About 30 years ago, some friends and I booked an October hunt in the Adirondacks by horseback. I brought a .308 BLR rifle and a 20ga Ithaca, deer and grouse. I couldn't carry both so it was one at a time. Whenever I was carrying the rifle, I saw grouse. So I went out with the shotgun. Saw a bunch of deer, no grouse.
Two years later, we booked a trip with the same outfitter. I bought an Nimrod drilling, 16 X 16/8 X 57. I saw nothing that trip, but that's my first dedicated gun..
I purchased a 3 inch 12 gauge Henri Piper sxs for duck hunting. And then a year later 3 1/2 inch 10 gauge AYA for goose.
Finally, Zeke, my hunting mentor, talked me into buying a 2 inch 12 gauge. He had a Westley Richards 2 inch 12 gauge, he kept an eye out and let me know when there was a good purchase to be had so I have a 2 inch 12 gauge Hellis for woodcock and grouse. I contacted Charles Hellis in 2005 and they were kind enough to share all the information they had about it from their records. S/n #4135, a JA marked gun, the model was called the Reliable. Sold to Mr. Wilson for 25£ in 1936. It was one of 12 guns they made in that configuration in 1936/1937.
I have not had the opportunity to shoot any of these four guns in the last 10 years. Hope springs eternal though, and I have plenty of other guns I've never used to divest myself of before moving these along.
