I was stuck at work. Blah

I bought the Ruger. I have wanted one since I was a kid and the first ones came out. I have been holding out for one of the Sporter style carbines but they are really pricey. I prebid on the .44 and got it for a lot less than my prebid. Over the last 18 months, they have increased to the point you can't touch a reasonably clean straight one for less than 4 figures and often much more.

Those guns and the S2 and S3 Berettas are the guns that over the last two years are really going up. As has the 28 gauge Ruger Red Label.

I thought there were an amazing number of great buys on 8 gauges. I have a single and a double and I think a lot of people are overlooking the singles as an entry level. About the only legal field use in the US is for turkey and deer in some states and a single is fine for those uses.

Fantastic! The local deer are going to hate you with that thing. If ya don't like it send it my way;)

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[QUOTE=Arthur Shaffer;445074]I bought the Ruger. I have wanted one since I was a kid and the first ones came out. I have been holding out for one of the Sporter style carbines but they are really pricey. I prebid on the .44 and got it for a lot less than my prebid. Over the last 18 months, they have increased to the point you can't touch a reasonably clean straight one for less than 4 figures and often much more.

Awesome! Remember the original Ruger ad for the .44 carbine showing the unknown PH and his native scouts posed beside the huge African upland gorilla? The verbage in the telegram they used was right out of Hairbreadth Harry dialog - something like "furious charge" and "point-blank range.? Just think about what that product presentation would effect today - you'd have Alan Alda going into a sweat lodge for the weekend and Cheryl Tiegs booking an extended session with her PITA Sensei! Congratulations Arther! I always wanted one too, but opted for its grandson .22 cal carbine. Nothing like them!

I was drawn to the gun, I believe, because my Dad was a WW II veteren and owned an M1 carbine. I suspect this was the basic model for the gun, with much more power.

I remember the giant gorilla ad but had forgotten about it. The one I remember was about a guy taking the legendary orangutang from Southeast Asia. (I don't think they were very well known in those days; the ad led you to believe they were a rare animal.) I can still remember where I was when I read the ad in Outdoor Life; eating lunch on a summer jobsite where my dad was building a new chimney on a 2 story farmhouse. I was 14 or 15 at the time. I may remember it because while I was reading the magazine, the 70+ year old farmer had climbed the scaffold during our lunch break to see the work and managed to fall off. He was saved because he hit on the roof of his brand new (very large) Health Department approved outhouse, the first one built in our county. He simply hopped off the outhouse roof and went inside with no effect. Old farmers raised during the depression were tough.

Everyone has happenings in their life that you simply couldn't make up if you tried. This was one of mine.