


June 15, 2009
Bourjaily: Fun Guns
What’s your idea of a fun gun?
The question came up last week when I gathered five testers for the annual Best of the Best shotgun test. One of the entries was Rossi’s new Tuffy, their version of the .410 Snake Charmer single shot. It weighs three pounds, has an 18.5 inch barrel and a very short thumbhole stock that holds extra shells. It has practical applications as a backpacking, truck or boat gun, I guess, but my bet is, most people buy them because they’re cute, inexpensive, and they look like fun. During the test, we tried a round of skeet with the Tuffy.

One of my testers, Bob, shot the whole round practically without a miss. It didn’t matter if he shot the Tuffy one handed , held at arm’s length like a pistol, or from the shoulder, scrunched over the short stock. He crushed everything. Turns out, his son used to have an old Snake Charmer (a very similar gun) and Bob had shot a ton of skeet with it, just for fun.
I have to admit, I am immune to the charm of .410s, quite likely because I can’t hit much with them. In fact, when it comes to fun guns, the most I can remember giggling over a shotgun lately was the day my son John and I shot handthrown clays with a Remington SP-10. It’s a massive 10 gauge semiauto, at 11 ½ pounds, and the gas action soaks up any kick the weight doesn’t take care of. Pull the trigger and there’s a huge boom, and no recoil, just a feeling as if God had laid His finger politely but firmly on your shoulder and asked you to take a step backward. The target, meanwhile, disappears. Now that was my idea of a fun gun. What’s yours?
Comments (56)
Snake Charmers are a favorite of serious mako shark chasing charter captains in the Northeast.
I would have to say the Ruger 10/22 Charger... for what looks like a toy gun, I had a lot of fun with the darn thing.
Ditto with the 10/22. No limit to customization, reasonably priced, and I don't break the bank by shooting 400 rounds in one sitting. My buddies and I compete for hours with dueling trees or any other competition we can come up with.
Ruger .22 Auto pistol with a suppressor.
Really neat to pull the trigger and see a hole appear on target and the only sound (almost) is the action opening and closing. And no earmuffs needed!
That does look like fun.
I think I'll just stick to "The Judge!"
My SKS Carbine and .30 Carbine are both a blast to plink with.
Gotta say, flintlocks are my favorite. I really like any gun with a historical twist to them: flints, cowboy guns, WWI and WWII. They're all good, but flints are my favorite.
Yea, I'd have to go with the 10/22 too.
Pardon the lame joke but my 12 double is a "blast"
A pump action .22 always brings grins. Just a blast to pump and shoot. Can go through way too many shells in just a short time, though. I like the Remington 572. Accurate, good looking, and well made.
My favorite is a custom made flintlock longrifle. Fun to shoot and a beauty to look at and hold. There's a pic of it in my profile photo file.
They use those little snake charmers in Alaska to put out the lights on trophy Halibut.
Nothing is more fun to shoot than an M1 Carbine! It's a big boy's 10/22... although with the recent increase in the price of ammo my 10/22 and Ruger MKII .22 pistol are seeing a lot more action.
I agree that with shotguns, big = fun. A semi-auto 12 is about as fun as shotguns get. You have the power, and you also have the cheapo ammo to burn without burning your wallet.
As much as I shouldn't shoot it as much as I do lately, My Luger is furiously fun to unload with.
My Benelli- Boom,Boom,Boom
my ar 15 on long distance wood chucks , my Remington model 12 22 pump or my Remington model 25 pump in 32-20 are a great fun at the range toss out a couple of soft balls and see how far you can roll them out to my son loves it .
I have to agree with all the fellas who put in a vote for the 10-22, although I always wanted an M1 carbine (I got to shoot one once and loved it, I'd rather have an M1 carbine than an SKS, which I have also tried out). My 10-22 has a laminated thumbhole stock and a Green Mountain heavy target barrel with a 3x to 6x Tasco scope. It is SUCH a tack driver it even makes little ole myopic me shoot good.
I also love black powder but although I have a flintlock I have the most fun with my replica 1858 Remington Texas Model cap'n ball revolver. I had so much fun with mine my friends got BP revolvers too, oh the sulfurous clouds of smoke we make!
Gotta second MLH ... Remington's pump action .22 is the most fun gun I've shot. For some reason people at the range always look at me kind of weird when I pull it out and start shooting ... don't know if they've never seen one or what.
Gotta be my son's M-1 Carbine...shoots like a house afire with little recoil and enough stuff to bring home something for the cook pot, too.
As fot just plinking,I got to love my 10/22 that my dad gave me about 14 years ago to teach my to shoot. Its fun, cheap, and reliable. Still one of my favorite guns.
For clays, Its got to be my friends dads 870 marine with 18.5 barrel and 6 round mag that he uses as a local cop. Its quick to point and feels like it belongs on the shoulder.
My most "fun" and memorable experience was, at age nine, having the chace to shoot an authentic WWII 9mm submachine gun. It belonged to a retired Colonel, who of course had his FFL... that was the best damn birthday party I ever went to! We still have pictures of me and my brother shooting it... oh the looks on our faces! Considering our age and the general impression made by the experience, I am not sure any other shooting experience will ever compare!
My Savage 24 in .30-30 over 12 gauge is a fun gun. It always attracts curious attention at the range when I fire the rifle and shotgun barrels in quick succession. It is also a practical hunting gun during the overlapping turkey and feral hog seasons in Georgia.
Although I don't own them, I agree that the SKS, M-1 Carbine and venerable 10/22 are very fun! Any gun that you can shoot a bunch of rounds from cheaply and with little recoil can be tons of fun.
Gotta be my M1 Garand followed by a close second by a Marlin 1897 Cowboy 22LR.
Forgot to mention a Model 94 in 410, it's a blast to shoot clays with but isn't much good for anything else. When you shoot clays with this gun it's hard to wipe the grin off your face!
I would have to say it is a toss up between my old model .44 mag Ruger Super Blackhawks or my Barrett 82A1. I like to see dirt fly when I shoot something.
Another vote for the M-1 Carbine, the most fun gun I ever had, cheap enough to run a few hundred rounds thru in an outing if you reloaded. I used to load 110 gr Speer Varminter bullets into it, shreaded old tree stumps!
In addition to the M1 Carbine, I have to put in a vote for the SAR-1 (Semi-only AK clone). It's light, handles well and the ammo's pretty cheap. About as good a range toy as anything else out there. Forget about people's "feelings" towards these kinds of guns--shooting's supposed to be fun, right?
any semi auto is a blast to shoot bambambambambambambam!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
leveractions too nothing like burning up some powder in a levergun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A day plinking with my Henry lever action 22 is the most fun I've had in a long time.
A walk in the woods with a bag of ammo and nothing else to do, best time I've ever had.
My Winchester 9417 shooting sparows at 75 yards, it is a blast. It costs a little more for ammo than the 22 but for th eaccuracy you can't beat it.
Whatever gun I have in my grubby hands at the moment.
My break action pellet rifle. I keep it by the kitchen door and have taken more critters with it than any other gun. Great practice for bigger game, and it feeds the trapline!
I'll take my flintlocks...
Pistol 1. Walther PP 7.65mm (.32) S&W 686 Plus, Any 1911A1
Shotguns, 1, Rem 1100, 2.Any S/S 3. Rem. 870 12 GAUGES Of Course
Rifles 1, Rem 700 ANY Caliber, M1 Carbine, Ruger 10-22
BIG Weapons M-79 Greanade Launger, LAW, M60 MG
Abrams Tank Gun
I bought a semi-auto Tommy Gun. Very fun to shoot, but also very expensive. Fun to shoot from the hip down range.
Stevens .410 pump gun. Expensive to shoot but fun.
Would like to get a .30 M-1 Carbine. Haven't shot one in 37 years!
I use Marlin model 57M for fun stuff. But I agree with the flintlock lovers, I need to get one!
I have to vote for my Remington Model 66. It is light, so easy to tote, accurate, no hearing protection and just plain fun.
anything with 22lr or 17 hmr or any rimfire is fun to shoot no matter what action theire in.. and lots of old military weapons too.. but the gun that factually made me giggle like a little girl and coo and flush and shake and almost pee myself was when i got to touch off a whalingcannon twice in the harbour against an empty oildrum..
I soooooo wanted one in the yard:P
mlh you like the 572 , you need to poke around and find a Remington model 12 take down with a tapered octagon barrel. no one in the world builds a 22 pump like that any more sadly not even remington . and NO mine is not for sale
I have never had as much fun as I did when I took out my Kentucky Kit rifle that I built from Traditions. I thought it was cheesy but spent a lot of time whipping it into shape. When I finally got the stock finished to my liking and the barrel blued I thought I would probably put it away and forget about it. But I took it out with a box of lead balls and a pound of powder and I couldn't stop. I was completely addicted. I will probably never hunt with the thing because I already have an inline that I shoot hollow points out of but I have had that rifle out three times since Memorial Day and just think it is a blast to shoot and surprisingly accurate (given you need a hammer and a metal file to do any adjustments to the sites). After a little practice I can put a few in the bull at 50 and that is a great feeling from something you spent so much time on.
I would vote for almost anything that is a .22lr. Fun, relatively quite, and even after all the jumps in ammo prices, still cheap to shoot. Recently got to fire a silenced Ruger Mark II pistol and that was almost scary fun. With sub-sonic ammo all you hear is the action cycling. Awesome!
I have an .45 flintlock maade by Danny Caywood from Arkansas. It has fast lock time and is deadly on everything from targets to deer. Ah, the gentle push of the recoil, the smell of black powder, the tiny groups. I'll take a "Caywood" rifle any day!!
I will go with those who agree that the .30 M1 carbine is a fun plinker.
A Winchester 9422 in .22wrm. Great accurrate deadly on critters up to coyotes. Opensighted, easy pointing.
My Mossberg 300 win/mag with a black synthetic skeleton stock with a floating barrell is the best there is! I have a blast shooting it. The big game never knows what hit them!!
Any pump rifle is a blast.
Fun gun? Surplus military rifle, any. Twenty years ago I showed up at a local range on deer season sight-in day with an Egyptian Hakim in 8mm Mauser (7.92 x 57), and the "sight in" guys all had to run through a mag each before I got to shoot my own rifle. I've had SKSs and Japanese 7.7 Arisakas, and still kick myself for selling my last .308 Indian surplus Enfield #4. Surplus military rifles are the anti-Krieghoffs of the gun world; they are noisy, poorly finished, rattle, are heavy, have lousy wood, and after an afternoon spent going through tons of corrosive foreign ammo, you get to clean the bores with soap and water. Punchline; they usually shoot pretty straight! What's not to love? Those of you who who want to spend the day at the loading bench may do so; let me shoot up a hundred rounds of surplus 7.62 x 39 Yugoslavian (if I can ever find any again), and I'm a happy man.
Gotta be the 10/22.
I have the most fun with my S&W 686 Plus!
My "go to'fun gun depends on which season is coming up(20 ga. rem 1100 shotgun at clays before bird season, 17 hmr savage before rifle season, all handguns from .22 to .44 anytime!).
HOW BOUT A MORTAR? GOT TO BE A FUN GUN. INJUNS USED TWO CALL CANNONS "TWO BOOMERS" BECAUSE OF THE EXPLOSION AT THE BARREL AND AT THE TARGET. BIG BOOM...WHISTLE...BOOM...FIRE AND BRIMSTONE!
I must be different than everybody else. Every gun I have ever had was fun! In fact I think in the whole skeme of things, I have been short changed on my share of gun fun.
a homemade black powder gun with a bore just big enough for a patched golf ball and a floating milk jug target anchored in my pond 350 yds away. I get the balls for free by diving in a creek near a driving range, I have a high bank and miles of woods for a backstop, and the gun came from a gunsmith who's one condition for making it was that I never tell where I got it. And yes, we have hit the jug.
Something that makes me feel manly. AR, .44...
I've got an Enfield No. 4 MK1 and there's nothing like hearing one of those big slow moving soft points singing down range. Reminds me of the sound those bow-tie space ships from star wars make.
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A pump action .22 always brings grins. Just a blast to pump and shoot. Can go through way too many shells in just a short time, though. I like the Remington 572. Accurate, good looking, and well made.
any semi auto is a blast to shoot bambambambambambambam!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
leveractions too nothing like burning up some powder in a levergun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I would have to say the Ruger 10/22 Charger... for what looks like a toy gun, I had a lot of fun with the darn thing.
Ditto with the 10/22. No limit to customization, reasonably priced, and I don't break the bank by shooting 400 rounds in one sitting. My buddies and I compete for hours with dueling trees or any other competition we can come up with.
My SKS Carbine and .30 Carbine are both a blast to plink with.
Gotta say, flintlocks are my favorite. I really like any gun with a historical twist to them: flints, cowboy guns, WWI and WWII. They're all good, but flints are my favorite.
Yea, I'd have to go with the 10/22 too.
my ar 15 on long distance wood chucks , my Remington model 12 22 pump or my Remington model 25 pump in 32-20 are a great fun at the range toss out a couple of soft balls and see how far you can roll them out to my son loves it .
As fot just plinking,I got to love my 10/22 that my dad gave me about 14 years ago to teach my to shoot. Its fun, cheap, and reliable. Still one of my favorite guns.
For clays, Its got to be my friends dads 870 marine with 18.5 barrel and 6 round mag that he uses as a local cop. Its quick to point and feels like it belongs on the shoulder.
My most "fun" and memorable experience was, at age nine, having the chace to shoot an authentic WWII 9mm submachine gun. It belonged to a retired Colonel, who of course had his FFL... that was the best damn birthday party I ever went to! We still have pictures of me and my brother shooting it... oh the looks on our faces! Considering our age and the general impression made by the experience, I am not sure any other shooting experience will ever compare!
My Savage 24 in .30-30 over 12 gauge is a fun gun. It always attracts curious attention at the range when I fire the rifle and shotgun barrels in quick succession. It is also a practical hunting gun during the overlapping turkey and feral hog seasons in Georgia.
Although I don't own them, I agree that the SKS, M-1 Carbine and venerable 10/22 are very fun! Any gun that you can shoot a bunch of rounds from cheaply and with little recoil can be tons of fun.
My break action pellet rifle. I keep it by the kitchen door and have taken more critters with it than any other gun. Great practice for bigger game, and it feeds the trapline!
anything with 22lr or 17 hmr or any rimfire is fun to shoot no matter what action theire in.. and lots of old military weapons too.. but the gun that factually made me giggle like a little girl and coo and flush and shake and almost pee myself was when i got to touch off a whalingcannon twice in the harbour against an empty oildrum..
I soooooo wanted one in the yard:P
My "go to'fun gun depends on which season is coming up(20 ga. rem 1100 shotgun at clays before bird season, 17 hmr savage before rifle season, all handguns from .22 to .44 anytime!).
HOW BOUT A MORTAR? GOT TO BE A FUN GUN. INJUNS USED TWO CALL CANNONS "TWO BOOMERS" BECAUSE OF THE EXPLOSION AT THE BARREL AND AT THE TARGET. BIG BOOM...WHISTLE...BOOM...FIRE AND BRIMSTONE!
Snake Charmers are a favorite of serious mako shark chasing charter captains in the Northeast.
Ruger .22 Auto pistol with a suppressor.
Really neat to pull the trigger and see a hole appear on target and the only sound (almost) is the action opening and closing. And no earmuffs needed!
That does look like fun.
I think I'll just stick to "The Judge!"
My favorite is a custom made flintlock longrifle. Fun to shoot and a beauty to look at and hold. There's a pic of it in my profile photo file.
They use those little snake charmers in Alaska to put out the lights on trophy Halibut.
Nothing is more fun to shoot than an M1 Carbine! It's a big boy's 10/22... although with the recent increase in the price of ammo my 10/22 and Ruger MKII .22 pistol are seeing a lot more action.
I agree that with shotguns, big = fun. A semi-auto 12 is about as fun as shotguns get. You have the power, and you also have the cheapo ammo to burn without burning your wallet.
As much as I shouldn't shoot it as much as I do lately, My Luger is furiously fun to unload with.
My Benelli- Boom,Boom,Boom
Gotta second MLH ... Remington's pump action .22 is the most fun gun I've shot. For some reason people at the range always look at me kind of weird when I pull it out and start shooting ... don't know if they've never seen one or what.
Gotta be my son's M-1 Carbine...shoots like a house afire with little recoil and enough stuff to bring home something for the cook pot, too.
Gotta be my M1 Garand followed by a close second by a Marlin 1897 Cowboy 22LR.
Forgot to mention a Model 94 in 410, it's a blast to shoot clays with but isn't much good for anything else. When you shoot clays with this gun it's hard to wipe the grin off your face!
I would have to say it is a toss up between my old model .44 mag Ruger Super Blackhawks or my Barrett 82A1. I like to see dirt fly when I shoot something.
Another vote for the M-1 Carbine, the most fun gun I ever had, cheap enough to run a few hundred rounds thru in an outing if you reloaded. I used to load 110 gr Speer Varminter bullets into it, shreaded old tree stumps!
In addition to the M1 Carbine, I have to put in a vote for the SAR-1 (Semi-only AK clone). It's light, handles well and the ammo's pretty cheap. About as good a range toy as anything else out there. Forget about people's "feelings" towards these kinds of guns--shooting's supposed to be fun, right?
A day plinking with my Henry lever action 22 is the most fun I've had in a long time.
A walk in the woods with a bag of ammo and nothing else to do, best time I've ever had.
My Winchester 9417 shooting sparows at 75 yards, it is a blast. It costs a little more for ammo than the 22 but for th eaccuracy you can't beat it.
Whatever gun I have in my grubby hands at the moment.
I'll take my flintlocks...
I bought a semi-auto Tommy Gun. Very fun to shoot, but also very expensive. Fun to shoot from the hip down range.
Stevens .410 pump gun. Expensive to shoot but fun.
Would like to get a .30 M-1 Carbine. Haven't shot one in 37 years!
I use Marlin model 57M for fun stuff. But I agree with the flintlock lovers, I need to get one!
I have to vote for my Remington Model 66. It is light, so easy to tote, accurate, no hearing protection and just plain fun.
mlh you like the 572 , you need to poke around and find a Remington model 12 take down with a tapered octagon barrel. no one in the world builds a 22 pump like that any more sadly not even remington . and NO mine is not for sale
I have never had as much fun as I did when I took out my Kentucky Kit rifle that I built from Traditions. I thought it was cheesy but spent a lot of time whipping it into shape. When I finally got the stock finished to my liking and the barrel blued I thought I would probably put it away and forget about it. But I took it out with a box of lead balls and a pound of powder and I couldn't stop. I was completely addicted. I will probably never hunt with the thing because I already have an inline that I shoot hollow points out of but I have had that rifle out three times since Memorial Day and just think it is a blast to shoot and surprisingly accurate (given you need a hammer and a metal file to do any adjustments to the sites). After a little practice I can put a few in the bull at 50 and that is a great feeling from something you spent so much time on.
I would vote for almost anything that is a .22lr. Fun, relatively quite, and even after all the jumps in ammo prices, still cheap to shoot. Recently got to fire a silenced Ruger Mark II pistol and that was almost scary fun. With sub-sonic ammo all you hear is the action cycling. Awesome!
I have an .45 flintlock maade by Danny Caywood from Arkansas. It has fast lock time and is deadly on everything from targets to deer. Ah, the gentle push of the recoil, the smell of black powder, the tiny groups. I'll take a "Caywood" rifle any day!!
I will go with those who agree that the .30 M1 carbine is a fun plinker.
A Winchester 9422 in .22wrm. Great accurrate deadly on critters up to coyotes. Opensighted, easy pointing.
My Mossberg 300 win/mag with a black synthetic skeleton stock with a floating barrell is the best there is! I have a blast shooting it. The big game never knows what hit them!!
Any pump rifle is a blast.
Fun gun? Surplus military rifle, any. Twenty years ago I showed up at a local range on deer season sight-in day with an Egyptian Hakim in 8mm Mauser (7.92 x 57), and the "sight in" guys all had to run through a mag each before I got to shoot my own rifle. I've had SKSs and Japanese 7.7 Arisakas, and still kick myself for selling my last .308 Indian surplus Enfield #4. Surplus military rifles are the anti-Krieghoffs of the gun world; they are noisy, poorly finished, rattle, are heavy, have lousy wood, and after an afternoon spent going through tons of corrosive foreign ammo, you get to clean the bores with soap and water. Punchline; they usually shoot pretty straight! What's not to love? Those of you who who want to spend the day at the loading bench may do so; let me shoot up a hundred rounds of surplus 7.62 x 39 Yugoslavian (if I can ever find any again), and I'm a happy man.
Gotta be the 10/22.
I have the most fun with my S&W 686 Plus!
I must be different than everybody else. Every gun I have ever had was fun! In fact I think in the whole skeme of things, I have been short changed on my share of gun fun.
a homemade black powder gun with a bore just big enough for a patched golf ball and a floating milk jug target anchored in my pond 350 yds away. I get the balls for free by diving in a creek near a driving range, I have a high bank and miles of woods for a backstop, and the gun came from a gunsmith who's one condition for making it was that I never tell where I got it. And yes, we have hit the jug.
Pardon the lame joke but my 12 double is a "blast"
I have to agree with all the fellas who put in a vote for the 10-22, although I always wanted an M1 carbine (I got to shoot one once and loved it, I'd rather have an M1 carbine than an SKS, which I have also tried out). My 10-22 has a laminated thumbhole stock and a Green Mountain heavy target barrel with a 3x to 6x Tasco scope. It is SUCH a tack driver it even makes little ole myopic me shoot good.
I also love black powder but although I have a flintlock I have the most fun with my replica 1858 Remington Texas Model cap'n ball revolver. I had so much fun with mine my friends got BP revolvers too, oh the sulfurous clouds of smoke we make!
Pistol 1. Walther PP 7.65mm (.32) S&W 686 Plus, Any 1911A1
Shotguns, 1, Rem 1100, 2.Any S/S 3. Rem. 870 12 GAUGES Of Course
Rifles 1, Rem 700 ANY Caliber, M1 Carbine, Ruger 10-22
BIG Weapons M-79 Greanade Launger, LAW, M60 MG
Abrams Tank Gun
Something that makes me feel manly. AR, .44...
I've got an Enfield No. 4 MK1 and there's nothing like hearing one of those big slow moving soft points singing down range. Reminds me of the sound those bow-tie space ships from star wars make.
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