My Father bought a 12-gauge 30-inch full The Sportsman for $35 in 1938 with his employee discount at Seattle Hardware. He always lamented the Parker in their window display which he said he could have bought for $100!! The Sportsman was his waterfowl gun until the early 1960s when he succumbed to Jack O'Connor's short barrel writings and had it whacked to 26-inch with a Poly-Choke. Within a year or two The Sportsman was gone and he had a 2-frame 30-inch VH 12-gauge as his waterfowl gun, which still resides in my gunroom.
In 2002 after I retired and was cleaning out our house in Seattle getting it ready to sell, I found the leather takedown case he made for The Sportsman, so I had to buy one to go in it!! Of course once I had the 12-gauge, I needed a 16- and 20-gauge.
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