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Posted: 5/29/2026 7:04:51 AM EDT
[Last Edit: urbanredneck][Edited]
Any pros or cons between these two....Stoegers and these Turkish builds? 
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Outside hammers are just cool. There really is no downside for a target or range gun since you won't be cocking the gun until you're ready to shoot. It's a bit more sketchy for a field or hunting gun. I don't hunt but my understanding is that some hammer gun users walk with the gun action open and the hammers cocked. When they come up on a a covey or flush a bird they close the action as they raise the gun to shoot. When I was a skeet/sporting clays shooter I got on a side-by-side kick and had a particular Jones for hammer guns. It's kind of hard finding decent hammer guns with steel barrels intended for smokeless powder. That particular configuration wasn't made in great numbers for very long. There's three hammer guns in this group pic:  I've owned the CZ Hammer Classic (top gun in this pic). It's OK, but kinda chunky compared to older offerings. It does have screw-in chokes (the 30" version anyway) and will accept 3" shells if that matters:  |
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I never owned a double, only O/U. I have toyed with the idea of a double in 20 ga. I don’t hunt birds often/in years anyway. CZ has or had a Turk made 20 that had a shorter length of pull and an intermediate barrel like 27”. That tempted me for the stock fit. It’s still Turkish so probably not that robust and CZ doesn’t have a great track record in supporting their own older guns let alone Turkish contract guns. |
The only hyphenated names I like are cartridge names......30-06, 30-40, 38-55 etc.
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Originally Posted By Mindless: Hammers are stylish but hammerless is where user friendly got its name. Hammers = cool+nostalgic. Hammerless = practical. I hunt dove et al with my (hammered) coach because it makes it more fun; a lot harder, but more fun. |
I wanted a mission, and for my sins, they gave me one.
No rules today, sport…just orders.
It’s not about how many people you kill, it’s about how many you save.
No rules today, sport…just orders.
It’s not about how many people you kill, it’s about how many you save.
| Funny story: I had an uncle that sometimes hunted deer with a 12 gauge side by side that had hammers. He was a skinny little guy, probably 110 pounds. He always fired the right barrel when hunting. There was concern that all of the wear on the right side wasn't good so he was working on breaking that habit and trying to shoot the left barrel more. Anyway, he was sitting on a log in the swamp and he hears something coming through the brush. He shoulders the shotgun, muzzle down, cocking the left barrel as he does so. It is a large Michigan Buck so that gets his heart pumping a bit. The buck looks right at him so he freezes for a minute and then when the buck looked away he brought the muzzle up and fired. The recoil tipped him off the back side of the log. He missed the deer and while trying to figure out what happened he realized that as he brought the muzzle up, he cocked the right barrel and then fired them both together. Muscle memory is tough to beat in the heat of the moment. He isn't around anymore and we still miss him. |
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Turkish guns aren't bad - I have a CZ Sharptail Coach Gun that I had worked on by Ken Griner for Cowboy Action Shooting. It's great. I also have a bargain basement Stoeger Coach Gun that I got for $260 on sale from PSA with polymer furniture. I used that for about a year as I couldn't afford anything else. What I found with the cheap gun was it was stiff and difficult to work with. Shooting full power loads locked it up solid. I spent hours with oil and sandpaper on the bearing surfaces, and a 12 ga mop chucked in a drill to polish out the VERY rough chambers so it would shuck the spent shells. After quite a bit of elbow grease, it worked just fine, and is still my backup shotgun. The CZ was also stiff at first, and I had HAD it with doing my own work, and paid a specialist to do it right. Now as opposed to hammered or not, it all depends on what you want to do with it. My focus is on SASS, and in that sport, if you are looking for speed, hammered doubles just take longer with the extra step of cocking the hammers. Hammerless is the way for me. If it's for anything else, sure, why not, grab what you like, learn to use it and have fun. |
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