Any old Charles Daly's out there? Kinda looking for 20x20x?

Any reason for a CD specifically, collectors piece or for hunting? 20ga's of any brand are hard to find and usually quite expensive. Nice 16ga's are fare more common and are built on appropriate frames. I shoot three drillings with 16 ga barrels and various rifle chamberings.

There probably are. Many of the old Charles Daly drillings were commissioned by that New York import firm to be made in common American chamberings. The two German firms that I know made them were Lindner and Sauer, but the could have been others.

As an example, I had a Daly-Sauer hammer gun in 12x12/.30-30, which I hunted with for a number of years. They also came in 20-gauge and 10-gauge, along with 16, but not 28 and .410. The rifle chamberings ranged from .25-20 WCF to .45-70, including 25-35 and .38-55.

They were commonly made in short shotgun chamber times, also. I've owned three Dalys. My first was given to me by a good friend of my dad's when I was 12. It was a Regent Diamond grade 12-12/30-30 sidelock/side cock hammerless. I lost the gun and a 7mm Wby made on the FN action, along with 7 other guns in a burglary when I was 19.

One of my favorite drillings was a standard grade Daly 16X16/30-30. It was built on the 20ga frame. This one:

The one I have now is the same model as the 16/30-30 gun, but it's 12X12/30-30. It has 65mm chambers, but it shoots 2 3/4" field loads just fine. Photos by Steelhead, who owned it after me for a while, then sold it back to me at my request. I thank him for that.

Here's a photo of my Daly/Sauer hammer gun, which had 2-5/8" chamber. Killed the pheasant while sneaking after whitetails on a local ranch. Took a bunch of different birds with it, also including Huns, sharptails, ruffed grouse, sage grouse and ducks (the ducks using a bismuth 2-1/2" load Winchester made for a while), along with deer, both whitetails and muleys.

The tang lever was actually the barrel selector. The gun opened with a side-lever.

Properly attired with a sling...

Great Photo

Thanks, Bruce!

I have never seen a 20-gauge Daly drilling in "the flesh." but found seen them now and then on the Internet. Have you?

Do know some of the few remaining European manufacturers producing new drillings are making 20s, which from some of their website comments indicate 20-gauge drillings are becoming more popular even in Europe.

Hope all is well in Nevada. Have some 200-grain Partitions loaded up for the 8x57JRS, as grizzlies are becoming more common, now on both sides of the valley, often (of course) in upland bird cover. Always carry other backup too, but feel a little more confident with a real rifle load than anything else.

Lena the Labrador says she loves you, and Eileen says she does too, but not quite so much!

As long as Lena adores me I'm fine. I'll take Lena. Eileen's yours.

I've never seen a Daly 20ga drilling. I've seen plenty of 16s, 12s, and 10s, but no 20s. Actually, I don't remember seeing a 20 gauge Daly SXS, either. No matter. 16ga works fine. The sidelock Dalys were built on Sauer 20/16 frames, so there wouldn't be much "feel" difference.

I warmed up plenty to your hammer Daly. It was slender and balanced.

One of the interesting things about the hammer .30-30 was that even though it was obviously built around 1900, give or take, modern 170-grain factory loads shot about 2" high at 100 yards. They also chronographed over 2300 fps from the 28" barrel, very close to the 180-grain .300 Savage factory ammo I've shot in various Savage 99s with 24" barrels.

When it was built, the standard .30-30 (actually .30 WCF) factory load was a 160-grain at around 1900 fps.

PROOF the Germans were always ahead of their times.

Mine shoots 3" high at 100, BTW.

About 10 yrs ago one of my hunting buddies wanted a 20ga drilling in a caliber that was suited to deer and coyotes as he ran into a lot of coyotes while bird hunting. I bid on one for him 20ga/20ga/6.5x52R(25-35 Win) when it passed my $2500 dollar bid I asked him it he wanted me to continue, he said no. I quit watching it when it passed $6000. I couldn't talk him into a 16ga.

They are accurate, both my 16ga/16ga/7x57R and 16ga/16ga/6.5x58R Sauer are sub MOA rifles if you let them cool between and that is with low power scopes 1.5x fixed and 1.5-4.5x20mm

When I was a kid, 16's were the elegant, all 'round Queen of the fields. Still are at my house. It's a shame the uninformed choose to stay that way.

I think I recognize that drilling.
Ronnie

How's it working for you?

Good when I use it. It’s mostly sat in the safe last year or so. I’ve yet to kill a deer with it, mostly just squirrels.
Ronnie

This is making me want one...a 16/16x30-30 would do nicely.
Bob

Resurrecting this thread as I jumped yet another grouse today while holding my .308. This is after I jumped a deer last weekend while holding my 12 gauge loaded with #6 shot for - yes - grouse. 🤦‍♂️