In Pursuit of Bespoke

My affinity for side-by-side shotguns began after an impulsive purchase of a 28ga CZ Ringneck from the Cabela’s Gun Library. The vintage look of a side-by-side, and a surprisingly affordable price tag on that particular used shotgun, peaked my interest. I’ll admit, after powdering the first clay out of the thrower, and dropping the first wild rooster presented, I was guzzling the side-by-side Koolaid. A car accident later retired that Ringneck and forced me to upgraded to its successor in the CZ sporting line, the CZ Sharp-Tail. You can read more about that Sharp-Tail here, but the long and short of it is, that gun has been my go-to “meat gun” without fail for the last three seasons. From the eastern plains of Montana and the ridges of Wyoming, to the prairies of Kansas and grasslands of South Dakota, I’ve learned every curve, scratch, and dent of my Sharp-Tail; it’s served me well and I expect that it will for years to come.

While I don’t want to discredit my faithful Sharp-Tail, I have learned, through research and more experiences afield, that, one day, I may really appreciate carrying a bespoke bird gun. I’m a few years away from that, not just financially but also from the standpoint that there’s a lot of decisions to make when it comes to a bespoke shotgun. I’m still very new, relatively speaking, to both shotguns and hunting, so this is not an order that can be placed lightly and I want to ensure the gun I order is in fact the gun for me. Gauge, receiver finish, ejectors/extractors, barrel length, barrel rib, fixed or interchangeable choke, grip type, stock butt options, forend, wood grade, bead type, engraving, checkering are just some of the decision points when it comes time to place that order. I can look at pictures, read books, and draw educated conclusions but nothing can replicate the knowledge attained from holding a gun in your hand - let alone carrying one afield on a hunt. This is why, over the next few years, I am striving to handle and hunt with a variety of SxS’s, with varying features and styles, so that I can ultimately determine what it is, exactly, that I want in a bespoke bird gun.

I will view my Sharp-Tail as the baseline. The control group in the science experiment. It’s dependable, reliable, and it puts birds in the bag. End of story. But the Sharp-Tail only gives context to the features and functionalities it possess. For example, it has a semi-beavertail forend. And now my question stands, what’s it like to hunt with a SxS that has a splinter forend? Likewise, the Sharp-Tail touts a single, selective trigger. How does that compare to something with double triggers? And so forth. So with this task at hand, and no doubt a long journey ahead, I will begin borrowing where possible, trading when appropriate, and buying when necessary various makes and models of SxS shotguns until I have crafted, in my mind, the “perfect” bird gun for me. I’ll record my observations here, in the GDY Gazette, just in case someone else is like me, intrigued by the nuances and fanatical about how these different designs and functionalities influence the terminal performance putting birds in the bag.