The Ones That Didn’t Get Away
I’m A.D.D. in the extreme. Have been all my life. If you’ve ever been associated with someone who has attention deficit, it can be a real “trip.” One idea births another idea and that one sprouts two more. Pretty soon, ideas seem to be coming rapid-fire and life...
The Legacy of James Purdey & Sons
In the long and storied history of gunmaking, there is no name more renowned than that of James Purdey. His rise to fame began 200 years ago, give or take, when he opened a small shop at 4 Princes St., Leicester Square, London, for the purpose of making and selling...
Some Grouse You Never Forget
He was a young man, barely past his 25th birthday, slim and fit in the way of young men who follow dogs in the high mountains. His companion, Big Sam, was a huge, muscular, raw-boned pointer with a head like a mule—in size as well as temperament. Sam was a “big-going,...
Little Guns Big Birds
I’ve always had a healthy respect for the .410 as long as it was restricted to small birds at short range.
A Collector’s Guide to Parker Shotguns
I guess I should tell you up front that I have some misgivings about this column. Not because it’s bad stuff, but because I have a lot of friends who may not be too happy about it. You see, I make an annual pilgrimage to the Southern Side-by-Side Championship in...
Browning A5 20-Gauge
To me, the Browning A5 seems as old as time itself. My father had one when I was a teenager, and that was a long time ago. The A5 wasn’t new even then. In fact, the old man’s was an old, “used hard and put away wet” specimen that we found and revived from near dead...
A Shotgunners Primer
Sometimes I forget how long I’ve been prowling this earth. And sometimes I forget that only a few people, like me, have been shooting shotguns for more than 70 years. As a result, I tend to get preoccupied with the fine points. The esoterica. I’ve said many times that...
Faster Horses
I guess I’m just a born country boy. I’ve always felt most at home in the woods and fields with a dog and a shotgun for company. Early on, I “took to” the home-spun philosophy in country music, too, and Tom T. Hall was one of my favorite inspirations. I was still a...