Well, my father was orphaned in the year of the stock market crash, 1929. He laid in a orphanage for 18 months (and, to this day, has a flat on the back of his head from spending so much time in a crib) until he was placed in a foster home. The family never adopted him, for the simple reason he represented a check every month, however, his "adopted" father and grandfather loved him to pieces from all accounts. His father was employed at a Standard oil station, and delivered fuel oil, and his grandfather was a shoemaker. Salt of the earth, for sure.
His Dad's gun was a H & R single in 12 gauge. I know for sure he told my dad he couldn't afford a Winchester 37, and didn't need more than one shot. The gun may have been purchased used-most of the family's guns were. When my father was old enough, he was given a used .410 version of the same gun, which his father had worked a few weekends on a road sign building crew to earn the money for. Dad also had a nameless bolt action .22 single shot of some sort. My dad's father always said the depression "hung around" St. Paul for longer than it did the rest of the country, but I don't know why.
Dad's Grandfather gave to my dad a steel barreled double 12 of some sort, that my dad attempted restocking for a high school woodshop project. Dad says it was low end, and had few, if any markings. The fact it was given to him shows it was pretty well used up by the early 1940s. The restock turned out quite nicely, and dad traded it, and a 'coupla years worth of newspaper route and after school cannery job money for a Remington 241, in about 1946. He still owns that gun, and claims it is the sole reason he came out of Marine Corp boot camp with a PFC rank-he could shoot better than anyone there, including his instructor.
My Dad says the war years were good to him, as he always could find a good job, and there were plenty of hunting opportunities-I suppose everyone else was in the service and a 14 year old looked good if there wasn't anyone else around to work. A 241 was not a cheap gun. Dad shot everything with .22s, as the ammunition was easier to come by for him during the war (neighbors often would trade him .22 rounds for a few of whatever he shot.)
Dad didn't get a repeating shotgun until after he made Sergeant, in about 1950. But, he never looked back. He has several O/Us but, just about everything else is an autoloader. And those are the ones he uses.
Best,
Ted
