Been meaning to post this up.

orchidman

12G SXS Belgian Arms Corporation 'The Liege'.

30" barrels 'Full & Full'

It was my fathers. He passed away Sept 2018. I had taken possession prior to his death ( wont go into the reasons but it was not your typical 'handing down'). Its been sitting in my gun cabinet ever since.

I fired my first successful shot with it when my age was still in single digits. With dads help I ground strafed a covey of Californian quail at 40yds and killed 7 from memory. Plucked and gutted them myself and we had them for dinner that night. Best meal I have ever eaten. It started me off on a long journey as a lover of the great outdoors and both Upland game and Waterfowl hunting.......(The journey hasnt yet ended btw.)

As the youngest 'member' of the group of hunters Dad hunted with, it was my job at the end of a days hunting to clean all the guns...under the watchful eye of their owners who would sit back in front of the fire, drinking beer/port and watching me like hawks while telling tall tales of the days hunt.

Once the guns were clean, the respective owners would inspect them and, if I had done a good job, occasionally I was allowed to have a sip of beer or some watered down Port. (It was a great learning experience, SXS's O/U's Pump and Semi Autos - I learned how to strip them all down and reassemble them to the point where I could do it in my sleep, and sometimes after a tiring day I think I did!!) 

The 'Liege' makes it a full set. I now have my Great Grandfathers, my Grandfathers, my fathers and my first 12g shotguns.

Will post up more pics when I get time of the 'Liege' and the others.

BTW, the definition of 'Liege' is

adjective: liege

concerned with or relating to the relationship between a feudal superior and a vassal.

"an oath of fealty and liege homage"

Sums it all up I guess........Lol

waipapa13

It's hard to beat full and full, and hard to find a shotgun with chokes like that now, you hit it or you don't, which suits my shooting style

I've got my Great Grandfather's old Lefaucheaux Liege, one burst barrel, missing one hammer, lives at Mum and Dad's.
I treasure it, just wish it had been treated with the care yours was 

btw I love the old tobacco tin in the case, old school.

orchidman

waipapa13 said:

It's hard to beat full and full, and hard to find a shotgun with chokes like that now, you hit it or you don't, which suits my shooting style

I've got my Great Grandfather's old Lefaucheaux Liege, one burst barrel, missing one hammer, lives at Mum and Dad's.
I treasure it, just wish it had been treated with the care yours was 

btw I love the old tobacco tin in the case, old school.

With 'full and full' chokes hunting pheasants over an English Setter, I learned real quick not to shoulder the gun until the birds were at least 40 yds out.......any sooner and it killed, gutted, plucked then ate the bird. The second barrel took many birds at 55-60yds with 1&1/4 oz of number 5 lead. On more than one occasion I managed to shoot the head clean off a bird flying overhead........not on purpose though.

If you like old tobacco tins I have quite a few under the house. If you are down my way, send me an IM and I will hunt out a couple for you.  

Diver43

I bet everytime you see the gun you smile. Each time you assemble and hold it smile more, then take it out shooting and smile for days.  Wonderful piece of family history

earlyagain

Beauty!

GunNut

Gorgeous gun but it’s those memories that make me tell you, you suck!  My father was not a hunter and not much into outdoors. I would have killed for times like that as a child.  

Big Al1

Great shotgun and even better memories!!

Zee

Pretty darn cool. 

zorba

I know what you mean about the "handing down" - I just about broke down when my father handed his firearms to me. But what a beautiful piece! Respect!

Diver43

GunNut said:

Gorgeous gun but it’s those memories that make me tell you, you suck!  My father was not a hunter and not much into outdoors. I would have killed for times like that as a child.  

I agree 100% with the Nut.
Wish I had anything like that to treasure

Antonio

Love those old SxS shotguns, specially with exposed hammers. IMHO a tad more demanding to shoot accurately than modern O&Us but still quite capable once you learn how to shoulder and swing them when facing a moving target. A hunting buddy still carries his grandad's and father's 16GA French-made Manufrance and is quite deadly with it, having been using it like you since his early years. 

Those Belgians, Spaniards and French did knew how to build nice and affordable shotguns!

waipapa13

orchidman said:

waipapa13 said:

It's hard to beat full and full, and hard to find a shotgun with chokes like that now, you hit it or you don't, which suits my shooting style

I've got my Great Grandfather's old Lefaucheaux Liege, one burst barrel, missing one hammer, lives at Mum and Dad's.
I treasure it, just wish it

With 'full and full' chokes hunting pheasants over an English Setter, I learned real quick not to shoulder the gun until the birds were at least 40 yds out.......any sooner and it killed, gutted, plucked then ate the bird. The second barrel took many birds at 55-60yds with 1&1/4 oz of number 5 lead. On more than one occasion I managed to shoot the head clean off a bird flying overhead........not on purpose though.

If you like old tobacco tins I have quite a few under the house. If you are down my way, send me an IM and I will hunt out a couple for you.  

I tend to swing through and over lead when I miss, so a lot of my shots are in the in front of or in the head on game, hence why I'm a fan of full/full, but yeah, there have been one or two smangled birds when I haven't played my part 

If it suits you next time I'm down there I'll give you a bell and we'll have to grab a beer
Wife might toss me out if I came home with any more treasures
If you have any Riverhead Gold tins hold onto them though, they are rare as hens teeth and quite valuable.