Interesting information a few posts back, can't find it now, but the price of a box of 25 shells cost a week's wages for the average worker. How would that effect a man's shooting habits and more important to this discussion how did it effect the lock up on a lower price double?? From a personal history, love these old Meridens, doubles were the norm, not because of their looks or anything to do with social standing, but because of their practicality. The subsistence hunter, not the market hunter, could kill anything he came across with a double, fur or feather.
My point is the lower paid worker that could only afford one box of shells at any one time probably rammed everything he could down the barrels of that Meriden, slug for deer or shot for birds/small game, shot loose not from abuse but from hard continuous use!!
My thoughts anyway.
