When our carrier was in port at Sasebo, Japan, in 1972, I bought a 20-gauge Model 101 at the exchange with a luggage case for $202. Gave it to my father for Christmas that year. Over the next 16 years until he quit hunting after the 1988 season, he carried it a lot, wore the bluing off the bottom of the frame and pheasant blood produced a blemish near the muzzles. He complained about the non-automatic safety the whole time. He was very used to the automatic safeties on his Parker and Remington doubles. On the occasions when he missed a bird with the Model 101, he often be heard muttering "I'd a got that with my ole Remington." In 2003 I passed it on to a cousin that my father hunted with a lot in Minnesota, who shot an early 12-gauge Model 101.
|