Scattergun

Bonhomie – Pedersoli’s new side-by-side is a modern shotgun with a classical twist, and it will be right at home for you at the range or afield.

STORY AND PHOTOS BY MIKE NESBITT

Dedicated scattergunners have probably realized by now that, although I’ve shot their preferred choice of gun for many years, I’ve never considered myself a shotgunner. It’s not that I have anything against them; it’s just that for me, shotguns have always taken a backseat to rifles and rifle shooting, especially when it comes to using black powder. But after seeing, handling and shooting a fine Pedersoli 12-gauge double with twin outside hammers, I think my priorities might start to shift a bit.

Pedersoli calls this side-by-side their “Bohemienne,” or Bohemian.  Comparing it to the standards of today, this shotgun is definitely nonconformist, and it is good enough that we can refer to it as being somewhat irregular. It is a cut above many others, and for me it is delightful in many ways, especially with its double outside hammers.

I want to emphasize one point right from the beginning. In most gun reviews like this one, contact information is provided so consumers get more information about the gun can described, but all too often the dealers at local gun shops don’t receive guidance about how to stock them. But this fine shotgun is available through the Italian Firearms Group,
a partnership that supplies the U.S. dealer network with the best products of multiple Italian gun makers.

The Italian Firearms Group was established in 2010, and represents some of that country’s top firearms craftsmen: F.A.I.R, Sabatti and Pedersoli. By going directly to IFG, dealers can make rather quick contact to get wholesale pricing and other useful information in regard to getting firearms to sell.

THE PEDERSOLI LA BOHEMIENNE is a striking piece, to say the least. It is a classically styled, double-barreled 12-gauge shotgun with double outside hammers. The 28-inch browned barrels have 3-inch chambers, and are equipped with interchangeable chokes at the muzzles. The pistol grip and the fore-end each offer checkering for comfort, a good grip and, quite honestly, beauty. And speaking of, the frame is color casehardened and features hand-finished engraving. Overall length of the shotgun is just under 46 inches, and it weighs about 7¾ pounds.

The hammers are rebounding, so they don’t have or use half-cock notches. Rebounding hammers are, in my opinion, a good safety measure. If the gun is cocked and the hammer needs to be returned to its “down” position, you just hold the hammer back, pull the trigger, and slowly ease the hammer forward while releasing the trigger. The hammers cannot go far enough forward to hit the firing pins unless the triggers are held back.

In addition to that, the gun is also equipped with a sliding safety, the very same as on a hammerless double, so the gun can be put on safety while the hammers are in the cocked position. The sliding safety does not move to the safe position when the gun is opened.

This gun is not specifically a black powder shotgun, not like a muzzle-loading shotgun would be. Instead, the Bohemienne is a finely made modern shotgun with modern steels in the barrels, so it is right at home with modern loads and with steel shot. While using steel shot, however, the changeable chokes should be used with only cylinder or improved-cylinder at the muzzles because the steel shot is simply not as compressible as lead.

At the same time, in my most humble opinion, this gun is such a classic that it had “black powder” written all over it, and my choice for shooting it immediately fell to black powder loads for ammunition. That ammunition came from Buffalo Arms Company in northern Idaho. They offer a variety of shotgun loads with black powder, and the one I selected to use the most was loaded with 3 drams (82 grains) of black powder under 11/8 ounce of size 7½ lead shot.

THE BLACK POWDER SHOT SHELLS from Buffalo Arms Company are rather classic themselves. They are loaded in good old-fashioned paper hulls, and are nicely star-crimped at the mouth. Inside, these shells are loaded with what we might call “old style” components.

Dave Gullo, owner of Buffalo Arms, described the loads this way: “An important feature to our shotgun ammo is that it’s loaded with nitro overshot wads and fiber overpowder wads, not plastic wads, so that the shooter is not needing to scrub plastic out of their barrels when they are done shooting.”

At first, I couldn’t help notice what I will call rather heavy trigger pulls. I know that “rather heavy” is a relative expression. I’m most comfortable with the very lightly set triggers on muzzle-loading rifles and my favorite Sharps, so perhaps I wasn’t the best prepared for what this shotgun required. When I called for my first bird on the sporting clays range, I followed it until it was out of sight and the gun hadn’t fired. For my next try, I was more prepared.

The trigger pulls were actually quite fine, breaking very sharp and crisp, while remaining a bit on the heavy side. I realized that one reason for those trigger pulls being “heavy” is so the gun can be fired while both hammers are cocked. In this way, with its associated recoil, the jarring of one barrel going off will not release the second hammer. In other words, this gun will not “double” on you, which could be a memorable experience you wouldn’t want to have.

After I “caught up” with the gun, the good hits began to come one after the other. As you can guess, that’s when the fun really took over, and using this shotgun became a delight.

Our muzzle-loading club has a target known as the “slice of pie” that is used for a particular match with flintlock smoothbores during our Trade Gun Frolic. The slice of pie is used in a luck shoot where each shooter gets just one shot at 25 yards while using buckshot. It’s hard enough just to get some hits on the paper, and a shooter must be lucky to get any score at all.

Just to give this Pedersoli 12-gauge a chance, I took one shot at the slice of pie while using 00 buckshot. This was done with the Pedersoli’s left barrel, with the modified choke, and six hits are seen on the target (see photo at left) but with zero for a score. That shot was just another part of the fun.

There isn’t a whole lot more I can tell you about the Pedersoli La Bohemienne that wouldn’t simply be echoes of what I’ve already written. It is a very fine classic double-barreled 12-gauge, priced in the neighborhood of $2,100. And with the black powder loads, it provides classic shotgun shooting at its best.

For more information about Pedersoli, the La Bohemienne, and other finely crafted shotguns, visit italianfirearmsgroup.com. To learn more about the Buffalo Arms Company’s black powder shotgun loads in 10 and 12 gauges, visit buffaloarms.com. ASJ