I went to one of my now late gunning gurus- Capt. Paul A. Curtis and his great book Guns and Gunning 1934-- I don't have the $ or contacts to shoot with a loader and a matched pair of London Bests in England or Europe- so for my shooting here- both upland game and waterfowl, and deer, feral pigs and elk, and small game, squirrels, rabbits, etc- Here is my minimum arsenal- Clays and target shooting later- neither are a 'biggie" for me- Waterfowl guns- 12 gauge Model 12 Heavy Duck- takes either 3" or 2&3/4" steel- have shot steel through full choked 12 gauge Model 12's for 20 years- NO bore damage at all- for early season on woodies, teal, pre-flight mallards and local geese in September bonus season- std. 12 Model 12- both full choked and with 3 shot plugs- So, That's two- for upland hunting on game preserves- LC Smith Grade 2- 30" M&F, Parker GHE No. 1&1/2 framed 28" Imp. cyl. & imp. mod- 2&3/4" RST No 7&1/2 right barrel, same but no. 6 left. Also use these two guns, plus the std. M12 for crows, barn pigeons, and the odd round of informal sporting clays. For $ live pigeon shoots, and sometimes pass shooting with Non-Toxic loads, a LC Smith Specialty 12- 3" with 32" F&F and factory original ventilated rib-circa 1928-- Note, all three doubles have double triggers-
Rifles- Center fire- for deer and elk- Model 70SG in 30-06 with Leupold Vari-XIII 3.5x10 rifle made in 1948. For woodchucks, prairie doggies, fox, coyote-other fur bearing varmints- pre-Garcia Sako L579 in .243 Win- Leupold 4x12Vari-XIII scope.
For target and squirrel and rabbits- Winchester M63 .22lr 23" barrel made in 1948- Weaver 4x 1" scope- and Winchester model 90 .22lr open sights 24" barrel made in 1937- and lastly a Colt Match Target Woodsman- made in 1939- Eliason match grade sights.
This small but working battery handles all my present and planned needs- the rest of my working arsenal is great to have, and shoot as well- but I could get by with just the aforementioned firearms- all well-used, extremely well cared for, and will all be passed on to my grandchildren after I am gone- I just hope they will live in a era when gun ownership by responsible citizens, hunting, target shooting, Olympic competition shooting sports, etc. is open to them, and that the do-gooder antis have "shot their last wad" and faded away into oblivion-
