For me the hook was in the Browning catalogs of the early 1980s.
Hunters on both sides of the family. Started with a Rem. M-12 octagonal barrel .22 that my dad got from his. Still have it. When my dad got older he gave me this Rem. M-10, that he also got from his dad and used for pheasants almost his entire adult life. I included it since this thread has much about family hunting history, and because I found my grandfather's 1918 hunting license under the buttplat -- bought a week before my dad was born. This was a prairie grouse gun then, no pheasant hunting in MN yet.
First shotgun I used for pheasants, about 1964 at age 12, was a 20 ga. Wingmaster my dad bought from a friend for me to use. He later gave it to my brother, and gave me a full choked 12 ga. Rem. M-11. In my late 20s I wanted a new gun with more open choke, and those Citori and BSS descriptions and pics in the Browning catalogs enticed me like the toys in the Sears and Wards Christmas catalogs when I was little. Started with a 20 ga. Citori Sporter, then a 12 ga. BSS Sporter, and the SxS bug hasn't left since -- eight of them and counting. Sometimes tell myself I should sell some that get little use these days, but it doesn't happen.
Jay
