Of course a pad was an add-on in most cases. But then so were single triggers, ejectors, beavertail forends, vent ribs . . . and there are plenty of doubles that came from the various factories with those options. If we're talking field grade guns, certainly the majority were double trigger, extractor, and didn't have a pad. But the odds of finding any of the options increased as you move up in grade. And certainly M/F was the most common choke combination, especially on guns with 28" barrels. But if you go down in barrel length, you're more likely to find more open chokes than on 28"; longer than 28", more likely to find F/F. And having owned a couple 28" Flues guns with barrels marked 0/4, I think 95%+ is more than a bit high when applied to ALL prewar American sxs.
Hunter Arms, who built more guns than Parker, Fox, Iver Johnson, Crescent and the offshoots, Ithaca etc. each individually.......produced 176,116 guns from 1913 through 1945.....the bottom two grades which were stocking items at all the hardware stores, Sears and other retail outlets and catalogs,
....SO, off the shelf guns were 93% of Hunter Arms gun business for that period.....according to the records.....
Of course single triggers and other ginger bread items were not common on the lower grades.....
because THEY COST almost as much AS THE GUN DID and that's a NO BRAINER......
Hunter Arms sold, during that period, 12,360
high grade guns and 163,756
low grade guns.....that's about 7%.....
Wouldn't you say that was the bulk of their business, I sure would.
So who would you cater to, your sales bread and butter or the group that could NOT support your business entirely.......?....Again, common sense raises it's hand......
People before WWII didn't piss money away on guns like they do today because they did not have it, especially during the depression when people stood in food lines.......So the lower offerings, according to the records, were the top sellers......
