I bought an original (4 digit serial number) new from a hardware store in the fall of 1976 (first new gun I ever bought) and hunted with it exclusively for a good ten years before buying another shotgun as my primary (a used Model 12). My Dad shot a SX-M1 Trap model in competition for years; the bolt buffer recommendations above is a very valid point - if it is original it needs to be replaced, I bought several from Stu Wright several years ago - his do a nice job and are not as hard or brittle. I also replaced the metal recoil buffer (if that is the correct term) with a Stu Wright replacement - mine was all chewed up from years of shooting. Ours were both very reliable shotguns (Dad was an avid trap shooter, he wouldn't have kept it if it ever balked on him). Dads was a later generation and he had the trigger worked on by a smith at the Trap Nationals in Ohio years ago (not sure who did the work) - his trigger was very clean. Mine is the original first generation and never gave me a problem, but not as smooth as the one in Dad's trap gun. I still have mine, Dad sold his via Shotgun World a decade back - there is an avid SX-M1 fan base that hangs out there in the Winchester sub-forum. Buy it, great gun if you don't mind the quirks.
