Does everyone else have "THE" gun?

[Buckmaster7600]

Today was my Dads birthday and it's been a tough one. With the fresh snow I decided to go for a walk. When I went to get a gun it was a no brainer. This old 870 youth model is my gun. Although I have 20 other shotguns this is the one I use 99% of the time. Dad bought me this one for my 8th birthday. He got it used from a guy at work. I have killed an ungodly amount of animals with it from chipmunks to deer. It's got scars from many adventures that it wears beautifully. I remember sitting with dad when I killed my first turkey with it and him sitting me on the rock wall when I killed my first deer with it. I remember my first kill was with this gun when 2 squirrels ran by and I got them both with dad by my side. I type this as I sit under the old mans favorite tree stand with it in my lap and tears in my eyes. This old gun isn't anything special just an 20ga 870 express youth model but it sure is special to me. If times ever got tough and I had to sell my collection of guns I would starve to death before this went anywhere.

What's everyone else's "gun?"

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[Five Seasons]

you have 20 shotguns?

[BigVal]

Mine is also an 870. A 12 Guage that my dad gave me for my 14th birthday. That gun also has a permanent home.

[Lawdwaz]

Nice

[The_Real_TCIII]

Mine is my dads Browning Double Automatic.
Someday it will get all refinished and put away, but not yet


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[NFA-ADK]

Hang in there Buckmaster7600!  I don't have a shotgun, yet.  Only hunting my dad did was as a kid with a 22.

[Buckmaster7600]

you have 20 shotguns?

Now that I think about it 20 is probably a low number. Let's see I have 6 870's 4 500's 2 1100's 2 1187's an 835 a Benelli a franchi 2 1300's 3 H&Rs a couple old side by sides 2 savage 24's and a 42 a red label and a citori a maverick over under. I'm sure I'm forgetting some and the 8 or 10 that dad had. I guess 40 would be closer. I really have a problem no wonder my wife complains every time I come home with "more guns."


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[grampy]

A very impressive collection of shotguns! So cool that with all those guns to choose from, you still go with the one Dad gave you. I hope you felt his presence with you today on that walk. Cause I'm sure he was right there with you.

My all time favorite gun is my old, Model 37 Ithaca 16 Gg. I bought it my self, with money earned working on a farm. I was 14 years old. It's killed everything from chipmunks to decent bucks. I'm as proud of that gun now as the day it first touched my hands.

[Fletch]

Mine would be my O. F. Mossburg and Sons, Inc. Chuckster 640KA 22 magnum. It was my late grandfathers and was on many excurtions with us. I shot my first snowshoe and grouse with it with him along. It will be my sons some day.

[ny hunter]

Mine is an old Browning BAR my dad gave me when I was 16.It has. Leupold scope real nice rifle and I never take it out or well I ever part with it.When I am gone I have told my son this rifle never leaves our family...

[bkln]

32 minutes ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

 

Now that I think about it 20 is probably a low number. Let's see I have 6 870's 4 500's 2 1100's 2 1187's an 835 a Benelli a franchi 2 1300's 3 H&Rs a couple old side by sides 2 savage 24's and a 42 a red label and a citori a maverick over under. I'm sure I'm forgetting some and the 8 or 10 that dad had. I guess 40 would be closer. I really have a problem no wonder my wife complains every time I come home with "more guns."


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...hmmm. why? what's different between your 4 500's? Unless you just collect them and get a kick out of it, then I understand. Otherwise I see no practical reason for 40 shotguns (other than war :-)). BTW, where do you store all that stuff, you must have a dedicated room or two for all that. Also, how long is your "cleaning day" a week? LOL

[Buckmaster7600]

A very impressive collection of shotguns! So cool that with all those guns to choose from, you still go with the one Dad gave you. I hope you felt his presence with you today on that walk. Cause I'm sure he was right there with you.
My all time favorite gun is my old, Model 37 Ithaca 16 Gg. I bought it my self, with money earned working on a farm. I was 14 years old. It's killed everything from chipmunks to decent bucks. I'm as proud of that gun now as the day it first touched my hands.

That's an awesome gun! Almost all of those guns were bought when I was a kid working on a dairy farm. My father was always buying and selling guns and taught me a lot about the dealing of guns. The only problem is I'm a way better buyer than seller. He would always ask me before buying "can you sell it for more than you're buying it for?" If the answer was yes he would approve.


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[Pygmy]

Mine is an Ithaca SKB  20 gauge side by side.... 25 "  BBls and choked  IC and Mod....

I bought it used ( but like new) in the early 70s with money which I got from fox pelts, as I was doing a lot of fox calling at the time..

I paid  $200 for it...It killed my first spring gobbler in 1975 ..Since then it has been my main upland bird/ bunny rabbit gun...Also killed it's share of waterfowl, when lead shot was allowed...It has its share of honorable scars, but is still a fine quality shotgun and is probably worth four times what I paid for it...

[RoadKill44]

My first was a 1906 savage 22 pump, hex barrel and 7 round clip. It was really my dads gun but I started to hunt it pretty much became mine. It had problems where, if you got through a clip load of shots without a shell hanging up and not ejecting, you were lucky. Still it took a lot of squirrels, chipmunks and blackbirds when I wasn't just plinking a cans. When I turned 16 and became a deer hunter, I think it was then dad traded it for my 16Ga Mossberg bolt action. That was in 1960 and I still have the Mossberg but at this point I wish I could trade back.

Right now I really like my Remington 7600 (WIN270) for deer.

 

[SuperMag]

I have many guns that mean a lot to me. Coming to mind right now is my full frame 20 gauge 870 wingmaster that my grandfather handed down to me when I turned 12. I have a skeet barrel, mod barrel, and a smoothbore slug barrel with it. Beautiful wood back when they made guns with really nice wood on them. I'll take a picture of it later on if I remember. Another one would be my 870 express that I deer hunt with. I got my first deer with it when I was 16.


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[TreeGuy]

I have a heirloom "gun". My grandfathers rem 700 in 6mm. I absolutely love hunting deer with it but it only comes out when the weather is nice. As far as a go to gun I couldn't say I have one. I always decide on what and where I'm hunting and pick my weapon accordingly.

[sodfather]

My favorite is my Browning A5 sweet 16 Belgium ( Safe queen ) Favorite Bow is a Bear Whitetail I was 13 when I got that bow before my first shotgun..

Both retired but I bring out my Dads Ithaca Pump on a nice small game hunt 

Great topic by the way 

[DirtTime]

I am not sure I have ever had "The Gun" or a specific 'go to' gun. I will say that these days I find myself taking the .22LR out more then the 12ga for squirrel. Never cared for carrying a .22 for small game in the past, must be the model of the rifle that I like more then others I have owned. For deer, I took the Savage Axis .25-06 when ever the fiancee wasn't hunting with me over my 7mm-08.

Now, If I could get back any of the guns I have had to sell, after some careful thought, I decided on just two. My first shotgun, a Sears & Robuck 20ga single shot bought for me as a Christmas present when I was 14. Traded it for a Mossy 500 12ga when I was 15, I was a dumb kid, I thought the 12ga pump would be better for turkey. The second would be a Smith & Wesson 1000 AL in 20ga. Picked it up used around 1989 ( not sure, but I think they sopped making it in 1985 (?), and sold the paten to Mossberg (?) ) for $259 with a scope and a deer barrel along with the field barrel. Wasn't the best shooting shotgun I have owned, but I just want it back LOL

[wolc123]

Like grampy, my Ithaca, 16 ga model 37 is my favorite gun.  It had been my grandpa's gun, and he willed it to me, along with a few others.  I killed a lot of deer with it, including my first dozen or so and the two with the largest racks.   I did not do so good on birds with it, using the modified barrel.  I remember a grouse hunt with my great-uncle and cousin, when I shot about 15 times without even nocking a feather off from one.  I do a lot better on those with the old Stevens springfield side by side 16 gauge that he also left me.  That modified barrel has not been on the Ithaca 37 in about 35 years, since I mounted a 1-1/2 Weaver on the receiver, to go with the long cylinder-choke deerslayer barrel.   

Looking back, I would have rather had a model 870 Rem for my first buck.  I did not have a slug in the gun yet (it was a couple seconds before sunrise) when the buck stepped out of the brush, right under my tree stand.   Fortunately, he stuck his nose into the Hawken tobacco stain that I was making in the snow below my tree, giving me time to jam a "legal" slug up from the bottom.  I hoped that it found the chamber when I slammed the action back.  With a side-ejecting 870, I could have fed the slug directly into the chamber.  

A few years after that, I pushed the range limits a bit with it, allowing me to take my largest antlered buck.  Had someone else not shot off a rear hoof a week or so prior, my own first shot, which took out the opposite diagonal front leg, would have never slowed him down enough so that I could run him down and kill him with my last slug.  I also killed my second largest antlered buck with it, from about 10 yards away, 5 years ago.  

These days, I only hunt with it when I know that all shots will be less than 75 yards.  That is not too often.  It would be hard for me to part with it, since my grandpa left it to me and I killed my two largest antlered deer with it.  I did not hunt with it at all last season, but I hope to this year.  I am going to put up a stand, on my grandpa's old farm, in some thick cover where deer always seem to head later in gun season when the pressure is on.  Shots would be close in there.  It can't hurt to use grandpa's old gun on his farm where I know he used it to kill a fair number of deer.  I have only killed a few over there, and none of them with that gun.    

[coonhunter]

Fletch, I have the same gun. My dad owned this gun and I grew up shooting it. This gun is special to me because it is very recognizable in the one field photo of my dad that I have. I have always loved this gun. It has killed hundreds of woodchucks, a couple dozen coyotes, and quite a few grouse and rabbits. If I am small game hunting, most of the time I am carrying this gun.

[Buckmaster7600]

 
 
 
...hmmm. why? what's different between your 4 500's? Unless you just collect them and get a kick out of it, then I understand. Otherwise I see no practical reason for 40 shotguns (other than war :-)). BTW, where do you store all that stuff, you must have a dedicated room or two for all that. Also, how long is your "cleaning day" a week? LOL

I don't have any doubles in shotguns. My 500's ones a 12gaturkey thug with an 18" barrel one is a 20ga turkey thug, one is a slugster and one is tactical.

But to be honest I just collect them. When I see a good deal on a gun if I have the money I buy them. It's my retirement plan.


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[growalot]

My Browning 20ga

[SuperMag]

Heres the only picture i could find of my wingmaster. I could just take a current pic of it but its getting late. Its the sixth one in starting from the left. It looks like at the time i had the slug barrel on it, although I've never shot slugs out of it. Every one of these guns means something to me and i could probably tell a story about each one. This picture is fairly old and only shows a portion of my collection and doesn't really show any of my rifles. I've added quite a few more since this was taken. 

 

Edited January 25, 2017 by SuperMag

[fasteddie]

6 hours ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

 

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Sorry to derail the topic but it always makes me nervous to see a gun leaning against a tree . 

[Jeremy K]

My all time special favorite gun , my dad has a Colt .38 that was his fathers . In due time it will become mine and some day my son's.