; it is also suitable for Cape buffalo in Africa. It is one of a few calibers that just works way beyond its paper ballistics, 35 Whelen, 9.3×62, 30-06, 250 Sav, and 300sav. are among a short list of calibers that fit those parameters. There is nothing flashy or spectacular about them, and they have been around for decades and centuries, truly old school.
Ammo and Regulation
A double rifle is regulated to get both barrels to place their shots close to each other at somewhere around 75-100 yards. The factory usually uses a common load that is found easily. The Merkel was regulated with RWS 258gr. H mantel ammunition, an odd weight considering 286gr. is the traditional weight bullet for the 9.3x74R. The velocity listed for the load was 2400fps. Ironically, a factory load by PrviPartizan, prvipartizan.com, with 286gr. bullets at 2260fps fell to the sights at 100 yards. Two shots from each barrel provide a 2-3 inch group for four shots from both barrels. The PPU ammunition happened to be some I’d purchased to provide myself with reloadable brass.
An Appropriate Optic
Later, I would send the double gun to JRH gunsmithing, jrhadvancedgunsmithing.com, to have a Burris FastFire 4 mounted onto the barrels. This allowed for more accurate shooting to 150-200ish yards. Other than my initial PPU ammunition shooting to the sights, I struggled to produce suitable handloads to accomplish the same. After playing with different bullet weights and styles, as well as different powders. I was finally able to find a load that would deliver as good and consistent accuracy as the PPU ammo. My new load consisted of Nosler 250 Accubonds, at 2445fps. I have recently located the PPU bullet available from Graf and Sons, grafs.com, and will attempt to replicate the performance with a more traditional bullet weight.
First Blood
My first game taken with the Merkel double would be as memorable as the purchase of the rifle. I was on a ranch in South Texas that, among many other African species, has a pure blood strain of Scimitar horned oryx. The ranch had several Addax from a neighboring ranch break through a fence. Addax were known to breed with Oryx, and the rancher wanted them killed ASAP, before his bloodline was contaminated. Only too happy to oblige the owner, a good friend, and I happened upon two on the morning of my arrival at the ranch. It later proved to be the remaining two that had eluded previous attempts to remove them from the gene pool.
Classic Practicality
My partner was driving, so the first shot was going to be mine. It would be a quick shot fired with animals departing rapidly. My shot was aimed at the base of the tail to break the pelvis and possibly the spine of the animal. The distance was about 125 yards, and the Addax was running directly away. It missed the spine but caused the animal to spin around and face me. I immediately placed my finger on the second trigger and fired, dropping the Addax. My buddy continued after the other addax. When he got the truck stopped, he exited and put a round in the chest of the Addax. Still on its feet, he then followed up with a beautiful quartering away chest shot at a later ranged 225 yards, that dropped his Addax on the spot.
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Old School Cool Field Performance
My shots on the Addax were both raking ones, and the recovered bullets produced approximately 48” of penetration. I recovered the first in the brisket and the second in the hip joint. My first game with my long-desired double rifle would prove to be an animal that would have cost upwards of 5K dollars to take. Yet I was able to bag mine for nothing but gas money. A most memorable first kill with a good friend who was also able to bag one for himself a few weeks later on a hunt designated as one to provide meat for charity. The double rifle was able to bag two cull whitetail does, at 100 and 80 yards respectively.
The Nosler Accubond performed adequately on the whitetails, but showed it needs more resistance to perform at its best. The bullet performed much better on the Addax than it did on the whitetails. Asking the 9.3x74R to work on the small light boned whitetails of south Texas with bullets intended for tougher game was not a fair test. I would imagine pronghorn could be classified the same as the Texas whitetail deer, the bigger mule deer, or our tougher feral hogs should be ideal. I look forward to more hunts with this rifle, as it is old school cool.
Stay with me for more Old School Cool……
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