Growing up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in the 50's and 60's upland hunting was done almost exclusively with A5's, 37's and a few Model 12's. Most with Cutts or poly chokes attached to them. Boys were regulated to .410 or those hideous bolt action shotguns. My father gave me a 28 ga. Model 12 but none of my other friends had such a nice gun. Duck and goose hunting you would still see a few doubles, mostly Smith's and Parker's or those same A5's, 37's and Model 12's. And men shot the 12 except for a few who shot a 10 in the marsh. We had a few odd souls who shot the 16 but no more than a few.
I am sure there were other doubles owned but not used. But doubles were just out of fashion just as small bores were not in much use. Those men even hunted quail with 12's not the small bores we romantically think the did. And those Cutts caused many a dog to go deaf by age five.
Another thing I remember is that ammo was not hard to find. The Western Auto Store, Sears, Montgomery Wards, the local hardware store, the Southern States supply store and several country stores all stocked and sold ammo. The rural stores would sell shotgun shell by the part of a box. As A kid I could walk the roads picking up soda bottles to get spare change. Then I could go to the store and buy .22LR for less than .50 a box. A boy could make a box of .22 bullets last a long time. Heck back then they would sell them to a boy. Those days are gone. Another thing was that 28 ga. shells were not twice as expensive as 12's. You could order a case of them and they cost maybe two or three dollars more a case. Times have changed.
