Thanks for the compliments! The shotgun is really very special to me as it is what I had always remembered him carrying. It was also a learning tool in more ways than one. First off it was the very first 12ga. that I ever got to fire and second, when I was screwing around or up as the case may be and there became some sort of safety issue, I can still remember the sound of the old double opening up and the shells being removed then the CLUNK as it was closed back up. This sound was then always followed by the CLUNK when those shiny blued barrels boinked me on the noggin!
I told Steve a long time after I had grown up (He is 13 years my senior) that when he had to leave this world of all the many guns he owns (some very expensive examples) that I want the double twelve. I told him I had earned it and I thought if he looked close enough that he would be able to find where the bluing on the barrels had been worn off from so many times of rubbing against my head!
Last Christmas he told me to come outside of the house where we had all gathered and told me he had something for me and it turned out to be the twelve. I got worried for a moment as I had asked for it when he was gone. He said that there was nothing wrong but felt that I should take it and then enjoy it as he was never going to use it anymore. I had to make one promise though. He made me promise that when my youngest son Avery who is now 18 months old, was old enough and responsible enough to use and take care of it that I had to turn it over to him and then make him give me the same promise. That is a promise that will be easy to keep.
Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving,
Best,
Wolfgang
