I like that, comparing the times and needs, Ted. I knew the revered gunners of nearby fishing villages of the generation before mine, some limping then, all ailing and needing help to get about.

It took me a long time to realize that none ever felt a need for a 10, a 2 3/4 12 was just fine for subsistence living, selling what was left-over to pay for powder and shot or shells individually from the general store.

Who would have thought that my guns, among the best of North America and overseas then and now, require special care to use them, to feel the pleasure of a fine double in hand to shoot as well as the old-timers?