Hey, Richard, as I've dug my way through this old piece, I've come to have exactly the same feeling about it. Looking at that butt plate, you can tell that it has recoiled against someone's shoulder hundreds or thousands of times. Looking at the barrel weld repair, I speculate that the owner burst the barrel, had it welded by Bubba at the blacksmith's shop, and kept right on shooting it. I've wondered if it belonged to a professional market hunter back in the day.
But here's the best part: I have a buddy who is not only an avid shooter and fishing buddy of mine, he's a band mate with me (he plays tenor sax against my guitar in a jazz quartet) and who's also a short story writer. A week ago, he emailed me and said: "What are you working on that would inspire me? I need story material." I answered: "Come over and I'll give you story material." I showed him all the details of the gun--the wear on the butt plate, the weld on the left barrel, etc. etc. Then I said: "Go write the history of this gun for me. I don't care if it's a total fabrication. Just tell me how it came to look like this, and then how it came to rest, with pieces in boxes and bags, in my cousin's garage in central Missouri for about 30 years." His eyes lit up and he salivated...
I expect in a couple more weeks I'll be able to read that history. It'll be a total fabrication spun out of my buddy's fertile imagination, but it'll be a good read!
Patrick
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