Our Photo Of The Day brings memories to how stagecoaches were protected once upon a time in The Wild West.

I am not so sure the “Wild West” is so much calmer these days, so a side-by-side like this is probably not too bad to have at home by the bed (where allowed) in case of emergency.

The picture is from Shrombo’s collection of gun pictures, used with permission. Here is his description of his find:

When I saw this Czech side-by-side 16-gauge shotgun sitting forgotten at my local gunsmith‘s shop, I knew I had to have it!

I especially like the black system, this one even has real sidelocks! And as nobody wants side-by-sides any more, and even less 16-gauges for that matter, I got it basically for free (or at least very close to free 😉).

But I didn’t want it in its original configuration – so I had the barrels shortened, the front sling loop installed nearer to the stock and the rear stock shortened to balance the looks somewhat & install a new recoil pad.

Then I had the gunsmith install rifle sights, because this baby will only be shooting slugs from now on.

The rear sights are still waaaaay to high, these will be filed down when we sight in the shotgun.