A gracious benefactor loaned me a 16 ga. M11 when I was about 11 yrs. old. He had previously loaned me a .410 S X S at age 8, and "swapped it out with me". He owned a plantation that adjoined my Grandad's farm, where my parents and I lived (I still do), and would have numerous dove shoots to which he would invite Grandad and me. I really clicked with that M11 and in a year or so was outshooting most of the grown men on the fields. I can vividly recall the men leaving the field and moving to a shady area where they would sit and watch me shoot.
Though I killed my first quail and dove with the little .410 that M11 made a shooter out of me. I shot it until my 16th birthday, when I received a new 12 ga. from my parents, and returned the M11 to our friend. I remember it, and many of the dove shoots I used it on, with great fondness.
As Bob Hope used to sing, "thanks for the memories".
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