Wow Gil! Both are gorgeous! Think about it for a second, these guns are a fraction of the cost of a decent double and yet they have the weight and dimensions of some of the best ones. Accordingly, they make fine bird guns. This was John Moses Browning's last pump shotgun design, completed in 1914 (100 years ago), sold to Remington in 1915, planned for production in 1917- but not built until 1921 (because of WWI). This design spawned untold millions of guns that followed on from the original 20-gauge only iteration. First the Model 31 (a 17 modified for side-ejection), and then the Model 37 (which is still in production). Even the now-venerable 870 is a direct descendant of the 17/31, as are the Mossberg 500s and the Flyte-Kings and all those other more cheaply-made clones.
The sad part is that even a few years ago, I would have turned up my nose at the thought of owning and using a pump gun. Conceit is a weird thing, isn't it?
Last edited by Lloyd3; 09/06/14 04:46 PM.
