The first quality double I ever owned was a 16ga NID 28" IC/F. It was built in late 47/early 48 when they were cleaning out the parts bins. One of the last few hundred made. Field gun, except they apparently only had high grade wood sets left, because the stock is spectacular. The gun was little used. I had just gone to work so I kept it a few years and had it re-cased and the barrels polished and blued. I refinished the stock. Over the years I have found it to be my idea of the best dove gun in existence. I ws naive as to old guns at the time(everyone was). I found out a long time later that the bores were original ID but the barrel walls were 0.025 at the front and the chambers were 2-9/16. I had been feeding it any ammo I could find, but the strong characteristics of the model handled it fine.
I traded an old farmer even for a Ithaca 51 Trap gun with 3" of the barrel cut off due to a corn stalk and a dove hunt. I had bought the Ithaca Trap from my cousin who's wife had the faux pas for $150. The farmer wouldn't sell the gun; he only wanted to trade for a good automatic to give to his son as a gift. He was afraid he wouldn't be able to take the money and find a gun for him.
The thing is, I paid a total of $ 300 in the mid 70's for the cold blue and bone charcoal finish. That put me at $450 in the gun, way upside down. I didn't care, because I have probably hunted doves in 40 or more dove seasons with that gun, and probably has lead to buying and selling a hundred or more doubles in that period. I have owned that gun for 50 years and have owned it longer than any other gun. It also looks like a great investment in retrospect, both from a dollars and use point. It is the one gun that I can gaurantee will be available to put in the pine box with me. Don't hesitate to do what you want to enjoy the gun. It's all not about dollars.
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