Dean, your thrice divorced Parker owning pal "Has his priorities right" to paraphrase Kipling: "A woman is only a woman, but a good shotgun is a: Purdey, Boss, Parker etc." How many guns is enuf?_ I think there will always be "One" favorite-for me, and yes, sometimes sentiment enters the picture- My favorite shotgun is my late Dad's older Tournament Grade Model 12 30 inch Full solid rib- checkered buttstock-- fits me like an Armani suit on a "Wise-Guy" and I kill birds consistently with it-Now- I am strictly a waterfowler and pheasant hunter-(in MI. and I hunt in SD and MT too) and in off-seasons shoot crows ( with decoys and also a Johnny Stewart caller, and barn pigeons) There are two things that govern my choice here- I'm in my mid-60's but still have 20/15 distance vision and this is truly a "God given gift" I_have always worn safety or shooting glasses afield-but my reflexes show my age-I am still in good physical shape, my hearing is going South-so open bored guns- not any more-most birds I flush and kill are at a distance. I read in one of Gene Hill's books that he had shot a Boss 16 Over/Under and a Woodward 20-but Gene also liked side-by-sides. So, how many is too many? I can't say- went through the Phil B. Field & Stream Top 50 Shotguns article- If I could pick Four of the 50 he listed to do all of my clays, bird hunting (including dove and quail) duck and goose hunting, box pigeons shooting with- but no duplicates: The 12 bore Purdey shown with 30 inch barrels DT front hinged, choked Mod. and Imp. Mod (his No. 1 pick), the 20 bore Italian Over/Under with 28 barrels choked Imp. Cyl. and Mod.(his No. 4 pick) the Win. Model 12- in the 3" Magnum duck model 30 inch Solid Rib choked Mod. (for steel shot today-his no. 7 pick) and the Perrazi O/U 12 bore for clays and live birds 32" barrels choked Mod. and Full (no choke tubes) (his no. 30 I believe). With those four "escopetas" in the gauges 12 and one in 20-so that ammo is most readily available (and affordable- that's why I excluded the 16 and 28 gauges herein) and assuming they fit me, I believe I could handle all my upland bird shooting, waterfowling and both sporting clays and live pigeons- I said if $ is no object-a nice collection of fine Parkers and Foxes and Smiths and LeFevers and Ithacas would just be "frosting on the cake"-Paul A, Curtis in 1934 "Guns and Gunning" wrote about the "All around battery" added the note that in some cases, too many guns can become a burden-we can only shoot one at a time- and the late Rudy Etchen was a "living legend" with a Rem 870!! RWTF
Last edited by Run With The Fox; 06/24/08 08:44 AM.
