I bought an 088 on a whim at K-Mart (IIRC) in the 1980s. It is a 3", 12 ga. modified with a 28" bbl. from breech face to muzzle. I spray painted it and carried it on a turkey hunt and a few times for squirrel, etc. when I lived in Missouri. But it never really go used too much. Since moving to Wyoming I have taken it on one pheasant hunt instead of using one of my pump guns. A year or two ago I added swivel studs and a simple sling.
Last Saturday I put on my snowshoes and tromped around the base of the mountain at our cabin in the Snowy Range, Albany County, Wyoming. The H&R 088 was the perfect gun for the day: light, simple, safe, effective. I fell once and the shotgun was completely buried in the snow. I shook it off, broke the action, checked the barrel, and was good to go. I carried it unloaded as there was lots of snow. I checked the barrel often. When I finally spotted a cottontail I checked the barrel and loaded it.
An old ranch place sits on state land bordering our cabin property.
It was quiet with no wind to speak of.
I spotted three different groups of deer but all were too distant for photos. Here is a view back toward the cabin from about ½ mile away. The cabin sits in the aspen grove in the center of the picture above the big open sagebrush prairie.
After three hours of slogging around in the snow I spotted a cottontail in the willow bottom, back down by the ranch site. Another ran off and I failed to track it up but the first one stayed put just a second too long.
The 7/8 oz. of #6 did the job. (If I were having a youngster shoot this gun 7/8 oz. is the load I would use.) I am not a fan of butt cuffs for ammo but they make sense on a single shot like the Model 088.
