What is the best firearm you ever owned?

[Dean Romig]

A borrowed Trojan 12 gauge with 28" barrels. I "owned" that gun for a few years and even wrote about it in Parker Pages a long time ago titled "A Last Trojan Pheasant". This old Trojan whetted my appetite for Parker Brothers shotguns and I am ever thankful for that opportunity.

Here, a short excerpt from the end of that story:


"I telephoned Dave a couple of weeks ago and left a message on his answering machine out there in Boise where he has lived since nineteen-seventy-something. I asked him to call me back with the serial number of his grandfather’s Trojan. He called me back a couple of nights ago and told me the serial number was 167347 and that…
“Yes, it’s in the same condition you remember it ‘cause I haven’t used it but once or twice since you gave it back to me a few days before you moved away. But I’ll bring it with me the next time I drive back East to visit my mother, probably in a year or two.”

I’d love to hold that old Trojan again, if only just for a while."


Dave's been back a number of times and his mother passed away almost 15 years ago... but he never brought that old Trojan with him...

I talked to him a few weeks ago to tell him of Kathy's passing and learned through his very measured speech that he had a severe stroke last fall.

Our days are truly numbered.





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[James Whittington]

My favorite by far is my Lefever EE 16.... nearly always with me when following my Setters.
Glenn

[John Davis]

My Parker SB, SA and GHE. I’ve won a lot of bling with those three guns.

[Double Lab]

This a tough one. It's like asking me to pick my favorite Grandchild. All my guns are the best, that's why my safe is overflowing. I love vintage and current .22's. I love handguns. But shotguns are what float my boat and especially 20 and 28gauges. I've got multiple venues to exercise these scatterguns and I do a couple of times a week. As far as SxS's go my best would have to be my VHE 28 with 30" barrels. But unfortunately these old treasures can't take the heavy use that sporting clays demands of them on a regular basis. They are relegated to the vintage shoots, occasional outings on the clays course and virtually all hunting.

So my best right now would have to be 2 Perazzi's, a 20 and a 28ga which can take the heavy toll that target shooting places on them and if, and I mean if they break, they won't cost and arm and a leg to repair and I can usually do it myself.

[Austin J Hawthorne Jr.]

Best by way of originality(condition)..12 gauge Otto Bock. Practically as new condition...95% case colors...Bernard damascus barrels as smooth as silk with zero fading or wear...32 lpi checking on stock and forend with no visible wear, and engraving comparable to a diamond grade Prussian Charles Daly.
Best by way of upgrading...20 gauge Winchester model 21. Restocked, and custom engraved, by Roy Vail.
Best by my ability to shoot it...12 gauge Grade 2 Parker hammergun. Refinished wood and metal...reversed choked and on a #1 frame.

[charlie cleveland]

I just cannot pick the best shotgun I have I care for all of them....charlie

[Keith Doty]

Almost as bad as picking my favorite dog.......ALL of them.

[Phil Yearout]

As much as I love my shotguns, I'd have to say my Winchester 61. My brother bought it at an auction in the 1950's; he and Dad were on opposite sides of the room bidding against each other and didn't know it; I think they ran the price all the way up to $40. I don't shoot my rifles much these days but this'n and I were almost constant companions from about my 12th year on. Local squirrels, bunnies and prairie dogs hated it...

[Craig Larter]

The best condition gun I own is a Fox DE 12ga 30" that came out of the Dupont family. I bought it at Pintail Vintagers many years ago from a walk in. I call the gun "Simply D Vine", mint condition. My best ever duck gun (I've owned a couple dozen LOL) is a Super Fox C-HE 12ga 30" with XE checkering that came from Dana Tauber. I almost couldn't miss with the Super and have shot well over 100 ducks with the gun. It's retired to the gunroom wall. It's more satisfying for me to just look at it every day and think of the great times with great dogs and great hunting partners at my beloved marsh. My best ever bird gun is a Fox CE 20ga 26" IC/M. I've shot wild pheasants, grouse, woodcock, mearns quail, bobs and blues. My best ever "put a smile of my face gun" and maybe the most fun to shoot is my Parker GH 8ga 36". I could go on and on but you get the point I really enjoy this hobby and lifestyle.

[mobirdhunter]

Harry, you did well with your prompt, especially by not defining "best." Lots of ways to interpret the word, but today, at least for now, I'll say the best gun(s) I have had are two that have served me best, in other words, consistently took birds for me over time.

Here they are:

A John Dickson and Sons boxlock 28 bore that was my constant companion over the course of many years -- years when there were birds in Missouri. I have not used this gun in some years, but it still has accounted for the most birds of all kinds (except dove, turkeys or waterfowl), including pheasants (which we had in decent numbers up until about 2000). This little 5 lbs. 3 oz. gun took ruffed grouse in 6 states over one season.

Number two is my favorite quail gun: a Parker DHE 20 with 30 inch barrels. This little 1918 gun has proven a quail killer, and I've shot well with it. It will take a pheasant on those rare occasions that we find one, but it's a quail gun, pure and simple...and simply the "best."

Now, ask me again tomorrow...