[Austin J Hawthorne Jr.]

On the way to my daughters this morning for a visit I passed a small gunshop on the other side of the highway. I had a little time to kill and decided to turn around and take a look and see if they had anything worthwhile. After checking out the racked guns and finding just the usual assortment of semi-autos and pump guns I asked the owner if he had any SxS's. He allowed me behind the counter and took me into a small area toward the back of the shop. There, in a corner, were about 6-8 damascus SxS's. When I asked if they were for sale he seemed reluctant and told me that they aren't safe to shoot. After a few minutes of back and forth I purchased 3 of them for $600.00. Two were JABC's, but in good shape and on face with minimal pitting. The third was a W.W. Greener 20 gauge with some light exterior rust and bores that were quite dirty. This gun was also tight and on face but I'm not sure how much of the grime in the bores will be fouling or pitting. This will be my winter project.
Moral of the story is that it pays to never pass by that nondescript little gunshop.