I'm rapidly approaching 80 years of age and was an avid coastal wildfowler, my big guns are long gone, a Tolley 8 gauge ss chamberless and the family heirloom a Scott 3.5" 10 g sbs, also a boss damascus 12g sidelock ejector game gun all three of those will be over 120 years old now, the boss and the tolley I sold to a USAF guy who was a guest on a pheasant shoot I was a member of, he made me an offer I couldn't refuse but the Scott went to a local chap who's had great success with it.
As a boy I had a bunch of single 12s and one double hammer 12, but my first new gun was a Stevens mod 77M, I bought that in 1961 new and still have it, I occasionally shoot pigeons with it but I also have a rem 1100 skeet gun with cutts compensator and lyman multichoke, that I bought new in 1964, together with a 3" chambered barrel and this is my favourite for pigeons and decoyed ducks, I have a red dot fastened to the rib now which is the greatest thing since sliced bread. My game gun is a Darne V19, 12g sxs, bored ic and cyl and it is just the business for both driven and walked up game, it weighs just over 6 pounds. I used to use it as my back up duck gun when out with my tolley as that wasn't much use for flighting duck being over 14 pounds. My current wildfowling gun is a winchester mod 23 sbs, 12g 3" ought in 1982 or 83, which I've had reamed to ic in both barrels or, as we say over here, 5 points of choke. I also have a 20 g sbs but the last one I'd sell would be the win mod 23 they are that good when the choke is reamed out of them. Up until I had the bores opened out mine was 1/2 and full choke and shooting it was the ballistic equivalent of threading a needle.
View attachment 494380View attachment 494381 1st image shows the 23 (top) and darne, second image shows the 1100 (top) and the 77.
