John,
I have one of the last articles Francis E. Sell wrote pertaining to his thoughts on the 20 gauge for duck and goose hunting. It is in the 1977 Gun Digest, and is titled "The 20 Comes of Age". Although his own Richland 20 magnum makes appearances in several photos, he makes no mention of the make, and states he restocked it for himself. He appears to have moved on from Richland to Knight & Knight, a firm in Florida that imported and customized Bernardelli and Perazzi guns. He was very specific about bore dimensions, forcing cone lengths, and choke diameter and lengths, and an article from 1968 (and, my skeets gauge) shows that it was all the same specs when he was with Richland.
I often wonder if the steel shot requirements that came in around the same time broke his heart, as they made all the work he did irrelevant.
Dr. Sane,
In 1968, I could buy a gun with white line spacers, a polyester leasure suit, and bell bottom jeans.
Save buying used at the Salvation Army store, I can't buy any of those things, today. Not even a new gun with white line spacers. Plastic, elegant, or, refined white line spacers.
"Contemporaneous" sure seems to fit.
Best,
Ted
