Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns When you were a kid, what shotgun did you want most ???

When I was starting to hunt seriously at about age 12, I begged my folks for a model 12 Winchester in 16 ga. with a modified choke for Christmas.. I didn't get it.. My next real lust was a couple years later I wanted a model 12 Winchester in 12 ga. 28 inch modified.. I knew where there were several fine used model 12's well with in my price range.. But my father pushed me into buying a pump gun from a mail order cat. so I would have a "new" gun.. Should have bought the model 12.. After all these years, and dozens of shotguns later, those are the two I have never owned or hunted with.. I often wonder if I had bought or gotten either, if I would have kept it all my life???
What shotgun did you want most as a beginning sportsman???

Dreamed of a Wingmaster. Ended up with a Coast to Coast M 880...really a Mossberg 500. Couldn't complain...Dad bought it for me. In high school, sold the C to C to a friend, and bought a used Wingmaster. I've been a Wingmaster owner since then, and still love them. There was a time when I wanted an Ithaca side by side 20 gauge though...I believe a Model 200? Price kept me from fulfilling that dream.

If you still want a M 12....go get one! They are wonderful pump guns indeed.

When I was very young I briefly owned a 20 gauge L.C. Smith that my grandfather kindly gave me. After a couple of months my dad took it and traded for something that he ended up keeping. I'm still trying to forgive him for the last 60 years.

Winchester Model 42 - even though Dad "cruelly handicapped" me with a .410 (H&R Topper), I somehow managed to kill pheasants. When I saw a 42, I fell in love.

I always wanted a nice English double, the first one I bought was 20 years ago, still have it, although I have bought and sold a dozen or more since!
It's a Westley Richards hammer double and it has killed more birds than any other gun I own.
Cat

I wanted a Remington 1100 12ga as a kid. I never have owned one and I am over it now. I believe the first shotgun I did own was a Ithaca 37 in 12ga, just like my dads. I still have it.

Ithaca 37. Both dad and big bro had one, so I wanted one too...

Still don't own one...

I never really had a gun I wanted to own cause my dad didn't hunt. when I got in my late teens I had friends that hunted and I liked it but still didn't lust after any particular gun. when a buddie at work introduced me to duck hunting that all changed. I hunted with pumps and started wanting an auto. I shot other peoples autos till I shot a benelli M1 and I knew I had to have one. I traded a b rowning gold for one and ended up trading it for something and regreting it right away. it has been several years and I ended up with anothe M1 and will never make that mistake again. The first time I shot on I was in my early 20s now in my early 40s I guess I would have to say the benelli M1.

Browning A5 and corncob styled pump Ithaca 37

When I was a kid my granddad had a Fox SxS 16ga. Man oh man .... did I ever lust after that gun.
Sad part is he gave it to my uncle and some time later on it got sold.

Browning BSS. My dad carried a 20ga version and I was convinced it was the best pheasant gun in the world. We hunted mostly tough public land and worked hard for each bird and it seemed like he never missed.

My dad bought a Winchester model 12 right after he got out of the army in 1947. It was a 16 gauge and I wanted a 16 too. For Christmas 1959 he bought me an Ithaca 37, 16. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Married my college sweetheart in 63 and a year later her a-hole brother broke into my house and stole all my guns. He fenced them to some pawn shop and I never saw them again. Hated that chit head to this day. Have owned quite a few 16's since then plus still have a couple of 37 16 gauges. Always wanted a really nice 16 double and last year fell into a beautiful Parker 16. Besides my wife and kids it's the love of my life.

Back in the late 40's I wanted an Ithaca 20 ga. pump. I ended up with my Mom's old Model 20 .410 single shot. Shot my first pheasant with it. When I was a high school junior I purchased a new Mdl. 37 Winchester 12 ga. single. In the early 1970's I finally bought a new Ithaca 16 ga. pump with modified choke. Still have it. My go to grouse, chukar/quail gun.

Parker.

Easy for me. I ALWAYS wanted a Winchester Model 21 S/S Double Barrel 20ga

Remington 870 20 ga in LH with mod choke but Remington didn't make it in the early 60's in the South Paw Version. As soon as they did i got one and still have one .

A friend's dad had a model 12 16ga and an Ithaca model 37 16ga. I really liked both but the Ithaca intrigued me more with the bottom feed and ejection. I've got a model 12 12ga and a model 37 16ga.

Never did get along with my brother-in-law. The guy drinks too much. But... damn... you sure did top that.

A Browning Auto-5, 12 gauge.
No other shotgun has the feel, or the sound of the action closing like it does.

As a kid you didn't see too many o/u guns at our little gun club. All we had was a trap range and most of the hot shooters had model 12's and auto 5s. Later the 1100 started showing up and the 870 was well represented. Model 37s were never that pilar with trap shooters as you had to load out of the magazine . Dad ahad a nice 37 in 16 ga and my older brother being a lefty had one too but I always wanted a auto 5 .as a kid. I enter up with a 870 16ga that I traded a saddle for. It was great gun but I foolishly traded it in my early 30s.

Browning Sweet Sixteen

Savage 311 12ga S/S,used to see one everyday walking to school at the Western Auto store

Ithaca 37 in 12 gauge. I bought one at about 16 with money from hauling hay. It was stolen while I was in college and replaced when I graduated with an Ithaca 37 in 20 gauge that I still own.

The first and maybe only gun I ever really wanted bad was a Browning Superposed. Rifles, and other shotguns just didn't matter much to me. Don't for sure know why.

I bought my first Superposed a long time ago, had a couple more over the years but never really liked any of them enough to keep them. Did however come to like the Miroku Dalys a lot and still have a number of them. Model 12s and 870s were just working tools to me. I bought an 870 in 16 gauge back in the 60s that for some reason I just really liked using. I always shot my father's model 12 in 16 really well, and I've accumulated a few over the years. I have a sort of hobby going gathering up model 12 parts and building them into real working guns. I now enjoy that more than accumulating "complete" model 12s. I just switched to a "franken gun" model 12 in 16 for grouse hunting that is built out of parts from about 8 guns. It started as a rescue of a barrel with a potato on the end getting replaced by a WS1 barrel with a solid rib. Thinking the O/U grouse gun will move to the back of the safe and I will maybe be hunting the rest of my birds with the model 12.

When I was a kid, I wanted any shotgun I could call my own. I was given an old Winchester Model 37 "Red Belly" 16 gauge from my Dad. I still own that shotgun, and will until I part.

All of them.

Belgian made Auto 5 or a Fox double in 16 ga.

My grandfather's Belgian A5 was the one I wanted. He was a bird hunter and had two shotguns that he loved. He would let me and my cousin clean them with him when we were kids. He would tell us that one day those shotguns were going to be ours. That Belgian A5 is now mine...but I wish it was still his and I could go quail hunting with him again.

One that was hammer less Actually my grandfather's 16 ga Parker DH S/S which I have today.

Well in 1974 when I stopped "hunting" with a bow or slingshot and could actually buy a license...THE Gun was a 20 1100 Liteweight with the Mahogany stock! My first shot on my first rabbit hunt was with my Dad's 311 16 Gauge. Carried that purple shell for a long time. Yup one lucky pellet hit the bunny in the navel, it was a going away shot at probably 45 yards.

Had to be careful not to shoot Arnie the Beagle. Never got the 1100.

A side X side, as a kid I did not know enough about brands and quality just always knew it had to have two barrels.

Anything other then the 16 gauge bolt action shotgun, I had. That gun hurt every time it went off.

Jim

My 'first' shotgun was my Dad's Stevens single-barrel 12. This thing had a brutal kick to it, and was very hard for me to shoot well.

Then, one day, Dad came home with a Winchester Model 12, 12 ga., with modified choke. I guess it was 'our' shotgun, but I was the only one who ever shot it- and I shot it well. Still have that shotgun.

One of the two of my early wants..model 12 12g. mod...

I wanted a Browning Automatic Light 12, but I knew that wasn't going to happen. Winchester had just come out with the new 1200 pump and that was what my Dad was pushing. Since, at the time I was 13 years old, still pretty much listened to him, and he was buying it for me for Christmas, that is what I got. That was in 1964. It wasn't a bad shotgun. I was proud of it until I showed it to my Granddad and he pointed out to me that it had an aluminum receiver and pressed in checkering. From that point on it was like a hammer, just a tool. I used it for many years and it was always a good shotgun, but I don't wish I still had it...

I hunted with various "family" guns for a number of years, so by age 10 I "knew" exactly what I wanted......a 12 ga. L.C. Smith or at least an A.H. Fox.

That winter my mother's father died and left me a FINE French double (not even sure of the maker) in 16 ga. that he had brought home from WWII. It wasn't a 12, but it was beautiful with scroll engraving covering the action and even ejectors. Unfortunately I only hunted with it one season before all of our guns were lost in a fire.

As soon as the insurance money came in my father went hunting for new guns (before even buying clothes...he had his priorities straight). He explained that the money had to buy guns for the entire family, so L.C. Smiths and Fox's were not an option. So I told him a 870 pump or Ithaca would do just as well (for some reason I never liked the Model 12....and still don't own one).

He came home with and presented me with a beautiful 870 in....20 ga. I "knew" I really needed a 12, but at 11 years old I had to settle for what I got. Somehow I managed to kill several truckloads of small game and a half-dozen deer over the next few years with that "too small" 20.

When I was 17 I got into duck hunting and just had to have a 12ga. Magnum (or so I thought at the time). I went looking for another 870, but instead discovered the only semi-auto shotgun I'd ever wanted.....a Belgium Browning A-5....and in Magnum chambering!!

I didn't have the cash or trade to own this gun, but it's owner took pity on me (having known me since birth) and allowed me to "work out" the difference on his farm and store. I still own that gun today.

I've been pretty lucky to own almost all of the guns I wanted as a kid....even if it did take me a lot of years to accumulate them.

A Browning BSS. I settled on a very early Belgium A5 and was happy as a camper.

No hunters in my family so I went with the gun that I could afford with the fanciest brand name, a Winchester Model 37 "Steelbilt" .410 from our local hardware store. Still have it, after almost 65 years, and still take it hunting at least once a season.

Cost a whole $23.50 plus tax (a fortune at 25 cents a full lug box for hand-pickin' walnuts and prunes), and the shells were over a dollar a box! It's killed quail, grouse, wood ducks, hawks, crows, squirrels, bunnies, rats, and snakes in 11 states!

Dad started me off with a little Winchester M37 single shot .410 when I was eight years old for our rabbit and squirrel hunting trips. We hunted nearly every weekend during the seasons along with Grandpa. Dad had a Browning A5 Lightweight 12 gauge that I thought was magic. When I got older dad would sometimes switch guns with me and I was in heaven when that happened. Sometime later our guns were stolen in a home burglary while we were gone on vacation. Dad replaced his A5 with an Ithaca SxS and my single shot .410 with a Wingmaster 12 gauge. I still lusted after a Browning A5 and eventually bought one. I appreciate it for what it is but today find myself taking lighter weight guns like my Benelli semi autos to the field hunting.

As a kid, I thought my old man's 311 16gauge w/Tenite stock was the be-all-end-all shotgun. It fueled my lust for things two-barreled. To my (minor) chagrin, he bought me a new 12gauge Ithaca M37 for my HS graduation in 1970. It served me well until I was through college and shopped for my first double which was an L.C.Smith, then a Fox Sterlingworth, then another Smith, and another Smith, and another...

I still have dad's Tenite stocked 311 16gauge, but the only reasons I hang onto it are nostalgic in nature. Crude in detail compared to many other makes, and with horrid balance, it does remind me of my roots and as such holds a place of honor in my collection (along with the single shot 12's that I initially hunted with).

I always dreamed of a Winchester 101.Settled for a secondhand Marlin boltaction until I earned enough to buy my first Rem 870.

Ithaca flues. Had an older mentor and thats what he put in my hands. SxS 12 gauge. Have now a Beretta 471 Silverhawk in 12, Merkel model 8 12 gauge ,Uggie SxS 20 and a Beretta 391 12 .almost bought that Flues last year. Still in the market.

Dad's A5.

An 870 Wingmaster.

And to this day I have never owned one. Probably owned 20 shotguns, and bought 870's for my kids, but I still haven't owned one for myself
.

I don't know if I wanted it MOST, but I started out with a H&R single shot 12ga that kicked like a mule and always wanted something that would hold more ammo. The summer between 7th and 8th grade I bought a sears and roebuck 12 ga bolt action with my paper route money ($20) and was in 7th heaven. The first pheasant I shot was with the third shot, while shooting left handed because I had a broken right arm. Couldn't have been any more exited and happy.

My great uncle had a 10ga hammer double behind the stove of the cabin and I always thought it was wonderful to look at, I'm pretty sure it was a Rem. One year my dad let me carry his 16 guage and he took the 10. We could still buy 2 7/8 #6s at the grocery store in Lilly WI and my dad shot his limit of grouse over his pointer, I missed a limit. I thought the hammer 10 was magical. I finally found a beautiful 16 guage hammer double, english stocked, silver inlays and beautiful paterns on the steel barrel I had no idea what damascuss was. I killed a truck load of grouse, snowshoe rabbits and pheasant with it. I learned about damascus and started to load blackpowder shells for it and shot it at local meat trap shoots, after I fired my first round it threw everyone of and never needed a shoot off to win the prize. I still have the gun it hangs on the wall in my sisters home in norther WI. I still shoot hammer doubles, I have six that still go to the duck blind every year. Once they hit 100 yrs old you have to take them out every year or they feel abandonned.

Browning Superposed. Didn't know anyone who had one, just liked the pictures. By the time I could buy one, I didn't want it any more, but I lusted for one at the time.

Remington 3200 or an 1100.

Lefever B Grade 20ga and Winchester Model 21 Duck Grade 12ga.

Just was in WI and got a picture of the old 16ga hammer double that was my dream shotgun that I posted about.

A Fox model B SxS 12 guage just like my Grandpa used to Quail hunt with . He got me a 311 to start and I now have that that passed down Fox in the safe .

Browning Superposed 20ga!!!!!!

I at last came to my senses and got a 16ga SXS.

I wanted a M21 Win, but got a M37 16g Win. Close, just one barrel short.

My dad's bird gun, an L.C. Smith 16ga IC/Mod Ideal Grade. I am now 63 and my dad is 93. He has given me other very fine guns, even a Parker VHE 20ga. I guess it's the memories that I retain of hunting quail with my dad and his ability to teach me, train our dogs, and his mastery of that gun. I will get the gun that I wanted some day, but it will be bitter sweet. If I live to be an old man, that gun will really never be mine. It will always remain my father's bird gun, and it will be treasured, and passed on to my son.

Never hunted with a shotgun in my youth. The first year that I was married at age 21 my wife bought me a Remington 870 Wingmaster in 20 gauge, and have three barrels for it. I used it for deer, turkey, rabbits, squirrels, ducks, and it still looks new except for a couple of pock marks on the receiver from a saddle scope mount. I love this shotgun like an old friend.

My dream gun was a drilling. I ended up with one at age 16, after working all summer as a wealthy eye surgeon's gardener. He gave me a wonderful Prussian Sauer-Charles Daly Regent grade 12/12/30-30. Three years later it was lost in a home burglary.

Ithaca Deluxe Model 37 16 ga. just like my fathers.

870, which I finally got when I was 14. $99 and an extra barrel for $9.95

Oh, luv2, I bet that hurt!!!

As a teen-aged gun nut, the shotgun I really wanted was a Bernardelli Italia, or maybe a Brescia would've suited me. I never got one, but the next dream gun on my list was a Winchester '97. I've had several of those over the years

I rescued my dads bolt action 20 ga from the barn when I was 12 and killed many pheasants and quail with it. my buddy had an 870 wingmaster.and ohhhhh I had to have one, I worked harder for that gun than any other i threw lots of hay bales till I had enough saved to get the 30 inch vent rib. I still have it and the 20ga has been restored to like new cond

When I was about thirteen or fourteen, my shotgun was a Montgomery -Wards bolt action 16 ga. I hated it. M-W had a Winchester Model 21 field grade in the catalog for $325. We were farmers and had made good crops for several years running. I wanted a 21. Dad and I had a contract. I do certain things well, do some really hard chores, and Dad would consider it. I met or exceeded expectations. Dad agreed and said we would do it. (this took some time.)

Then I got cold feet. The family kind of needed a second car. We had a new Mercury, but there were times when we needed another, then Mom was pregnant with my sister, almost 15 years my junior. That clinched the deal.

I offered dad a proposition. Forget the shotgun, and lets go partners on another vehicle. Deal. Now then, then don't .think that I did not have my self interest in the deal. Not all was mature reasoning. See, there was this brown eyed girl that lived a few miles away. Long story short, a few years later I married the brown eyed girl, and I still have her. With my track record on guns, I would likely have traded it away years ago. Not long after we married, I came up with a nice pump gun. Life was good.

Jack

Add: over the years I have owned lots of shotguns, many I wish I still had.

My all time favorite is a fifty year old Browning Superposed 20 Pigeon Grade, which handles as an extension of my body. It fits so well in factory form, that I set up both a Binelli Montefeltro 20 and an 870 12 with the exact same drop and cast. They work also. I suppose that I have owned at least six or seven 12 ga Superposed. They are heavy and do not handle as well as a field gun for me. Targets, yes- field, no. I finally stumbled into a Beretta 687 SPIV, that does well hunting and clays. I have also had la Light 12 A-5 for fifty years. Wish it had been a 16, but it was my choice at the time. I have several more, nothing spectacular other than my minty 42. Love me some shotguns and bird hunting. Jt

Ithaca Deerslayer

When I was a teenager I wanted a Remington 3200 O/U skeet gun. A Browning Citori would have worked too. Those over/unders were way out of reach back then. The gun I would have liked to have as a kid (that was affordable) was the Remington 1100 skeet autoloader in 12ga.

When I was very young I lusted over a Stevens .410 double that was on the rack at the local auto supply store which also sold guns. It did not sell for a long time, and I visited it often. But when I got my first shotgun at age 14, it was a Remington 870 12 gauge.

I was a broke college student when the V. Bernadelli Lightweight Gamecock 12 came out for just about $500... That was the early '70s. I have never had the chance to buy one and now they are considerably more.

I have too many shotguns as it is, but I still want one of the Gamecocks.

I dreamed of a Beretta 20 ga. SS when I was young. I have never owned a Beretta (except a little .25 Auto),however my Win. Mod 23 has served me well. --- Mel

As a kid, I took my hunter safety course in neighbor Bob Stevens living room one street up from mine in 1967. His wife served us milk and cookies during the course. After I passed both the written and shooting tests he gave me a Shooters Bible and told me to look at the guns and see what I liked and he would see about helping me find what I wanted. I decided I had to have an Ithaca 37 12 gauge, I loved the engraved receiver and the bottom ejection. As it turned out, he had one(used), and sold it to me for 75 dollars. I only had 55 dollars and had to sell my Crossman .22 pellet rifle for 20 dollars to make the purchase, and I did. About 4 years later I purchased a Deerslayer slug barrel for the gun(new) and couldn't believe I had to pay a WHOLE 60 dollars for just the barrel. I laugh today, that gun and slug barrel were probably one of the best investments I ever made. I shot my first everything with that gun, including my first deer. I more or less still have that gun, as it's been passed down to number one son and he is now shooting things with it as shown in the pics. Gun has functioned flawlessly all these years and have never had a problem with it.







Here would be THE 1974 vintage 1100 20 gauge you speak of. I bought it new in 1974 with a 28 inch modified barrel. I still have to original green box it came in that says '1100 lightweight, Mahogany stock and forend'. You can literally look at the wood in the pic and see it's mahogany. Around 1988, well after they discontinued the 20 lightweight built on the 12 gauge frame, and extra barrels for it(pre 77) I came across an original NIB smoothbore slug barrel for this gun, hence the scope in the pic. My daughter carries this gun nowadays.

My dad's Model 12 in 20 gauge that I now finally own.

For me, it was a Winchester Model 21, just like JOC. I looked at the price tag of a used one in a gun shop and began to appreciate my dad's Model 12 made in 1946. Killed a lot of pheasants and doves with that gun. A few quail too.

When I was about 14 or so my dad gave me his Crescent arms American Gun co. Knickerbocker double barrel 20 guage. His uncle was going blind and gave it to him around 1920. He was 9 years old at the time. I still have it and it's in great shape. It's one of the first hammerless models they made. Full choke on the right barrel and modified on the left. Best grouse gun I ever had.

Back around 1939 or 1940 my dad had saved up enough paper route money to buy a brand new Iver Johnson Champion 16 ga., full choke, single shot break open down at the local Western Auto store. Except he wasn't old enough to buy a shotgun yet. His older sister's boyfriend who was my future uncle was old enough so he went down and purchased it for my dad (a straw purchase nowadays) . In the 1950's my dad gave the gun back to my uncle when his oldest boy was getting into guns & hunting and then his younger boy took it over for a few years. Finally in 1967, after wanting it for years it was my turn for it and I still have it, ( None of my younger cousins or siblings were interested). Had it reblued and recasehardened in 1978 and it still looks pristine today. It's only an Iver Johnson and it rarely gets shot cause I've got lots of other stuff but it's an heirloom with some family history.

Remington model 1100 or Winchester model 12

I wanted a side by side like my Dad shot (I had a single barrel 16 gauge). When my Dad bought a new Ithaca SKB semi-auto in the late 1960's he gave me his Springfield 5100 12 gauge - first gun I ever refinished (wears that finish still).

43 plus years ago, to be honest I do not remember which I dreamed about. Probably a 870 30" wingmaster in 3" 12ga. I did finally inherit my step dads. I had already been using one for a few years. So I gave his to my nephew.

Always wanted a browning light twenty, bought one and it didn't fit me right, so I sold it.......

A Browning Superposed. I now have 2 Citori models - a skeet and an Ultra sporting clay gun.

The shotgun i wanted most they didn't make and that was a Browning Left Hand Auto 5 in 16 ga