After I retired and was cleaning out the house in Seattle where I grew up, getting it ready to sell, I found a couple of boxes of
Outdoor Life from the 1960s. In that I didn't bother to get TV cable or internet hooked up there I spent my down time reading through those old magazines. Most of them I dumped in the club house at Seattle Skeet & Trap, but the one I kept was September 1965. In that issue Jack's column was titled "The 20 Gauge Moves Up." In the article he states that at the height of the Great Depression he bought a 20-gauge 30-inch ejector Field Grade L.C. Smith for $17.50 with case, cleaning rod and two boxes of shells. Then goes on for two columns of text extolling all the great shooting he did with it. He then calls a 20-gauge with 30-inch barrels a preposterous freak and spends the rest of the article explaining why his 26-inch barrel guns with SST and beavertail forearms are better?!? He mentioned that Ellenor had a 26-inch barrel Ithaca 20-gauge but doesn't mention grade or whether Flues or NID.