Shotgun

I’ve never been a hunter. I’ve never been one to have a gun collection or know what the difference in this or that is. However, I decided last year that I was gonna buy a hunting rifle and start hunting with my father. I never purchased the rifle (I borrowed one), but I did start looking at all the options. Nothing seemed right for me. All the AR and Mil-Spec stuff jut seemed like G.I. Joe fantasy stuff, and I was never in the army. If I wanted an Army rifle, I’d join the Army. I learned about various calibers and cartridges from handguns to rifles. Still couldn’t decided what I wanted. I like the Marlin 336, a .30-30 caliber rifle, but the new ones feel cheap. My Uncle has one and I enjoyed it, but he wouldn’t part with it. His felt solid. Most older rifles do. They were made with better parts. Anyways, earlier this week I walked into my brother’s work (I was running an errand for him) and I saw a shotgun on the rack for sale. It looked dirty, and old. It felt heavier than the others around it. It had character. He advised me against it, urging me toward a newer one, but I liked it. It wasn’t perfect. It had an after market variable choke on the muzzle which I found hideous. I googled the serial number and found that it was made in 1942. I did some research and decided that I wanted it. A Winchester Model ’12 12 Gauge. I took my father in today to show him, and he didn’t like the price for the condition. He, like my brother pointed out the newer semi-auto’s and etc. Finally he said that he would show me something better that I would like and we started gun shopping at different stores. The first store we went to had a Winchester Model 1897 that was made in approx. 1899. I did not like the design with an external hammer, and it was just as rough in condition as the Model 12. We went to the next shop down the road, which neither of us had been to before, and went in to look. It was a small shop dedicated to assault rifles. This made sense being that the store was located outside of an Army base. I was about to turn and walk out after walking in 5 steps and seeing nothing but ARs when my dad pointed at a small rack in the middle of the floor with 5 guns on it. Rifles, shotguns, and black powder guns mixed and matched. The second one on it was another model ’12. It was clean, no ugly adaption on the barrel, and was $75 cheaper. This shotgun had everything I liked about the previous one w/o the negatives. We checked the serial number w/ Google. According to the search, it was made in 1930. I’m not an antiques person, but I love the fact that its older. I’m not into old stuff, but for some reason I’m drawn to this shotgun being 83 years old. You know it has history. It has that nice cocking sound from the movies, and its sounds as solid as it feels. 83 years is a long time, and its in almost pristine condition. The possibilities of the history is endless as well. The Model ’12 shotguns were used in ww1, ww2, Vietnam, and the Korean war (I doubt this one was due to the features and specific model variant). It could have fed a family with wild game, backed down a confrontation with that unmistakable slide sound. It’s also possible that it has been used for negative things as well. I’m hoping that it has never been fired at another person. Like I said, though, 83 years is a long time. Anyways, I put $200 down on the Shotgun, and I owe less than that on payday to walk away with it. I’m excited. I grew up in the south with a family of hunters. They have all ran through more firearms than I have cars. I wreck a lot of cars… sadly. This will be my first purchase of one, and it was almost love at first sight. Same model, just a different serial number, and a lot cleaner. Its like seeing a cute girl at the bar who gets too drunk ever time, and then deciding to go for her almost identical older sister who is well behaved. If that makes sense. I still have no need for an AR, and according to my father, I can hunt deer with this shotgun. So I may never buy a rifle. I have a .22lr that my grandfather gave me when I was in high school, but its merely for plinking/target shooting. Squirrels maybe.  Anyways, that’s my excitement.