Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors (Pictures added) Patterns from an early 12 gauge Std. Grade Winchester 21

Nice old honest shotgun. Envy here.

I may have written this story before, so pardon the old Guy's memory. When I was about 12, all I wanted for Christmas was a shotgun. Dad was a bit frugal. I got the gun, but it was a bummer. A brand new Western Field, Montgomery Ward's version of a Mossberg 16 ga bolt action with a choke dingus on the barrel. I tried to not show my unappreciation for the gift, but I was much disappointed, and even more so when the family bird hunts took place.

Jack O'Conner said that I needed a Winchester 21 20 ga. I thought a 12 would be better. Our 50-51 version of on line shopping, the trusty Ward's catalog, had the field grade guns, but they were $325. I begged. Now that was a lot of money in those days, but Dad and I entered into a year long contract that required me to meet certain goals in the home, on the family farm, at school, and at church. These were things that I was going to be required to do anyway, so why not? The kicker was that we had to have a good harvest to swing the deal. I understood that.

All is well that ends well. Goals met, good crop, Dad said yes. There was this one problem. There was this pretty brown eyed neighbor girl that lived about three miles away that I had begun to notice. I needed wheels to pay her the proper attention, go to movies, take to parties, and whatever mid teen angers did in the mid fifties. We only had the one family car. My proposal to Dad was that we convert my gun money to another vehicle (used for sure). Dad readily agreed that we needed another car and immediately agreed, so here I am now at about fifteen with a decent old car in partners with Dad, and still shooting that bummer shotgun.

Again, all is well that ends well. A few years later, I married that brown eyed girl and sixty one years later I still have her. Best gun trade that I ever made. And guess what? For a fifty cent raffle ticket, I won an Ithica 37 Featherlight and started hunting quail and waterfowl in style. Not only did I get a wife, but a great FIL that was the best quail guide ever. I still wonder from time to time where my path might have taken me to, if I had bought the 21?

Jack