Henry Rifle Forums

Stroke it, shoot it.
In the old days, their short length made them perfect for protecting stagecoaches, hence, "coach guns."
Today, they are a good pickup gun, a good gun to carry in the utv, or slung over the shoulder.
Mostly they are fun.

Jdl447 wrote:What does one do with a coach gun?

Shoot thrown claybirds, tincans with a few rocks in them, or maybe do a little cottontail hunting.
Mine has changable chokes, I have the right barrel cylinder bore, the left modified.
Really they're just fun to shoot. I go through a lot of low brass birdshot shells without ever harming a fly.
We killed a bunch of water jugs, rotting melons and crabapples but not much else.
There's a basic appeal to the old doubles, much like the lever action rifles have.
pop pop...... pop pop..

Here are pics of the Coach Guns in my Collection:
First the Husqvarna... it doesn't look bad for a gun made in the late 1800s. Close up of the action Then my Stoeger

JCN wrote:

JEBar wrote:if they were to announce a 12 ga Henry, external hammer, Coach Gun would be one I'd instantly place an order for

I feel the same way but I'd prefer 20 gauge.

At some point they will make it, I have faith!

I'd almost certainly would order a 20 as well

Jdl447 wrote:What does one do with a coach gun?

You can't really hunt with them, unless you have a modern version with interchangeable choke tubes, a pump shotgun is more up to the task for an all around hunting/self defense gun.

I used to use one for shooting CAS, but switched to the Winchester 97.

For the most part, it's for the "cool factor" of having something with two big 'ol menacing holes... in my opinion, a great qualification for a "house gun" along with their maneuverability. Yeah.. only two shots, but I can tell you from my experience in CAS, you can repeatedly reload and get aditional shots off surprisingly fast.

Getting a coach gun falls into the same category as lever actions... tradition, fun, just because, and why not?

I have a couple of Stevens 235 hammer shotguns, and it's been a back burner project to cut the barrels on one down to coach gun length, and then fit them to the other gun, to have a two barrel set (long and short) for one, and then have the other one just for parts, since it's in worse shape cosmetically.

The Stevens 235 is unique for a hammer gun, as it was made in the early 1900's for smokeless powder, solid steel, not Damascus barrels.

I see. I actually have 12 ga SxS,a Stevens with 28" barrels mod.and full ,I think I paid $180.00 for it brand new back in the 80's. I'll just call it my coach gun

BrokenolMarine wrote:Here are pics of the Coach Guns in my Collection:
First the Husqvarna... it doesn't look bad for a gun made in the late 1800s.

Is that the same company that makes the chainsaw?

Jdl447 wrote:What does one do with a coach gun?

Yeah, and therein lies the question. As I've stated, I'm not one to collect things or have things hanging around.

Other than just being really neat, it's kind of hard to answer that

I like the comparison to a lever rifle. Not the most modern version but certainly a lot of fun.

Henry88 wrote:

BrokenolMarine wrote:Here are pics of the Coach Guns in my Collection:
First the Husqvarna... it doesn't look bad for a gun made in the late 1800s.

Is that the same company that makes the chainsaw?

As I noted in my original post... ... yup. These are those same folks. Way before they started making chainsaws, they were known for quality firearms. Some were engraved presentation grade hunting pieces. Others were everyday working pieces.