Anyone else have a lifelong shotgun?

[OkieCruffler]

I had a horrible day at work yesterday, so my wife being the angel that she is, made me go bust some clays this morning. I took my favorite Stevens 311. My grandfather bought it new in 1953. It was the first shotgun I ever shot. I was 8 and can still remember the feeling in my stomache just before I touched off that first barrel. I unwrapped it and it became mine on my 12th birthday. I found out a few years ago that my grandfather had debated giving it to me instead of buying me a new gun. He was afraid I wouldn't want some old hand me down. Over the past 19 years I've taken everything from barn mice to geese with it, and today out of 90 clays, it turned 84 of them to powder. Since that time I've bought several more shotguns, including 7 more 311's, but this is the one I always reach for. My son thinks someday he will own it, but the one who gets this one isn't born yet. I think some things need to skip a generation. People come over and ask me what this gun or that gun is worth and I always quote them a price until they get to this one. There isn't a Purdy or Parker that I'd trade her for.
So I was just wondering if anyone else had a shotgun that will never leave their collection, no matter what price.

[RAY WOODROW 3RD]

For Christmas last year my father passed down to me the first shotgun he ever owned. It's nothing fancy, High Standard 12 gauge semi-auto. I took my second deer with it. I will keep it and probably pass it down to my son. I look at it this way, if he didn't get into hunting when he was 17 I probably wouldn't be where I am today on firearms and hunting. My grandfather didn't hunt. :)

[bastiat]

I don't even remember this happening, so I'm taking my dad's word for it:

Around 17 or 18 or so, dad gave away most of his shotguns / rifles because he didn't hunt anymore. All of the kids got one. Apparently I received some sort of 20 gauge shotgun and promptly sold it to one of my brothers :rolleyes: I was probably concerned with buying a new guitar instead of having a shotgun.

Like I said, I have absolutely no recollection of selling the shotgun. One day when I'm at my brother's house I'll have to investigate exactly what I let go. Maybe he'll consider selling it back to me some day.....

[444]

I have a Winchester Model 12 that my Grandfather bought who knows when. I imagine around the time he returned from WW I. I asked my mother about it just a couple months ago, she was born in 1918 and says she always remembers him having it. When he died in 1968 it was given to my father (his son-in law). When I was a kid I always begged to shoot it but was told it "kicked too much". About the age of 12, I finally got to fire it. It has been mine ever since. I don't have a lot of stories about it because my Grandfather died when I was six. My dad wasn't a hunter so all the hunting I did with it was kind of feeling my way along on my own. I did pretty well with it and will treasure it till the day I die.

[Coronach]

Yes. I have an old 870 Wingmaster that I used to blast groundhogs as a teenager. It belonged to an uncle who passed away. That puppy isn't going anywhere. :)

Mike

[Dave McC]

I wrote a thread last year about my oldest 870 and when I got it. It's called A Christmas Past, and I believe it's in the Archives.You might enjoy reading it.

I tore that one down the other day and gave it its annual deep cleaning. No rust at all, but the finish is getting mighty thin from wear. Sure does shuck easy....

[twix]

Grandpa's Remington Sportsman 48, 20 gauge, 28" modified. Alot of birds went down with a blast of this one, usually over one of Grandpa's English Pointers. Gun still shoots fine and isn't going anywhere.

[JamesA]

I too have a model 12 winchester, nickel plated, 1936 stamp date. It belonged to my grandfather who passed on to my father and them me. I cherrish is above all firearms I own. I can remember my grandfather shot a lot of birds with it, once tripping laying on his back and shooting a pheasant. When he got to old to walk my father used to drive him sitting on the hood of the car through the fields hunting with his model 12. Though he had several other firearms this one was his favorite. It is mainly a wall hanger now, I am sure it still shoots fine as it has been kept in superb condition...thanks for asking.

[K80Geoff]

With all these threads about heirloom shotguns you guys are making me believe I had a deprived childhood.

Friends and cousins have nice doubles that were owned by dads/grandads. But I have nothing. The only gun my father left was a Walthers PP in 32 but an uncle grabbed it when he died and I was in the Army sloshing through some swamp. He claims it was stolen from him:rolleyes: when I asked for it. :mad:

So I have my own lifetime gun, and now it has a little sister in 20/28GA. If you can't figure out what it is I'm not gonna tell ya:D

[Captain Bligh]

My keeper is a Browning A-5 Light 20 (Belgian) I bought NIB mailorder (you could do that then) when I was 18 years old from Speigel's. I'm 50 now. The A-5 is in semi-retirement. It's still my bird gun because nothing points as naturally for me as an A-5. Most times now I use an 870. I like it a lot too. But, it will never replace the A-5, which I will never part with for any price.

Randy

[Kingcreek]

When I was 12 yrs old I found my dad's first shotgun under the christmas tree with my name on it- a single shot .410. On my 14th birthday I got a new 20g Ithica mod 37. I still have both.
Wish I new what ever happened to Granddad's '97.

[OkieCruffler]

Oh, pity those of us who had to learn to shoot with the .410, I had to use my dad's .410 bolt action until that 311 came along. I thought God himself had decreed that I would never hit a moving object. Never seemed to phase dad tho' he still uses the silly thing for duck hunting, and he eats alot of duck.

[swampgator]

Granddad passed away last year at age 90, I think I posted a thread about him, a true lifelong hunter. Although he didn't specifically leave it to me, but since I'm the only hunter of the bunch: Remington Model 11 bought new in 1949, the year my Mom was born. Also left an old Remington 552 Speedmaster that might wind up being completely rebuilt.

Granddad also gave me my 20 ga Mossy when I was 13, so while the Remington might get passed to my brother or dad, the Mossy will never depart Casa de Gator.

[Dave McC]

All these stories point out one thing that should be emphasized. It's neglect, not use, that renders shotguns unserviceable. Keep them clean and lubed, exercise them regularly, and maybe some grandchild of ours some day will wax nostalgic about an old family gun.

[another okie]

The gun I learned to shoot a shotgun on, my dad's Remington 1100 in .20 gauge. This gun has taken a lot of quail and dove.

[Hemicuda]

12 Ga, that belonged tomy great-grandfather...it is a simple single shot, but NOTHING in this entire world is gonna get it away from me, until I have a worthy heir to it... just toomuch history behind it...

it'salso the first shotgun I shot, and my Great Garndpa died a year after I shot it... it was the one thing Iremembered most about him, and the onlything I got (or wanted)

he had about 30 guns, and EVERYONE fought over the Krag-Jorgensen, and the original mausers... but when a snot-nosed kid asked for the beat up 12. ga., nobody batted an eyelash... silly adults!

[maxwayne]

Great topic. I have a Lefever double 12 that belonged to a great uncle. He taught me all about guns, hunting and drinking. He sold it to my dad for $20.00 about 40 years ago and I got it after my dad was gone. I also have a Winchester 1200 that my dad bought for me in 1963. It is as clean now as it was then and I took it to South Dakota this year. Hadn't shot in years and we did very well on those big SD rooster. I would love to shoot the old Lefever, but it is so badly stocked that it kicks like a mule. I still remember the first time that I shot it. Remember when you were 6 or 7 and how big 12 gauge shells looked?

[Hunter1018]

I also was handed down a stevens. My grandpa was a deer hunter back in his day and he wanted his sons to get into it to. He bought my uncle a stevens 820 and then my uncle lost interest. So he let my dad use the gun. My dad had killed dozens of deer with it, and just last year my dad let me use it on my first year with a shotgun. I remember shooting it for the first time. I shot it twice before I went hunting, and once at my doe.

The day that I can call the stevens my own will definitly be a day of joy for me.

I also was handed down a remington 16 gauge from my dad. He got it from his dad when he was twelve and so did I. I love the gun and there is no way that you could ever pay me enough to get it from me.

[mikey357]

I've got my Grandfather's old Remington Model 58 20 ga. autoloader Skeet gun...I've slain a TON of Doves and Quail with it...shot my first round of "Real" Skeet with it, as well as my first 25-straight with it in about 1975...and my first "Hunnerd Straight" with a non-12 ga. gun...ended up "Runner-Up" in the 20 ga. event at the State Shoot back in '81, using that old 58...beat TWO All-Americans in the shootoff!!! I like to think my Grandfather was watching from "Up There" and smiling...see, he passed away when I was 7...before my interest in shooting had developed, AND before I got to know him...it'd be the LAST gun I'd ever part with....mikey357

[retiredsgt]

I have a single shot, 12 ga, exposed hammer,"Long Tom", 40 " barrelled shotgun that was my uncle's. I believe it was purchased from Sears around 1900. I currently load shotgun shells for hunting squirrel with it. I load half the hull with rock salt to preserve the meat until I can get to the squirrel. I shall give this gun to my grandson.;)

[gfrey]

Well according to my wife I am not allowed to sell guns. So that makes my Rem 1100 left hand 12 guage my life time shotgun.

My Father has a 1100 right hand, and bought a 10 guage side by side. I have mentioned to my father he is not allowed to sell them to anyone else.

These stories make me glad, and I will acquire for my daughters their own as time passes.
:D

Merry Christmas!

Gfrey

[jaysouth]

In 1955 my father won a 12ga. plain jane Rem 870 in a duck calling contest. It had a plain barrel, 28" with full choke. Four or five years later, he inherited a Browning Auto-5 when his father died. No farm boy in arkansas could imagine that a finer gun was made than a browning auto-5. The 870 was handed down to me when I started hunting and helping my father guide duck hunters as the "dog boy". I used this 870 to kill everything legal to hunt in that state for several years. I got snow in the muzzle without knowing it, fired it off at a flaring duck and would up with a 23" barrel. My father took it to a smith who stuck a cutt's compensator on the end. When finished, the barrel was 24" long with the cutts and a full choke tube. I still hunt and shoot a round of skeet every now and then with it. The additional weight of the cutt's and that particular length barrel seem just perfect to me for quick pointing and smooth swing.

I like the 870 so well and have used one so much that i have acquired many more in different configurations and guages, and a couple of 760/7600 Remington Rifles. The use and functioin of these slide actions are so famaliar that I am not conscious of shucking the slide handle when shooting. I have owned some nice and expensive guns but non shoot better than the 870 that I got from my father. I intend to keep shooting this gun until my grandson is ready to shoot it. I don't know how many rounds its fired, but I've worn out a MEC 600 and a MEC Grabber loading for it. I wonder about those new Dillon loaders. Is it kosher to have a reloading press that costs 20 times what your gun did when it was new?


Jay

[Dave McC]

It's probably Kosher, but is it a good idea? If I was loading that many, I might want a Spolar.

And, you may possibly be the only respondent on this BB that has more 870s or been using them longer than I. Congrats!

[slick slidestop]

Yeah,

A Remington 1100 LT 20 guage ( LT=youth/ladies model).

I bought it with my own money when I was 12 years old when I got my first job.

I have had it 24 years now, and will NEVER sell it. I still shoot it better than my newer 11-87 Premier 12 guage. It will be in my family long after I'm gone:)

[gyp_c2]

LOL...Damn...Just thinkin' about all the 410 I blew after I got mine for Christmas a few years back...brings tears to my eyes and I get a "flashback" strawberry on my right shoulder just thinkin' about it!!! I gave it to my 9 YO last year after he passed his hunter safety course...

The very best shotgun I ever shot, was an old 20 gauge that was brand new when my Godfather got it...Remington Model 58 that I took a dove at a counted 78 paces with...28" Modified...If you couldn't hit with that one...It couldn't BE HIT!

Cool thread...My best to the instigator! ;)

[Backwoods]

Well, let's see here. I've got my Grandfathers 12ga. Stevens 311, a Stevens Farorite 22 rifle that belonged to a great uncle, and a 20ga. Ithica 37 that was the last shotgun my father owned.
None of these guns will ever be for sale of course.

I do wish though that I had the .410 Winchester M42 that dad traded for the Ithica and an over/under(22/.410) Savage/Stevens M24. The M24 was my first shotgun and less than 2 years later I inherited the Ithica. My dad was an amazing shot with the little .410 pumpgun, he always said that the little gun wouldn't shoot far so he had to shoot quick, and did. I saw him take a double on close flushing pheasants, both of them hit the ground dead inside 20 yards. I bought a Browning M42 when they came out about 10 years back, the first game I bagged was a pheasant , sure wish dad could have seen it.

Great thread

Don in Ohio