40 inches......
This past evening, on my way to a rendezvous, I stopped over a friends house who had just come into possession of a Hopkins and Allen 12 gauge single shot. That in itself wouldn't garner much attention but the damn thing has a 40 inch factory barrel! It was the longest I'd personally ever seen on a hardware store single and I was powerful impressed. Gun was tight and in good shape, what appeared to be laminated steel for the tube, showed quite a bit of case color, bore bright and pit free. Very heavy, massive wall thickness, really a painfully cool old fowler. The one draw back was it had a home made butt stock which was a trifle crude. My friend is pretty handy with the rasp and thinks he can shape it up a bit to where it doesn't look too bad. Of course the standard 4 inches of drop at heel and 13 inch LOP was present. He loves a project and once it's done my guess is the old girl might come into my possession.
Anybody ever seen one longer?
DLH
__________________
I was as virtuously given as a gentleman need to be; virtuous enough; swore little; diced not above seven times a week; went to a bawdy-house once in a quarter--of an hour; paid money that I borrowed, three of four times; lived well and in good compass: and now I live out of all order, out of all compass. Falstaff - Henry IV
|