doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Top 'o the field grades

Western Arms Long Range, 12 ga. Given to me by my Grandfather so I could hunt deer at 14, after my Dad cut the stock down so I could shoot it - Still have it. Got a four point that year and another one with one antler two years later. Excused days off from High School to go deer hunting! Used it for Wood Duck, Pheasant, and the occasional Goose later on. Also a Fox Sterlingworth 12 ga carried my late great-uncle. We revered that Fox, and knew it was something special compared to my Western Arms (Ithaca made).

One of the better turn of the century feedstore bought guns might just be the RAC A grade 1894. Anytime you can buy a gun, coal oil and feed from the same place on account - can't be bad!
Utility has its own style and place in the cosmos - in the long run, it'll be the field grades that will be remembered - as everyman had one!

The relpies didn't sound like the dream you had did they ?

Here's another ol' time favorite you guys might remember......the Winchester Model 42. My father didn't hunt and never had that much in the way of guns. Both of my grandfathers died before I was born. My uncle was the hunter in the family..... everything from deer to squirrel. And everytime we went out rabbit hunting- out came this beat up, worn out, Model 42 he had. And he could shoot the ears of a flea with it too.

Nobody has dreams of sleeving a "Top ' O the field grade"....

Those, are properly called nightmares.
Best,
Ted

HD,
To answer your question, the question was, "What did your father and/or grandfather actually shoot? Model, bbl, length, &c."

Some answers have wandered from that original question, probably causing you some further confusion.

My answer(s) to the question:

My father shot a 12ga. field grade Winchester model 97 w/28" bbl.

My paternal grandfather shot a 12ga. Parker, but I cannot tell you which model as it was lost to posterity before I arrived.

My maternal grandfather shot a 12ga. Belgian SxS guild gun w/30" Damascus bbls. & Jones under lever.

j0e, I hit the large antique malls looking for old working duck decoys - didn't find a one.
Asked at an up-scale shop why?
Interest in rustic America is at an all-time high, and all the decoys are in Kansas City for the large show.
Bring lots of money she said!
The dream is alive 'n well.

Lowell you're about 20 years to late for the Antique malls....you might look on Ebay.

Teddy did someone tug on yer chain ?.....I never saw mention of a a Mossberg ...Darne it.

My Great Grandfather hunted with a double probably a Belgium (JABC) my Dad's father had a Meriden, little is know about it except that my Grandmother always called it, "that old black thing in the basement", my Father hunted with a LC Smith 12 gauge, 28 inch barrel, field grade which is close to 100% condition as my Father gave up hunting after he started a family. All double guns as it all started back in the coal mining region of Uniontown PA with my Great Grandfather teaching my Grandfather how to hunt way before those stinkin repeaters showed up!!!
All the best

Lowell, a picker came around about 20 years ago and asked what I wanted for some sea duck decoys in a shed---"coots" (whitewing scoters) bought for $1 each in my rush for a hunt on another shore. "Oh, a dollar and a quarter," I said, just to get rid of them and him. He peeled off $125 for each of two dozen. The decoys were weathered no-name decoys made by a school chum. The world's gone crazy: my $3.50 whistler and bluebill decoys are being bought elsewhere for $1,000 each.