True Romance: The Ugartachea 20-Gauge

True Romance: The Ugartachea 20-Gauge

I quickly surmised that the pawn shop didn't know what it had ­– a Spanish double of good repute. Further, they were asking only $295. My grandfather had an old double barrel that I never shouldered. It hung beyond my reach above my grandmother's china cabinet,...

Collecting Guns

Collecting Guns

A simple but effective technique has proven workable to many gun collectors. And it’s almost as classic. One of the finer points of gun collecting, if not the finest, is the ability of concealing from your wife: (1) the fact that you have actually purchased a new gun...

Parker Bros.

Parker Bros.

Our quest: the old workhorse of the Parker stable, the gun that, more than any other, validated the company catchphrase, “The Old Reliable.” For it was that of a young man, and I am old, and I have seen first-hand the burnishment of many golden years upon a dream that...

My Mid-life Crisis Gun

My Mid-life Crisis Gun

The gun salesman had that look on his face of a trout fisherman that just set the hook in a nice brown. He knew he had me. In the fall of 2009 while on vacation I mentioned to the wife that when we got back home, I was going looking for a Marlin 1895 Guide Gun– a...