I just saw this today and thought I would jump in for a bit. I am 77 and still have and occasionally shoot the original Stevens Model 311 12 gauge my dad bought for me on my 12th birthday. The gift started out as a Remington Sportsman 12 gauge semi auto. It ended when we got home and my mom found out my dad had paid $100 for it. Soooo, back it went to the hardware store where it had been purchased. Disappointed, I took my uncle's 20 gauge single barreled model 37 that I had been using for the past 3 or 4 years out to see if I could scare up a rabbit or a quail or two. When I got back in after hunting I discovered that my dad had indeed taken back the Remington semi auto and had returned instead with the little Stevens 311. 26 inch barrels choked IC and Modified, I hunted everything from quail to dove to rabbit and even squirrels and then deer with buckshot for many years until the lure of the semi auto once again took control of me. To shorten the story, I hardly, if ever, shot the Stevens again until I arrived in Albuquerque in 1993 and was invited to duck hunt with a friend. I of course said yes and took the Stevens and stuffed it with steel shot no larger than 2's and happily blasted away. Well, that got me back on the right track. From the Stevens I moved onward with several (or as my wife would say MANY) doubles to follow, both side by sides and then to over/under guns. I still use several different side bys and O/Us, but as age and deteriorating shoulder joints followed by Titanium shoulder joints, I have really come to enjoy 28's and now .410's more for smaller birds. But, the little Stevens still gets taken out of the safe and wiped down with my silicon rag as often as the rest of them do. So Ed, at least on this, you and I agree!!!
