My love for a SxS double was more by accident than influence. My father nor either of his brothers were hunters, though all owned a gun of "Some Type". My fathers was an ancient Hopkins
& Allen 16 gauge single, only gun he owned until after I was grown & he began to rabbit hunt with me. He bought me a single shot .22 when I was about 12. I began to want a shotgun capable of firing more than one shot when I was about 15 & he thought a double would be safer for me than either a pump or semi auto, so that's what I ended up with, a pre-WW1 J Stevens Arms & Tool Co 12 gauge, 30" M & F chokes. 2 or 3 years later I bought an 870 Rem 20 gauge pump with 28" mod barrel. Tried hard for 2 or 3 seasons to learn to like it , but shot the old Steavens so much better in spite of its un-suitability for my hunting purposes I traded it into a Parker Trojan 12 with 28" mod & full barrels & never looked back. Have had no desire for anything but a SxS double to this day.
Co-incidently I had a grand uncle, brother to my father's mom, Grandmother to me, named Jim Kelly. He migrated to California many, many years ago died & was buried there. Their father was named Joseph Kelly. As I understand it in his younger days he was a rather renowned Prize Fighter up around New York. He later came south to TN & took a job as a railroad detective. He went to arrest a hobo outside a station in Memphis
TN who pulled a pistol & shot & killed him when my grandmother was still quite young so she never new him a lot.
