I’ve been looking for a shotgun for awhile. Nostalgia, mostly - Grampa had a big old double-barreled one above his door at the farmhouse. I try to picture him at ninety — skinny, bald, tiny — shouldering the sixteen-gauge monstrosity and blowing away a curious fox while managing not to get knocked on his rump.
I don’t have a particular need for a shotgun — I do all of my hunting with my car (sorry, deer!). My Uncle Bill (the other one) has the shotgun now. Tried to get it from him — he won’t part with it. Even if he would: stock’s split, the breaking mechanism needs work, and both barrels have something wrong with the choke(?). Long story short - the weapon is in need of some TLC by a gunsmith. Expensive TLC, that is.
I call it a “double barrel” shotgun. Turns out what I’m looking for — to keep it as close to Gramp’s as possible — is a “double barrel side by side with a break and external hammers.” Also turns out double-barreled shotguns (side by side or over and under) are very expensive — generally in the low two grand range. No thanks.
Found out totally randomly that a division of Remington — Spartan — makes some nice and relatively cheap ones, in a variety of styles. I think it’s pretty, and it looks almost identical to Gramp’s, except that if I remember right, there were two distinct triggers, as opposed to one trigger mechanism with two seperate finger-pulls.
I was going to check on special ordering it yesterday — I doubt Dick’s Sporting Goods carries it in stock all regular like. But then the ass showed up regarding the financing inspection and I scrapped my errand list for the day. Maybe I’ll get to it today. Maybe I won’t get to it at all and just save the money.
Of course, I do that, it’s the day the zombies start walking the earth and as I’m chucking DVDs and books at ‘em, trying to bust up their brains, I’ll be all like, “Shit man, I could’ve had a shotgun to go after these fuckers with.”