All combination gun users

The shotgun barrel is very tightly choked, 17.3mm I think, my choke gauge won't go anywhere near it. I'll get it opened up and a picatinny rail mounted
 
I’ve always wondered what the risk of pulling the wrong trigger is and trying to shoot a pigeon with a 243 etc. is there a built in safety mechanism to prevent this sort of thing? Or just need to get it right?
There is a very good mechanism between the hunters ears. You only load a rifle cartridge when a shot with the rifle is imminent. And then you only take shots that are safe for the rifle. The beauty of break actions is that they are simple and silent to load.

If you are bird shooting, scope is removed and rifle remains empty.

Drillings are much more designed for driven shooting. Some do handle well in especially the 16 and 20 bore ones, which are really not much heavier than a typical shotgun.

The rifle usually has a separate lock that is activated by push a slide like a safety catch, or pushing down on a cocking lever. The front trigger then fires the rifle barrel. In otherwords you have actively select the rifle, otherwise it works as a double shotgun.

Some combination guns - eg the Blaser B95 only have one lock with a selector switch so you can switch between the shot or the rifled barrel.
 
Sadly it was scoped, it came with a Simmons WTC 1.5-5x20 in a MAK mount. The scope is not to my liking so will go for sale and should make £80 or so.
All in all not bad for £100 at auction then fees and rfd for a total of £200View attachment 401553
I would not sell the mount until you have an alternative in place. A picatinny will probably mount the scope too high.

And you need the scope to be mounted quite far back.

Have a look at the wee Leupold 1-4x20 on a 1” tube.

30mm tubed scopes are too bulky and heavy IMHO
 
I will keep the mount until I've spoken to my gunsmith about the rail. My research suggests the mount would retail in hundreds of pounds so I expect to keep it until the time comes to sell the gun.20250104_153850.webp It has 1" rings, 30mm replacements are expensive and 30mm scopes are heavier
I prefer a scope that I can use with my 007 add on, so I have taken advice from the posts of @mealiejimmy on here and elsewhere, I've got a cheapo hawke 2-7x32.
 
So on Thursday I went for a good walk about with friend and our two dogs. Of course I should have taken my Ferlacher with me. Down in the wood a couple of good opportunities for a doe. No wood cock or pheasants showed up.

Of course I had my sxs 16 bore with me instead. It was only later on when we pushed up a couple of phaesants, snipe and woodcock. Snipe and phaesant I hit first barrel, so combination would have been no disadvantage.
 
There is a very good mechanism between the hunters ears. You only load a rifle cartridge when a shot with the rifle is imminent. And then you only take shots that are safe for the rifle. The beauty of break actions is that they are simple and silent to load.

If you are bird shooting, scope is removed and rifle remains empty.

Drillings are much more designed for driven shooting. Some do handle well in especially the 16 and 20 bore ones, which are really not much heavier than a typical shotgun.

The rifle usually has a separate lock that is activated by push a slide like a safety catch, or pushing down on a cocking lever. The front trigger then fires the rifle barrel. In otherwords you have actively select the rifle, otherwise it works as a double shotgun.

Some combination guns - eg the Blaser B95 only have one lock with a selector switch so you can switch between the shot or the rifled barrel.
I took my 1984 Simson drilling in 7x65R and 16 bore out stalking CWD yesterday morning. I could have taken the Steyr-Mannlicher Classic, but I use that generally with quad sticks, and they're much more suited to standing shots. It's awkward to adjust their height in a hurry. But the ground I was stalking involved a lot of crawling, sitting and kneeling shots, as generally the only cover is using the undulations in the land to stay under the skyline. You need to be able to adjust when opportunities arise, so I took the drilling with the telescopic twin sticks. And in the end, it was another kneeling shot that needed to to be taken skimming the slight the ridge in the ground. So in effect I'm using it as a single shot rifle. It makes a great gun for travelling though as it packs up into a tiny case and is in effect an Everything Gun. Notice that it has a separate cocking slide for the rifle barrel so there's no risk of firing the bullet by mistake, even if you have for some reason loaded all three barrels.
20250202_110024.webp

Incidentally that was using reloads with 145gr Fox copper bullets.
 
I took my 1984 Simson drilling in 7x65R and 16 bore out stalking CWD yesterday morning. I could have taken the Steyr-Mannlicher Classic, but I use that generally with quad sticks, and they're much more suited to standing shots. It's awkward to adjust their height in a hurry. But the ground I was stalking involved a lot of crawling, sitting and kneeling shots, as generally the only cover is using the undulations in the land to stay under the skyline. You need to be able to adjust when opportunities arise, so I took the drilling with the telescopic twin sticks. And in the end, it was another kneeling shot that needed to to be taken skimming the slight the ridge in the ground. So in effect I'm using it as a single shot rifle. It makes a great gun for travelling though as it packs up into a tiny case and is in effect an Everything Gun. Notice that it has a separate cocking slide for the rifle barrel so there's no risk of firing the bullet by mistake, even if you have for some reason loaded all three barrels.
View attachment 404463

Incidentally that was using reloads with 145gr Fox copper bullets.
Very nice 👍🏻
 
combination guns don’t seem to be very popular I UK compaired to here. At a hunting trip to UK, I was asked by the stalker, how accurate they are, as he had heard they are reasonable popular here.

Wanted to know a little about our experiences, with them, and how we use them, and how much we pay for them. Now this tread came up, and I might as well put our experience in here.



Well, I have only owned one combination gun, it was one of these Savage BBF guns with a 22LR, 22WMR, or 222Rem as topbarrel and a .410 or 20 Gauge shot barrel under. Those guns where very cheap here back in the early 90ies, cheaper than even a used bolt action TOZ 22LR. These guns are still seen here, and goes for £50-150, even less sometimes.

My one was 22LR and 20G, the rifle barrel was as good as my bolt action TOZ rifle, with good rest it picks a rat on 50 meters. The scope on it was a fixed mag. 2,5X32, and I used to aim both shot and bullet though that scope. Those days the main target was crows and rooks, and that gun has countless crows and rooks on its conscious.



One of my friends use a Suhl Drilling, shotgun barrels are 16 Gauge, and the rifle is 7x57R, a 1,5-6x42 scope can be mounted in seconds with snaps. I tried it when we zeroed it in with lead free ammo at 150 meters, it hit within the bottom of a teacup, so better than we could shoot.

That gun is, like many other 6,5 to 9,3mm rifle caliber, used for driven hunts. We are “only” allowed to shoot roe deer with shotgun, so larger deer species has to be shot with the bullet barrel. That makes it possible for him to shoot from woodcock to red deer, with the same gun when on a driven hunt. That is one of the reasons those combis are popular here.
Most popular calibers are 7x57R, 7X65R and 8x57JRS.

German combination guns are usually on the expensive side but have good reputation regarding first shot accuracy, even at longer range. We regard 200 meters as long range on deer here, but on driven hunts there will usually be a “safe shot zone” typically about 50-100 meters, and shots outside that will not be allowed.



Then, there are these BRNO with 7x57R top and 12 gage under. I have never fired one, but they don’t have the best reputation but should be OK out to around 75-100 meters. Price is set accordantly. Triggers are shotgun style, because they usually come with an extra O/U pure shotgun barrel.



Another friend of mine has a Tikka BBF, 12-gauge shotbarrel and a 222rem barrel under, he uses it mostly for Capercallie and Black Grouse, and don’t have any problems with shooting rifle barrel out to about 150 meters. Those used Tikkas are a little more expensive than the Savage, but they still seldom come to more than £300.

Don’t know why combinations are not popular in UK, it might be culture. Personally, I would think they make good gamekeepers’ guns.

Accurate shooting is possible in most of them, but accuracy decrease when shooting several shots in a row, as the rifle barrels are not free floating and will “drag” when getting hot.

They are often seen with aimpoint style sights, but I have tried to shoot clay though my friends 1,5-6x42 scope, and its no problem using the shotbarrels on flying targets though that scope when it’s turned down.

Sonny
 
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combination guns don’t seem to be very popular I UK compaired to here. At a hunting trip to UK, I was asked by the stalker, how accurate they are, as he had heard they are reasonable popular here.

Wanted to know a little about our experiences, with them, and how we use them, and how much we pay for them. Now this tread came up, and I might as well put our experience in here.



Well, I have only owned one combination gun, it was one of these Savage BBF guns with a 22LR, 22WMR, or 222Rem as topbarrel and a .410 or 20 Gauge shot barrel under. Those guns where very cheap here back in the early 90ies, cheaper than even a used bolt action TOZ 22LR. These guns are still seen here, and goes for £50-150, even less sometimes.

My one was 22LR and 20G, the rifle barrel was as good as my bolt action TOZ rifle, with good rest it picks a rat on 50 meters. The scope on it was a fixed mag. 2,5X32, and I used to aim both shot and bullet though that scope. Those days the main target was crows and rooks, and that gun has countless crows and rooks on its conscious.



One of my friends use a Suhl Drilling, shotgun barrels are 16 Gauge, and the rifle is 7x57R, a 1,5-6x42 scope can be mounted in seconds with snaps. I tried it when we zeroed it in with lead free ammo at 150 meters, it hit within the bottom of a teacup, so better than we could shoot.

That gun is, like many other 6,5 to 9,3mm rifle caliber, used for driven hunts. We are “only” allowed to shoot roe deer with shotgun, so larger deer species has to be shot with the bullet barrel. That makes it possible for him to shoot from woodcock to red deer, with the same gun when on a driven hunt. That is one of the reasons those combis are popular here.
Most popular calibers are 7x57R, 7X65R and 8x57JRS.

German combination guns are usually on the expensive side but have good reputation regarding first shot accuracy, even at longer range. We regard 200 meters as long range on deer here, but on driven hunts there will usually be a “safe shot zone” typically about 50-100 meters, and shots outside that will not be allowed.



Then, there are these BRNO with 7x57R top and 12 gage under. I have never fired one, but they don’t have the best reputation but should be OK out to around 75-100 meters. Price is set accordantly. Triggers are shotgun style, because they usually come with an extra O/U pure shotgun barrel.



Another friend of mine has a Tikka BBF, 12-gauge shotbarrel and a 222rem barrel under, he uses it mostly for Capercallie and Black Grouse, and don’t have any problems with shooting rifle barrel out to about 150 meters. Those used Tikkas are a little more expensive than the Savage, but they still seldom come to more than £300.

Don’t know why combinations are not popular in UK, it might be culture. Personally, I would think they make good gamekeepers’ guns.

Accurate shooting is possible in most of them, but accuracy decrease when shooting several shots in a row, as the rifle barrels are not free floating and will “drag” when getting hot.

They are often seen with aimpoint style sights, but I have tried to shoot clay though my friends 1,5-6x42 scope, and its no problem using the shotbarrels on flying targets though that scope when it’s turned down.

Sonny
There is a view that Combination guns are inaccurate, especially from many UK stalkers. Mostly this is just from a lack of knowledge and understanding.

In my earlier post I put up a target shot with mine. I was zeroing in the 2nd barrel. I have an Eisnstecklauf that goes inside the top shotgun barrel. In both groups the bottom holes are from the bottom barrel. The cartridge case is 65mm for comparison.


In most combinations, the rifle barrels are joined to the shot barrels with ribs that are soldered on. Whilst the rifle barrels are thin, they are made pretty stiff by the other barrels. First shots from a cold bore are accurate and shoot to point of aim. But those thin barrels heat up very quickly, indeed one shot from a 7x65r and on mine the barrel is hot. Metal expands as it is heated. Given the barrel is joined the top part will quickly loose heat to the adjoining barrel, which results in the bottom getting a touch longer resulting in barrel warming up a touch.

A second quick shot goes about 1 1/2” high, 3rd quite a bit higher. Many who try a combination don’t understand this and try and shoot fast groups like they do with a heavy barreled bolt action. Net result is poor shooting.

The barrel does cool very rapidly, and after a minute or two. In real life it’s not an issue. Make sure 1 st shot hits home. If you need a follow up hold a touch low.

Secondly, most combinations are very much on the lightweight side, with most of the weight between the hands, they are also stocked like a shotgun with drop at the butt and typically are chambered in cartridges that have a good level of recoil.

My 7x65r recoils about the same as with a 30gram 16 bore cartridge - perfectly manageable but it does jump about. You do need to hold the rifle firmly and squeeze the whole rifle as the trigger breaks. If you don’t the recoil will send the bullet high.

If you understand the limitations they are a wonderful thing to use.
 
As mentioned I have owned three Savage M24.
The 22 and WMR versions have the rifle barrel sweated to the shotgun barrel and are hence very accurate.
The hornet and other CF versions the barrel is only fixed at the breech and muzzle but are solid.
My hornet version was one of the most accurate hornet's I have owned.
 
Now I have a Tikka m69 12g 222r with a red dot use it for all kind of small game hunts , like hare, and roe driven by dog, or just a walk in the forest. I had a BRNO 500.2 in 12g 6,5*55 used it for driven game both small and big I have shot roedeer, fallow deer. Old Tikkas goes for about 300£ and the old BRNO for 4-500£ its much gun for the money as they are not as popular as they use to bee. Combination guns are more worn on the outside than inside the barrels as they are carried a lot and they are never used for target shooting only occational practice.
 
After reading this thread and pondering- I really need a combination gun in my life.

222 and 12G would be lovely now I think about it.
Tikkakoski at an auction 12/222r single trigger with a selector between rifle and shot.

Angelo Zoli doubble trigger 12/222r

 
After reading this thread and pondering- I really need a combination gun in my life.

222 and 12G would be lovely now I think about it.
I have a .222/16G Blaser with set trigger shoots very well. My others are a Heym O/U 6.5x57r/16, plus two drillings a 6.5x57r/16 and a 7x57r/16 all are just nice to haves, the 6.5x57r/16 O/U and the 7x57r drilling have had a goodly amount of use.
 
FOX DRIVES!
have two combination guns
the .222/12 with a red dot on the top is a perfect accompaniment to a fox drive!!

the 8x57/12 is yet to be blooded
Although the first shot of double discharge 197gr and a 1oz slug was a bit fruity
 
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