Just curious as to what your grandpa and father used as a shotgun. My family all were raised in Ohio,as is Ohio State Univ., Look at your bracket sheet!! As a kid, late 50's, the first shotguns I shot were my Dads', Marlin hammerless model 28,12ga.and a Whippet 16ga. single shot. Grandpa SH. used a Marlin, Hammergun model 19, 12ga., and Grandpa Mc. used a Win. 97 12ga. They talked of hunting some pheasants, but mostly squirrel and rabbit. Grandfathers born in late 1800, Dad, in 1921. My first SXS[at age 16, was a 12ga. hammergun of unknown make that I bought from and old guy that worked for dad. I think I still have bone bruises on my index finger from that gun. As a youngster and trailing the adults with my 97 pump Daisy,I can remember racing and picking up the spent shells from the big guns,just to smell them. Also, do you remember the smell of a Fox squirrel. What do you remember as to the guns of your father and grandfathers? Were they given to you and do you still have them? Thanks for your comments.

Two 12ga. Parkers, a VH and a Trojan, which are still in the family but in rough shape. I could have them but they are not worth the familial suffering it would take to get them.

They both used Winchester Model 97 pump shotguns.

My Grandfather, had a Stevens Crackshot and a Baker Batavia Special?(steel barrels)
My other Grandfather, a Colt 41 LC
These guns are still in the family.
My Father was not a shooter, nor hunter.

For 40 years, Dad used the Model 12 12ga full choke he got from his dad, who had used it for 30 years before. It was used on everything from squirrels to birds to deer - while being loaned out back in the 30's, it even killed a bear.

During a moment of stupidity, I had it reblued and new stocks attached. I did it to honor them, but have had regrets since. I kept the old (beaten, scarred and cracked) stocks, and will put them back on some day. Some 4/0 steel wool will be used on the bluing. The gun rekindled more memories when it showed the signs of hard use.

As far as I know I'm the first hunter/shooter in my immediate family for 3 generations.

I know that my mothers uncle owned a Savage Fox B, it was the first gun I ever shot at age 9 and it knocked me on my ass. Don't know what happened to it.

Some cousins by marriage on the other side of the family, no direct relation to me, used to own a large sporting goods store in New Rochelle, NY, called Parker Bros. Distributors.

I went there once as a kid and remember seeing racks of used guns, this would be the late 60's, early 70's. Would kill to go back in time and ask to let behind the counter,

I came late to the sporting life, and I'm playing catch-up ball.

Rob

My father's father had a Win. 97, that my father used pre WW2. After the war, he bought a Browning A5 12 gauge and later on a Win 101, and a Model 12 Trap and came in to a Rem 1900 from somewhere, which he gave to me. I don't know what happened to the 97, but my uncle's got my Grandfather's Win model 70, some lever guns and a Colt 41 LC. My father still has his shotguns, with the exception of the Model 12 trap, which he gave to my brother.

My mom's father wasn't a shooter or hunter. He did own a Marlin 1881, a Savage lever 30-30, a Win pump 22-possibly a model
1890?, and short little 22 single shot all of which he got from his uncle. These were given to me (1881), my older brother(Savage), a cousin(pump 22) and the single shot 22 to my younger brother.

My folks have a few early photos of either my grandmother's uncles or brother's with a variety of game and birds and three or four firearms-a couple of which are hammer doubles. I've tried to figure out what the doubles are, but those early photos aren't real sharp, so no luck in IDing the guns to this point. It would be interesting to know what happened to those guns.

Fathers Father: Rem model 10 pump. A good gun for a lobsterman.
Mothers Father: A Mossberg 16ga bolt action with poly-choke.
A good enough gun for a Dairy farmer who didn't hunt.
Father: A Rem 58 Sportsman, replaced in early 80s by an Ithaca SkB 280-E 12 gauge, which he still hunts grouse with at age 76.
He still keeps his Dads' Model 10, which is now retired from a long life with Sea ducks, deer and Grouse in better numbers than now.

Both my grandfathers were long dead before I arrived. My father & paternal grandfather were both tarheels and my paternal grandfather hunted with a Parker that was lost to history somewhere along the way, so I cannot even venture a guess to its vintage nor grade. My father owned one shotgun, a model 97 Winchester that went back for a complete refurbishment in the early 50's. He hunted ducks with it, meaning that he took off from the office and hunted ducks until the season closed. He stopped hunting them when the limit was lowered from 25/day to 10. That is not saying that he killed 25 ducks per day for the whole season or ever killed 25 ducks in a day, rather it was more coincident to other changes in his life and ways, like the war & marriage and my brother & I. He also was a dove, quail and pheasant hunter and a fine shot. I have his gun today. It is a plain bbl'd 97 and has a Mod choke that throws full patterns. I don't shoot it much, but I do cherish custodianship of it.

My maternal grandmother was perhaps the real hunter on that side though both she & my grandfather hunted extensively when she was a spry young thing. She did a fair amount of big game hunting in foreign places, inclusive of the dark continent and bear in Alaska. The only surviving shotgun was a 12ga. Belgian SxS w/Damascus bbl's & Jones underlever that was sorta mostly still there, a wall hanger at best. I gave it to my brother some years ago and I hope but do not know for certain that one of his two boys has it now. All the rest of the guns, mostly rifles were stolen from an uncle many years ago. I remember seeing some of them, inclusive of a Remington pump w/the spiral tubular magazine and some old Winchester big bore levers. The only other gun to survive was a Winchester pump w/octogon bbl. chambered in .22 short, my grandmother's rabbit rifle. A cousin has it today and it shall remain quite safe & cared for in his hands.

The smells of spent paper cases and Hoppe's #9 are what I recall above all else of my father's shotgun adventures. That was, for me, dove shoots and I went from the time I was an infant so I was told, tho I can actually only remember it back to perhaps age 2 or 3. It is, in fact, almost my earliest memory .. going to a friends farm to shoot dove. I can remember him getting out of his '41 Ford Club coupe, taking his gun from the slip and putting his old jacket from Von Lenierge & Antoine (sp?) in Chicago [I also have that jacket] on and dumping a box of red cartridges in one of its' pockets and then sending mom & I on up to the farm house to see his friend's bride, and I can remember that like it was yesterday, even now. I can also remember some years later when I was allowed to actually shoot that '97 for the first and only time for many years. It was on the side of a tank dam [a 'tank' in Texas would be called a pond in most other parts of the world] and I was knocked back into a prickly pear cactus and got my tender backside, inclusive of a fair amount of posterior, embeded with thorns. I don't think he minded in the least that the extrication of thorns from my backside kept him from a limit that afternoon. He never mentioned that I missed the bird nor did he ask if I wished to try another shot. It was late in the day and the light was waning and I quickly determined on the way home that not all the thorns had been removed. Good times, those.

There was an ocassion when I was 12 and after I had my first 'official' gun of my own, a model 62A Winchester that I was busy hunting rabbits behind the dam of a conservation lake on a place that he had leased about an hour N. of town and I had the misfortune to move the tall dry grass back w/my bbl.trying to see 'what' was making it move and found myself facing a skunk's wrong end at very close range. It was a seriously humiliating ride home in my undershorts with my shirt & pants carefully wired to & riding on the rear bumper ledge of the '50 Chevy deluxe that was the farm & errand car. Wasn't a lot said on the way home, perhaps something about tomato juice. I figured that I was fortunate not to have to ride back there on the bumper with the pants. Still have the 62A, but it was the first and last time I was ever skunked in that manner. Dad & I had a lot of good time together. He never said a lot.

Paternal Grandfather an early PH-Grade Parker Bros. 12-gauge he got used in 1901. He died 1954 in his early 80s.

Maternal Grandfather a W.H. Davenport single. He died 1916 at age 51.

Father Remington Model 1894 AE-Grades in 12- and 16-gauge for uplands and a VH-Grade Parker Bros. 12-gauge for waterfowl. For the last 15 years he hunted (1972 to 1987) he used a 20-gauge Winchester 101 20-gauge I brought him from Japan a lot. Most of the time if he missed with the 101 he could be heard to say I'd have got that with my old Remington!!

My father had a "Ranger" doublegun first, but he sent it to his brother in California for protection and subsistance at his gold mine in the north. After he returned from WWII he bought an Ithaca 37 20ga. His father owned a Colt sxs with hammers, but it was lost as colateral for work on the automobile(after 1936.

My mothers father had a Baker R grade(damascus) and an L.C Smith oo. His father had an shot out 1863 Springfield (for a shotgun) and two 36 caliber prcussion rifles. Deer were scarce then.

Kurt

The two guys I remember were my dad and my older 1st. cousin;
pop used a old j.c.higgens bolt action 12 gauge and a crack-shot .22 he got when he was 8 years, my cousin always seem to be using a Model 12 or a parker double. This was about 1950-55. My brother and I both got first shotguns (Steven's bolt 20 gauge) for Christmas in 1956, brother was 12,me 11.

*fur-got, mom had bolt action .410 she would use for rabbit hunting back about then. i've still got the gun in my lockup.

Great thread.

Mom's Dad died at age 47 and if he hunted I am not aware of it. Dad's dad must of hunted and fished ... raised 9 kids on the farm and all the boys and 3 of the girls hunted and fished til the end.

Dad hunted with a 20ga Western Arms Long Range (Ithaca). Deluxe model with ventilated red rubber pad and ivory bead sites. Everybody said it shot close ... meaning a tight pattern. Hunted rabbits with it from his youth and doves thru his last year at age 87 with my son, my Boykin Spaniel and me. He had it reblued right over the pits, and the wood sanded smooth & refinished. Remember them saying the guy that blue it used blued roofing nails that somehow transfered the blue to bbls. Never did understand that one. I know now that the guns didn't get much care back then. End of the season they went in the closet in the basement... they were cleaned at the first of the next season. My brother got his truck and I got his double. You know who won that one.

One Uncle was a trader, but he did keep a stevens 410 around long enough for me to cut my teeth on it. Would love to have it back.
I'm told another uncle had a Parker 20ga ... He worked at a clothing store that has a sister hardware store where he paid on it along. The youngest had a double bbl 12 with wire & tape wrapped around the grip to hold it together. His wife bought him a Browning Light 12 in 1957, and he still has it. It was $125.00 and that was like $10,000 today. It came from the same hardware store on time.

Charlie

Well my grandfather on my mother's side was the real birdhunter in the family, my dad hunted once in awhile but wasn't possessed like some of us. My grandfather had a rib and beavertail put on a model 42 and gave it to my dad who liked a pump gun, and for what its worth when you grow up with you're dad bringing home a fair amount of pheasants with his only shotgun , a .410, its pretty hard to swallow all the crap about a .410 being worthless and all. Grandpa had a 20ga Francotte 30E and a 16ga Merkel 201E both of which he was very effective with, the sideby was no doubt his favorite though. I am very lucky that all three are safely tucked in the safe in the corner but much luckier actually that I was instilled with the want to keep them and make sure they all get there turns at what they were ment to do.

Both Grandfather's were non-hunters. One was a Postal worker, and the other drove a bakery truck. My Dad was also a Postal worker. He had a Remington 1100 that he shot from time to time, mostly impromtu clay targets.

I know he spent a lot of time wondering if I was ever going to grow out of "this gun thing".

Kind regards,

My dad grew up as a city boy, and came to hunting (Ducks) later in life. His gun was a 30" Matt rib Model 31 Remington, I still have the gun. Had Brileys installed in it so now it is a turkey/duck/skeet gun. Many Remingtons followed, as my dad ended up on Remington's Board, but the 31 is still my favorite of all his guns.

My Father used a Ithaca Model 37 that he bought new before the war. Only had one Grandfather, his firearms were a Springfield 1884, Sharps Borchardt, and a Rem. model 12C. Still have all of Gramps guns, Dad wore out the 37 and went to a Berreta BL 3 which I still have.

My Grandpa used a 1903 vintage 12 ga.Parker GH with Damascus barrels. He also had a 1912 vintage 20 ga. Parker Trojan. My dad raised a calf in the summer of 1921, and bought a 12 ga. Parker Trojan that fall. His brother had a 20 ga. Trojan, and in the 1930's picked up a 1908 vintage 28 ga. VH. I'm fortunate to have been able to get all of these guns into my safe. All but the 28 ga. gun have been "rode hard" and put up wet", but with the exception of the GH, are still shootable. I still hunt with the VH and my Dad's Trojan. Wouldn't trade a one of 'em for love nor money. I wish they could talk. -- Ed

Tobin, still in the family.

My Dad was given a Volunteer Firearms 16 gauge when he was 12 years old. I still have it. He shot my Uncle's Model 97 that had been used during the market hunting days for ducks on the Texas Gulf Coast. They had a spread of 4 dozen wooden decoys of which I have 12, various makes. I actually hunted over them as a teenage boy. Sadly, the turn of the century Model 97 was stolen from my dad's house many years ago. Great memories pawned for a few $$$'s by some punk.

Jim

My maternal grandfather drove a truck and later, a cab in a little place called New York, NY. I don't know if he ever fired a gun. He had no time for fishing when he made a trip with my family to the BWCA when I was a skinny kid, circa 1972 or so. He lived his entire life in New York city and thought it was nirvana. He may not have had much money, he left me a broken Elgin wind up watch when he died. Still have it. Still broken.
My father was orphaned in the stock market crash of 1929, and raised by foster parents. They never adopted him, I suspect because he represented a check every month, but, by all accounts treated him exactly as the other kids. His father didn't hunt much from what I understand, but was considered an excellent fisherman, a good skill to have in order to keep a family fed during the 1930s. He saw to it that my father had a single shot 410 and a like .22 rifle for hunting. Dad "inherited" a family "hairyloom", a double 12 of some sort from his father's father, but, it was quite rough even then, perhaps the late 30s to mid 40s. My dad restocked it as a school shop project, and it looked OK, according to family legend. I don't know where it is.
Dad used an Ithaca 37 pump that had been given to him by the CO at his duty station in New Orleans, LA until he made staff sergeant in the early 1950s. The 37 was in a locker with some other "recreational" stuff, and Dad was the only guy who used, or took care of the gun. Being free, you can imagine what it looked like. I'm told he couldn't miss with that old gun, by people who got to hunt with him at some fabulous duty stations (Colorado, Alaska, Hawaii, California). When he got promoted, he bought a solid rib A5, which he still has to this day. He was a Garand guy all the way during his thiry year career in the USMC, and though all his hunting guns should be autoloaders, too. He does own a Beretta Silver Snipe, but, never really warmed up to it. I used it, a lot, as a kid. I imagine it will end up here, another righthanded gun in my lefthanded world.
Best,
Ted

My father: A .410 single at first, I believe, and who knows what after that. After WWII an old English-grip tournament grade Model 12, which he shot as if it were an extension of his will. Then, near the end, an 1100.

His father: A Crescent Arms hammer SxS 12 ga. with 2 1/2 inch chambers.

That M-12 was my first shot with a shotgun at age 6. I used it in my early hunting days when dad wasn't around, until he bought me a brand new 20 ga M-12 in 1964 ($65 on sale at a hardware store in Montana - still have it of course). I was the only one of my siblings interested in my grandfather's double. As a teenager I loaded 2 1/2 inch shells and shot it a bit, taking some game. The Model 12 went back to the factory for overhaul a few times, as Dad shot it extensively. The last time, in the '70s, Winchester unfortunately replaced the receiver and barrel with new Y-job parts, totally destroying the history and value. The only thing original left was the English-grip stock and the magazine tube. Several years after my father's death, I divested myself of both guns, giving Dad's Model 12 to my youngest brother, who still takes deer, waterfowl and woodcock with it in Connecticut, and selling the Crescent. Perhaps it is understandable that I fear someday I will regret selling that clunky, loose, old SxS meat gun, my only material connection to a grandfather I know from stories and pictures, who was gone before I arrived.

My mother's father had two 12 gauges, a Model 12 and an NID, and both remain in the family. My other grandfather wasn't a shooter. My dad was primarily a rifleman, but he had one shotgun, a 16 gauge Ithaca Mod 37, which my brother still has.

Winchester 97, still in the family and in great shape -- works for me.



--Tinker

My dad hunted his whole life, with a Remington model 11, bought used in the '20s. He loved hunting bobwhite quail over dogs, squirrels next. (in western KY). Don't know if he ever shot at a skeet or trap target. I never knew my grandfather to hunt. Other grandfather died when I was about 1 year old and I'm pretty sure he never hunted(Chicago).

On my fathers side of the family back through my great- great grandfather, no one ever owned a gun. On my mothers side nothing is known beyond my great-grandfather, and he never owned a gun. I was the first. It caused alot of grief at home. When I was old enough to hunt alone, I bought my first hunting license and a very old stevens bolt action 20 gauge with lawn mowing money. The gun was so worn out, the bolt stop was gone. Everytime I got a shot and tried to work the bolt for a second attempt, the bolt would fly out the back of the receiver. I don't ever remember getting a second shot at anything.
My father took me to a magistrate friend of his and tried to convince him to come up with a way that he could keep me from hunting.
As I sat there waiting to hear about a law that would prevent me from being allowed to hunt, my dreams were fading rapidly. To my surprise the magistrate asked my dad if I was getting into trouble with alcohol or drugs. Dad asked" what does that have to do with anything"? The magistrate told him if he knew how lucky he was that hunting was what I wanted to do, rather than the things the other kids were doing, he would buy a gun for himself and go with me. That never happened, but he never tried to stop me again.
Dad was a volunteer fireman. He gave his life in the line of duty 2 years ago. I really wish he would have come along with me one time. Just to watch a bird dog work and see the happiness the dog shows while doing what he was born to do would have been enough for me. I think he would have understood then why I do what I do.

Bill

For as long as I can remember, my father shot a 20 ga Ithaca field grade Flues. It had 26" barrels and might have weighed 5 1/2 pounds and probably had 3 1/2 inches of drop any a HRBP. He passed it on to me. It was a kickin' SOB, but I always enjoyed shooting it. Probably would have been more fun to shoot with 3/4 oz. loads than it was with the 1 oz. that we both always shot.

Neither of my grandfathers was alive when I was born but my maternal grandmother had a Parker that had belonged to my grandfather. I don't know the grade, I only saw the gun once when it was in a corner of my first cousin's house. My father taught me to shoot a rifle but he did not hunt and I was on my own when it came to shotguns. David

My grandfather used a Fox 20 ga for grouse and woodcock hunting in northern Michigan. I believe his 12 ga was an Ithaca and he used that for pheasant hunting, primarily in southern Michigan. I have little memory of the Ithaca. He had several other shotguns, one being a 16 ga Remington model 1100. I know he duck hunted and I dont know which gun he used for that.

I remember my grandfather taking me grouse hunting for the first time when I was about 12 (1959 was a while ago). It was at our cabin in northern Michigan and I recall being extremely proud that he was letting me use his revered Fox 20 ga. The engraving was quite extensive and I would guess it was maybe an XE or DE. To my recollection I never hit a thing that day, but it did start a love affair with grouse hunting that has continued for the last 50 years.

My father did not bird hunt and sold these guns probably 35 years ago. I have lusted for a higher grade Fox ever since then. I have toyed with the idea of purchasing a CSMC Fox for the last decade, but every time I talk myself into it, they raise the price again and I put off the purchase.

Very good thread. I am like several, who have picked up the sport without family history. My 11 year old son and I went out this year for quail and dove, first times for us both, and we're both hooked. His main goal now is for us to move him out of the suburbs. Maybe in forty or fifty years, he'll be using his dad's guns with good memories. Thanks for the stories.

My father used three shotguns. Most of the ducks were shot with his Model 12. Upland game mostly fell to his Fox 20 or his Fox 12. Maternal grandfather used hardware store doulbes most of his life. Late in his life he came across a pre-war Sauer that he shot till his death. My other grandfather had a lever action Winchester 12 and a model 97 in 12. A couple of odd 10 bores were used by both grandfathers. One was, I am sure, a Belgain klunker but the other was what I suspect was a LC Smith. Broken stock forced its being traded off long ago.

I do not have a single relative who owned or shot a gun. Sometimes things can work backwards. My son bought a shotgun (at the time he lived on the left coast whereas I live on the right coast) and he suggested I do the same. Three months of waiting for my Firearm ID in NJ and I bought one. I knew absolutely nothing about guns and my son checked it out on the internet and said "Dad, go buy a Mossburg 500." So I did, found a place to shoot skeet, three months later got talked into buying a new 687 Sproting Clays II,a few months later a used Citori with all the tubes and two years later discover the world of SxS and sporting clays. Boy, did I get hooked!

The Mossburg is now a slug gun.

One of my Great-grandfathers shot an L.C. Smith 12 ga. Trap grade with 2 barrels. Still have it. Also still have a 20 ga. field. My fathers grandfather raised him and passed both guns to him plus some rifles now scattered among family. My father shot trap with a Model 12. He could hit a dime thrown up with a 22 pump also Winchester, I think my brother has it. My father also owned a 20 ga Citiori that he loved to duck hunt with, that my brother-in-law uses. Now that would be nice, killing ducks with something that didn't kick like a mule.

Winchester Model 12 in 16ga that started out as my great grandfather's gun. My father still has the gun and I look forward to passing it to my son despite it being rather unglamorous.

Can't say what my grandfather used as he died in the 1930'3 well into his 80's, Wish I did. But he, and my dad, were from the east Tennessee hills, Dad being born in 1904 when his father was 54 (not a typo) and I can imagine that they had quite a variety of interesting firearms. The only gun that Dad had when I was growing up was a Savage 220A, single shot, 12 gauge that he bought for $10.00 sometime in the early '60's. I went on to have many firsts with that hard kicking S.O.B. First squirl, first pheasant, first partrige, first white tail, etc. I am happy to say I still have that critter, I wonder how it will be on the trap range!

My Grandfather must have had a vision about his family's future in bird dogs, bird guns, pigeons, you name it. He was born in 1856 in Mauch Chunk, PA., four years after my Great Grandfather and his family came over. Well, actually, I don't know when they came over, let's say Granddad was born four years after members of our family earned their citizenship. Granddad had a "cafe" on Hazleton Heights with a pigeon ring in the rear. I'm sure you know what kind of "cafe" it was. He distributed wholesale beer until 1927, eight years into the "experiment". Granddad had some guns, according to my Dad, but lost them in a burglary, leaving him with his 1887 E Grade Lefever Pigeon Gun, serial #10,130 and a DWM 1916 Luger that was walked out of the New York Customs House and given to him by a friend. According to Dad, the Lefever was the only gun Granddad shot as long as he remembered. When I was about ten or eleven, my childless Uncle Norbert shipped me the Lefever with instructions to watch myself bumping into trees and fences because of the "soft" barrels, but no warning about ammunition. Granddad had shot it until his death in 1929, probably with any load available at the time. It had not been fired since. Uncle Norbert lived in Brooklyn, worked for REA, and never hunted after leaving Hazleton. He had sold his Fox years earlier. Granddad ran the pigeon ring until 1927 when he retired from the "cafe", bought his last hunting license in 1928, at least it's the last one I have. Dad's story is another story entirely, to be told at another time. Bill Murphy

My father used a .38 revolver, and later a Colt 1911 .45. After 8 years in the cavalry (Phillipines, Mexico) and 4 in the field artillery (WWI, France), he'd had enough firearms use for a lifetime.

One of my Grandfathers hunted and the other did not, nor did he own a gun other than his WWI service revolver. My bird hunting Grandfather used a humpback Browning 16 for as long as I remember.

I have both and treasure them as I treasure their owner's memories...Geo

Dad had a Rem 11 back as early as I can recall, then switched to a Rem 1100 later. We never lived near my Grampa (Ft Madison, IA) so I never got to hunt with him nor saw any of his guns. He worked for Sante Fe all his life and retired in the late 50's or early 60's, and likely hunted with a very utilitarian gun. Likely not a fancy double. Probably either a single shot or a utility grade double.

My father and his father used the same 12 ga. Rem. M-10. It came to me, and I gave it to my brother a few years ago. But I kept a prize that came with it ... also posted this a while back in a thread about items members have found under buttplates.

While my father was still living I found a Minnesota small game license under the buttplate, rolled up in the throughbolt hole. It's written in my grandfather's hand, dated October 3rd, 1918 -- 4 days before my father's birth. It's now in my hunting photo journal, next to my father's last hunting license of November 5, 1985 -- 2 weeks before he died.

My dad never hunted and I don't know what my grandfather used. I kinda took up hunting from my uncle since my dad died when I was 14. My uncle used a Model 42 for almost every small animal he hunted. He had a cabin in Michigan and brought back a deer every year for 25 years but I don't know what kind of rifle he used. He got me started hunting by taking me out and helping me buy my first shotgun when I was about 16 years old. I bought a Model 37 which I still have.

I don't come from a pedigree of hunters but Dad did shoot "Huns" (no relation the partridge) during the Second World War with twin .50 cal Brownings mounted in the tail of a B-17. The Ma-Deuce does however, produce an cone of fire that is similar to a shotgun pattern. Can't say if the pattern is close to Improved Modified.

My Mother's uncle was named Maldred Cottam. He was a guide on Bear River Duck Club, a millionaire's club up by Corrine, Utah. I don't know what he shot, but he did guide Clark Gable several times. When my brothers were small and bored one summer, Mom gave them Maldred's wooden decoys to paint. Rumor has it they are under all of Dad's junk in the shed. I've never been able to find them and have wondered if my brothers have painted over some rare $500,000 decoy?

Granddad carried a Fulton 12; his brother a Ranger pump 16. My Dad carried the Fulton; I got the pump. Today I still carry the Fulton; shot out the Ranger way back !

Makes you wonder who had all the high grades!

I think my Grandfather first used A model 12 and also a model 37 fetherweight (my brother has the model 12 and my sister the 37) he then "moved up to a superposed 12 ga. that I have. My Dad hunted with a superposed 12 then changed to Charles Daly Miroku 20 (always wanted a superposed 20 but could not afford it), I hunted with my Dad for years and can not recall him missing (I am sure he did sometimes) with the Daly (my son know has the Daly).

Jeff G.

Lowell, my Grandfather's E Grade Lefever Pigeon Gun was enough of a high grade. It cost $100 way before the change of century. I think he bought it new.

I never knew my grandfather but Dad had his guns,a Winchester 92 in 32-20,a stevens single shot bolt 22,a crescent 12 ga double and an elderly S&W M&P all long gone.Dad used a nitro special,an 03 springfield and an artillery Luger.I Still have those and they aint goin nowhere!

I know little of my paternal Grandfathers roots. From what I have pieced together: He left home at the age of 13 from somewhere in Illinois. he made his way to tri state area of Kansas,Missouri,Oklahoma. He served as a Seargeant on the Tulsa Police department during the twenties and then retired till his death in Galena,Ks in the 50's. He served during the infamous Tulsa race riots.My father related to my brother some pretty chilling events during that time. My grandfather undoubtedly "collected" quite a few firearms from felons, most of which were handguns. His favorite shotgun was a 10 ga Ithaca that is supposedly in the possesion of a distant cousin. I have heard that he participated in an annual crow hunt and dinner that was quite a social event during those times.I have seen pictures of horse drawn wagons that were filled to the brim with crows. My father was a lot more adept at handling dice and a half pint of cheap gin than he was at handling a shotgun, although he knew how to hunt and was a repectable shot according to my brother.I believe that we only hunted together a couple of times. He forbid me from having a rifle or a handgun while I was growing up. I suppose this was because one of his brothers accidentally shot and killed his youngest bother playing with a revolver that my grandfather had removed from a unruly drunk the the night before. I never knew my maternal Grandfather.

Ken

Maternal GF had a Model 12, paternal a 20 ga trapdoor springfield, and both hunted rabbits. My dad was a rifleman.

Lowell,

Obviously you're to young to know, so let me help ...

it's not about the high grades.

My dad's father was a sometimes-hunter from what I've been told, but I know nothing about any guns he may have owned. Don't know that Mom's dad ever hunted. I do remember a couple of guns that stood behind the door in his and Grandma's one-room apartment late in their lives; I've often wondered what they were and where they went.

My dad owned a Savage 775A which I still have, but he shot a lot of birds with an old H&R single shot .410 that actually belonged to my brother; said it was easier to pack around. He lost sight in one eye in a hunting accident when he was 50 or so and never hunted after that.

My grandfather shot only a Baker Batavia Leader, 12 ga with steel barrels. Thankfully, I see it every day, perched over our fireplace.

Roy

My Dad wasn't a hunter at all. I could probably count on one hand the times him and I went to the woods together. He bought me an Excel single shot 410 when I was 10 or 12 and I hunted by myself. He did have a 22 semi-auto around in later years to shoot at dogs for chasing his cows. His Dad was a drinking man, and I don't know if he had any guns or not, they lived in Washington state. Mom's Dad gave me a Stevens Marksman 22 when I was a pup, and still had a bolt action 22 Stevens and a Hopkins and Allen 12 ga single shot falling block with a broke-off trigger. I developed a love for hunting and the outdoors on my own, and my oldest daughter loves to hunt too. My step-son lives and breathes hunting, but my youngest son doesn't care much for it. He's in the Army now, so no telling how he'll feel about guns and hunting when he gets out. As long as he comes home upright I'll be happy.
Curtis

We grew up frugal in the woods of Maine(frugal sounds so much nicer then poor, don't you think?). My grandfather and father used a Model 94 30-30 for everything. Deer, birds in the air or on the ground, bear and anything else we could eat. Coming through the apple orchard deer hunting, I once saw my dad shoot two of three flushed partridge out of the air. All he said was "Damn, missed one." I just want to shoot like Dad.
Still have Gramp's 30-30 in the safe. Probably won't be shooting many partridge with it here in Arizona. Wonder what the boys at Ben Avery would say if I showed up to shoot skeet with it? Maybe I'll just take it out for Javalina instead.

My maternal grandfather is the only one devoted hunter in my family (except me). Grandpa started in 1941 with a 28ga bolt-action single-shot Berdan rifle conversion. He was 14, there was the War, and his shooting made the difference between starving and full stomachs.

When he was out of the Army in 1950s, the first thing he bought was a 12ga Iver Johnson single shot. The ducks he shot helped him win my Grandma's heart.

When things got better, he got himself a 16ga sbs, but hated it for lack of firepower. He swapped it for a 12 gauge Izh49 sbs (a copy of Sauer Mod 8) from a pal who thought 12 gauge was too darned heavy.

In late 60's he replaced it with an Izh 54 12 gauge sbs (boxlock non-ejector). That was his last gun. I shot my first duck with it, Dad shot his first duck with it, and still shoots crows with it.

Grandpa never liked repeaters and O/Us, (probanly because with the USSR pricing they were too expensive), and still can't forive me for getting a seond shotgun, and a whimpy 16 gauge at that

My Dad did a little pheasant hunting when I was young, not because of a lack of opportunity but he said killing anything after WW II just didn't appeal to him. He was an Army scout in Europe and experienced alot of bad stuff. He shot a Browning 16ga auto. I sold it when I couldn't get 2 9/16" ammo any more. My uncle was the big hunter in the family and introduced me to my passion, duck hunting. My uncle used a 3" model 12 and a Fox 12ga CE grade.

My Grandfather used a 12G, Woodward top lever, double hammer gun. I remember remarkable left and right kills at Hungarian partridge , 60 paces distant by my small legs. Afterwards he explained that the proof marks on the barrels "not for ball " meant the barrels were choked for long distant shots.These memorable shots took place almost 60 years ago in leafy Warwickshire, U.K.

Here's a story for you. My dad had a Fulton 20ga SxS that I grew up shooting from the age of eight up to sophomore year in high school. My older brother swiped it! (He claims to this day that he and dad made a trade, but I am not sure I believe it.)

Anyway, I recently got the gun back. My brother, in his wisdom, cut approx. 4" off of the barrel (to improve the pattern). Now, if I remember right, the gun had an excellent pattern. He also chipped the stock and buttplate.

I am restoring the old gun (1939) and intend to retire it to a nice mounting in my office. I would really like to find an original barrel so I can put it back like I remember it. I am not concerned about collectors value or matching #'s. I just want the old gun on the wall to look at.

Any suggestions or comments out there would be greatly appreciated.

Jay Lamberth
Tijeras, NM