Past Guns

Past Guns
  I was in the 8th grade when I bought my first shotgun, a Stevens Model 67 pump twelve gauge. I worked all summer to save the money and had enough to buy the gun, $70.00 I believe, a box of shells and a small game license. Over the next few years I learned how to use a shotgun pretty well and did quite a lot of small game hunting with that Stevens. I sold it when I enlisted almost six years later.
 “ I probably should have kept it”.
  Those words haunt most of us as we go down the list of guns we have parted with over the years. The shotgun was just the first of many and I suppose we don’t think about the reasons for getting rid of a gun at the time, but afterwards, we always look back and think “Why did I need to get rid of it back then?”
  The next to be acquired and parted with was a Stevens 311 double twelve gauge that I bought from a fellow worker. I kept that for quite a few years but, strangely, didn’t really use it too much. I love double barreled shotguns but the big twelve with 30 inch barrels just didn’t fit me. I sold it in the eighties when my brother expressed an interest in it. They are hard to find now.
  I had a friend who was trying to liquidate his father-in-laws estate and offered me a Ruger 44 magnum semi-auto carbine for a ridiculously low price because his wife wanted it out of the house. I actually paid him more than he was asking because I didn’t want any animosity later. The silly little thing wouldn’t hit a target at 50 yards no matter what I tried, although, at the time I wasn’t aware of all the tuning tricks that owners had amassed to correct its shortcomings. It left shortly after its arrival and I really wish I had it, if only because I now have a 44 magnum handgun!
  About the time the double twelve was languishing in the gun cabinet I happened upon a new Stevens 311 double in twenty gauge. Now this little beauty really fit nicely with its 28 inch barrels and compact action. I used it for bird hunting for many years and loved it. For the life of me I can’t remember why I sold it a few years back. I have other shotguns and even several double twenty gauges but I had kind of a sentimental investment in the little Stevens.
  In between the doubles I picked up a nice Ducks Unlimited series Remington 1100 Magnum twelve gauge for a song. I used it for trap shooting on the team I was with back in the early eighties. I traded it to my brother in law one year for some contracting work when we were adding on our house. He also acquired a nice Browning O/U twenty along with it that I had gotten several years before.
  I snagged a Winchester M70 .338 Winchester magnum and traded that away a few years later; didn’t like it, kicked like a mule! I may have also been slightly prejudiced against its push feed action and post “64” crudeness! I mourn its loss only in that it was my first belted magnum rifle and I took an antelope with it.
  With handguns I was much more frugal. I still have my first handgun, my Colt .22 Scout and I think in all the years since I’ve only had one handgun that I parted with and that was an old, used Ruger Blackhawk in .357 Magnum that had serious timing problems and ended up being traded in on a new Python. I guess that shows where my real first love is, handguns!
  The last guns I parted with were special. One shotgun I willingly gave to my niece so her son could have it. It had been my Christmas present to her father, my younger brother, when he was a kid many years ago. He passed away before she ever grew up but I had her Dad’s old shotgun and thought it would be great to pass it back to her to give to her son.
         The other gun I also willing donated to a good cause was my M1903 Springfield sporter rifle which my daughter had shot her first deer with. I gave it to her on her last visit here as a gift to hand down in the future if that time ever comes.
         No regrets with either of those two.
Chris