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Since 2015, The Auberge Ar Duen in Le Domaine de la Hardounais.

The Auberge in the Brittany Forest 

In France, I am forever seeking out the remaining bits and pieces of authenticity that…
This 14th c. manuscript shows a galleon as a banquet table centerpiece for kings.

Renaissance Robotic Art – A Mechanical Galleon and Clock

It’s likely my fascination with “automata,” or automatons, dates back to a New York City…
Two Chapuis guns, a 20-gauge side-by-side Chasseur (top) and the 28-gauge Faisan Classic O/U. Two nice guns that could be great guns, with a little TLC.

A Pheasant Surprise

Leave us start with a confession:  I was fully prepared to dislike the Chapuis 28-gauge…
On Shed – As We Remember Them in the Last Days of Steam.

David Shepherd:  And There Were Also Trains

Artist David Shepherd (1931–2017) once said that he was attracted to all things “jumbo,” from…
The Winchester Model 12 is an object almost of worship among a certain slice of American shotgunners, and it deserves the respect it gets. Wieland doesn’t shoot them particularly well, but that does not make him admire them any the less.

Shotgun Meanderings

In the course of searching for some answers about some arcane aspect of shotguns, I…
Winter of '43, Somewhere in England

David Shepherd: Before Elephants, There Were Aircraft

David Shepherd’s is a well-rehearsed life in its telling. The same tales oft repeated and…
Horse Surprised by a Lion, ca. 1850

Barye Bronzes to Visit the NSL&M in Middleburg, Virginia

by Brooke Chilvers I wish I could say the larger-than-life lions in front of Manhattan’s…
Stevens-Pope in three volumes, by Warren Greatbatch and Tom Rowe. The books are massive, the photography wonderful, and the information enough to satisfy the most voracious lover of single-shot rifles.

Big Books. Big Big Books.

Some years ago, at a cocktail party connected with one of the big gun shows,…
The Dakota Traveler, in .300 H&H Magnum, built by Tony Galazan’s Connecticut Shotgun Manufacturing Company. The mounts are Talleys, the scope is a Meopta MeoSport R3-15x50 RD SFP.

Dakota Redux — We Hope

Dakota Arms, of fond and fragrant memory, could stand as an object lesson to all…
It will horrify Wieland’s side-by-side loving friends, but he’s come to the conclusion that if he ever has to limit himself to one shotgun, it will be the Blaser F3—with its eight sets of barrels, three buttstocks, and two forends. Which is hardly just one gun, is it?

Rainy Sunday in March

As I write, Skeet season is upon us—that is, the two months in which the…
We were accompanied by an excellent photographer who declined a credit. Our scout, Hunter, loading the dogs in the ancient mule wagon.

Sweet Georgia Brown

It ain’t summertime, and the livin’ ain’t particularly easy, but if you’re a quail hunter,…
Original B&P Competition One shotshells, awarded a “Gray’s Best” in 2010, and still available today (if you can find some).

Baschieri & Pellagri Update

Long-time Gray’s readers will be aware of my affection for Baschieri & Pellagri (B&P) shotshells,…