Coach Gun Advice (12 Gauge)

Douglas-001

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Jan 16, 2012
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So as I consider what I need to round out the collection, the historical SXS coach gun continues to pop up. I have always wanted to add one to the safe but atypically dragged my feet.....😖....I know that now is probably the worst time to try and sniff out such a shotgun, but I figured some solid advice from members would always help if I stumble across one. Wanted to keep it under $1,000, and exposed hammers would be extra cool unless those are just superfluous...No plans for any cowboy action stuff, would be recreational and something to impress my friends who all quit visiting me many years ago.....🤣...as always I would welcome advice and personal testimony from members.

Doug
 
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i have an older Rossi Coach Gun. They have been out of production for a long time (had mine around 20 years or longer). Have not really kept up with them but a few years ago there were several companies making them. They are a lot of fun at the range and even more fun to shoot trap with
 
Doug,

Hickok45 on youtube did some reviews on both Hammer / hammerless side x side 12Ga Coach guns that could be of interest for you, it was informative. Another vid by CZ featured The CZ Hammer 12Ga. Coach Gun with either 18.5" or 20" barrel ( I don't remember which one) fixed Cylinder bore, engraved case hardened frame and lock, nice checkered Turkish Walnut stocks. The CZ Classic has a 30" barrel w/5 chokes. Both looked good, but I don't own either one personally. The vids said about $900. Not sure of todays prices though.

...good luck on your search.
 
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Go old school with a Blunderbuss.
 
Another vote for the old Rossi hammer coach gun.

We have a few of them in the family.

And yes they are fun to shoot clays with
 
Guy has one for sale here in Ok. I'm not involved but if you want I'll PM you contact info.


Sub CategoryShotgunsCaliber12 GaugeLocationOklahoma, United States
Just seeing if there is any interest. Gorgeous Rossi 12 Gauge Coach gun/side by side. 20" barrels external hammers with double triggers. Beautiful furniture. Case Hardened hammers, triggers and barrel latch. I am in this for 600.00 and if I can't get that out of it it'll go back into the safe. Might trade towards a pre lock Smith & Wesson revolver.
Not perfect but I'd give her a 95-98% Bought it from a gunsmith (or someone that said he was) disassembled and cleaned and reassembled.
In Ada OK and as always will drive some (which I usually drive most of the way)

Thanks for looking.

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Holy guacamole! I forgot all about this thread but I did scoop up a CZ. Came in a fancy case with fancy velvet bags.....I really like the stock and the case hardening style. Adds some character. Shoots really well and I have bought gobs of 12 GA. ammo since. A slight right hand cast to the stock, I believe that is the term....and a single white bead up front. Put slugs in the X ring at 75 yds. all day. My daughter shot it and said.."meh...no thanks dad..I can wreck my shoulder in other ways..." But she took my .444 marlin deer hunting...go figure....
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Good luck and good shooting to all the Goon Squad members!
 
The CZs made by Huglu out of Turkey are beautiful! I have a pair of the box lock (internal hammer) in 12 and 20 which have become favorites for upland hunting. They have also run a lot longer between needing tweaking when used for SASS competition compared to our Stogers. I haven’t been hampered by the long barrels of the hunting guns compared to the coach grun.

Still love my Rossi Overlander in 20 ga though.
 
If they were not way too expensive (for a gun I 100% don't need and have no use for) I would have bought one years ago.
That doesn't stop from toying with selling some of the other big pile shotguns I don't need to buy one of the SxS's like above to have something else I don't need. :sneaky:
 
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If they were not way too expensive (for a gun I 100% don't need and have no use for) I would have bought one years ago.
That doesn't stop from toying with selling some of the other big pile shotguns I don't need to buy one of the SxS's like above to have something else I don't need. :sneaky:
Be thankful that you don’t compete with one. You have your main one, then a back up, and a loaner for others to try. THEN you have the wife’s set and the son’s set. 🤦🏼‍♂️
 
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I had a Rossi 20ga hammer gun years ago that I bought to dip my toe in the sport, but got out right quick. Shot some skeet with it though. One of those things I sold because I needed to at the time, but wouldn't today.

I have a literal pile of Benelli's, wouldn't be the dumbest thing to do, sell one and buy a CZ. Fifteenish years ago a Bobwhite tempted me badly, but I knew it would mostly sit.

(ETA: by "way too expensive" I was referring to the Chiappa)
 
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Yes this shorty is expensive, but make no mistake it is a well built and percission coach gun.
Break the action and close and it screams old world scatter gun craftsmanship and I’m here for buisness !
Likes, red dot, portability, take forearm off close loaded and does not cock firing pins.
When you want to shoot break action close and your good to go. Adjustability with chokes, you can tailor your chambers with buck shot or slugs.
Top is slug followed up buck shot.
Dislikes the trigger guard is alittle sharp on the edges, that’s it !
Would I buy again ? 100%, Why you would have to shoot it and you will understand.
It literally is one of my favorite shot guns.
The third chamber is just a extra benefit but it’s cool factor goes far beyond that.
Synthetic stock so it’s light and fast swinging and portable.
Yes it’s very pricey but I’m sure it was not cheap to produce with the barrel chokes and 3 firing pin configuration, any decent well made guns are 2000.00 nowadays, when I got this I’m pretty sure I payed $ 1800.00 for mine.
I don’t see any coach gun out there that could come close to rival it’s tactical configuration. Going threw the hood, O she got you and it’s a flame thrower with 3 inch Nitro mags !
Whyatt Erp would have rubbed one out holding this one !

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I've always wanted one as well. My first try was the exposed hammer type, and I loved it, but it was one of the reproductions (forget the brand) and a bit heavy for it's size. Plus it only had extractors and I wanted ejectors. After selling it off I soon found that exposed hammers AND ejectors is a bit of a unicorn. I did, however find a real nice Japanese made Kawaguchiya Firearms Hibiki Model M double barrel at a good price that had ejectors. I snatched it up and had my gunsmith shorten it into a coach gun. This thing is light, fast (was made as a bird gun) and the shells pop right out. I don't have the hammers to play with, but it fits the bill nicely. Don't be afraid to have an old bird gun cut down. There's a zillion of them out there on the cheap.

Coach gun Kawaguchiya Firearms Co LTD Tokyo Hibiki Model M..JPG
 
Re read my post, you may want to re consider what it brings to the table.
Alright, I see what you did there... you sexied up that post! I like it.

I'm still hung up on the extractors and not ejectors for 2k. Let me ask you this, after looking at the new pictures (3rd pic down) if the chambers were polished could you dump the shells without them hitting the receiver? Is the breech all the way open? It looks like they will hit the receiver and you will have to fish them out.

You definitively got me thinking about it. Thanks for the update.
 
Alright, I see what you did there... you sexied up that post! I like it.

I'm still hung up on the extractors and not ejectors for 2k. Let me ask you this, after looking at the new pictures (3rd pic down) if the chambers were polished could you dump the shells without them hitting the receiver? Is the breech all the way open? It looks like they will hit the receiver and you will have to fish them out.

You definitively got me thinking about it. Thanks for the update.
I actually did not have the action opened up all the way in that pic or the camera was at a bad angle. The live shells have a lot wiggle room in chambers, don’t think you would have to polish.
Fire rounds open up tilt back and shells come right out withought hitting receiver.
It’s been awhile since I shot it live. I think I will take it to the range this weekend and double confirm a live fire scenario with empty shells and try to video for you.
When this thing is closed it is bank vault solid 0 play not even a couple hundredths of 1000’s of movement !
 
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I actually did not have the action opened up all the way in that pic or the camera was at a bad angle. The live shells have a lot wiggle room in chambers, don’t think you would have to polish.
Fire rounds open up tilt back and shells come right out withought hitting receiver.
It’s been awhile since I shot it live. I think I will take it to the range this weekend and double confirm a live fire scenario with empty shells and try to video for you.
When this thing is closed it is bank vault solid 0 play not even a couple hundredths of 1000’s of movement !
I actually had some spent 3” Nitro mags and did a dry extraction.
After shells are fired after they expand you have to pull out of chamber manually, they are snug after they are fired, not sure if a polished chamber would rectify. But that with a 3” nitro mag.
Let me see what a 2 3/4 federal round will do this weekend.
They might not expand like the hot Nitro mag.
 
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If you go with an old one, just be aware that chamber lengths in shotguns have changed through the years. And a complete lack of standardization of them went on a lot longer than you might expect. The plastic shells we use are shorter than the old paper or brass shells. So you can put a longer shell in a shorter chamber without even knowing. Then when you fire, the shell can’t open all the way. Obviously the chamber pressure spikes. Not likely to catastrophically fail, but it’ll beat your shotgun apart. So if it’s not marked, have it checked by a competent gunsmith-if you buy an older shotgun.
 
So to answer Jimichangas question if the shells fall out of the triple threat receiver, the answer is yes to a certain extent.
Like I initially thought the 3” Remington 00 Nitro mags were to hot and expanded too much to fall out of chamber on there own after fired.
So I went today to sight in the SigSaur red dot today and test my theory on the 2 3/4 slug shells falling out on there own.
And sure enough they passed with flying colors.
So to point out I thought the top center barrel shot first it does not.
It most likely is L,R, Center. I left the bottom two cylinders with the spent 3” Nitro mags, because I mainly was trying to dial in red dot with the slugs.
So these are tactical 2 3/4 flight controlled rifled slugs.
I got the red dot dialed in at around 5 rnds it was pretty close the first shot.
But then it seemed to drift to the left a hair. I could not get it to fully tighten up,the sight is one of sigs older ones , a way older red dot. Not sure if it was it or the pic rail on the shotgun itself, it def is not a mil spec rail on shot gun, I suspect it’s the rail on shotti, something to consider.
So I just removed it and went off front fiber optic sight.
I was aiming directly in the center of Red circle at 10 yrds and it was tracking pretty high.
But never the less, the results would be devastating! All rounds would be fatal to say the least.
I shot about 18 rounds of slugs and I could not shoot anymore, it was brutal. But I forgot a trick that helps with taking half the impact on your shoulder when firing.
If you lock your left arm out holding the forearm of shotgun it will take a lot of the abuse out of your shoulder. If you have not tried this it really helps on recoil. But I will say like the Benelli’s the length of pull seems to be a little long about 1’’ to long, not helping shoulder.
Now my take on coach guns, it’s an intimidator and a deadly one. Great truck gun if you ask me, is it for multiple threats maybe but I think your odds would deminish fast if your attackers are armed and more than two.
If you were staring down these three barrels I think you would turn white as a gost and re think your poor choices you just made.

I can’t seem to upload videos of shells falling out of receiver and 10 yrd verification.

On further inspection it looks like it was not SigSaur’s red dot that was the issue with holding zero. It seemed to be the pic rail screws backed off on the shotti, they had no lock tight on them and the rail was very loose !, and yes I said Philips head screws and not torques heads !
So blue locked tightened the screws and re torqued back down and re installed red dot and it’s solid again. My apologies to Sig, it may be a tall order for a red dot to hold up to this kind of abuse.

So I will go out next weekend and try again and see how it holds up. I may find number one cylinder put the open choke in it for the slug and then see what patterns the next two cylinders produce with the buck shot loads.

I’m starting to really not dig public ranges anymore, look at the guy letting his newbies shoot his AR, head shots owner and friends on the rest of the target. Un nerving !

Walking in, two door system at range in center guys giving instructions with his pistol out to friends on how to handle pistol, you can’t make this shit up.

Thank god they monitor these yo yo’s pretty good with cameras threw out range, undercover range officer was on dude with pistol pretty quickly.

Just for the record the bag was for the red dot.
This target was free standing at 10 yrds.
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Left barrel shoots left and high. Right is slghtly high.
She fun though. I do reccomend the push/pull method of recoil control with the Remington.
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