This Old Model 12

[rebel727]

This isn't exactly a hunting story.

In 1953 Winchester manufactured a Model 12 pump. It wasn't anything fancy, just a plain field grade with a full choke barrel. It made it's way to the little gun store in rural Mississippi where my dad bought it. It was his gun. My dad owned many shotguns in his life but this one is the only one I ever saw him use. It was his gun. I used all of them growing up, cept the old model 12. Course I snuck it out a few times but I never let him know about it. It was his gun.
I got in early the other day and took the old model 12 out to play. It was the first time I'd fired it in about 30 years. Kicked a lot harder than I remembered or maybe I'm just gettin old. Afterward I brought it in and began cleaning it and reminiscing. I remembered the few hunting trips he took me on. I remembered the first squirrel I killed on one of those trips. It was an albino fox squirrel. I was using a browning .22. It held 9 rounds. The squirrel had 7 holes in him. The gun was empty. I remembered hunting with him one day and we were leaving empty handed and a large flock of crows flew over and I dropped 14 of them with an 1887 Winchester lever action. Then I remembered the first time I ever fired this old model 12. I was 11 years old. We used to go to my sisters sometimes on the weekends and one day my brother in law called and told my dad to bring a shotgun and we'd go to a turkey shoot. He took the old model 12. I didn't know if I would be allowed to go much less shoot but I sure did want to. We got there and it was a small crowd of people watching and a line waiting to shoot. There was an old wooden table with two older men sitting behind it. There were four boxes of shells on it, one of them open. There was a cash box and a new looking Winchester Featherweight you could use if you didn't bring your own. It sure was purty. The target was no more than eight inches square with an inner circle about an inch across with fine crosshairs in the center. You had to put a shot dead center of those crosshairs to win a turkey. It was a looong way down there but in reality was probably fifty yards. The target looked like a postage stamp. There was a man down there with a walkie talkie and if you hit the target he said "It's a hit" Then the target was brought up to be reviewed. If he said it was a miss it stayed for the next shooter. We watched a few people shoot and a couple used the featherweight with no success. Then it was my dads turn. He took two dollars from his billfold and gave me one and the man at the table the other. Took his shell to the firing line and loaded that old model 12. The stock barely touched his shoulder when it went off. It's a hit came the voice over the walkie talkie, but no turkey. Then dad comes to me and asks do I want to use his gun or theirs? Your's I say and he says nothing just hands it to me. I walked up to the table and handed the man my dollar. He says that's a mighty heavy gun for such a little feller, you want to shoot ours? It's a lot lighter and won't kick you as hard. I said "nossir, I'll use thisun" He laughed and said "That gun gonna kick you in the dirt" I said "I can handle it". I didn't know if I could or not. I'd never fired it or any other 12 guage before and I'd seen the way it pushed my dads shoulder back and he was no lightweight. The man gave me my shell and I slid it into the magazine and racked the slide like I'd been doing it for years. I raised that heavy gun to my shoulder and sighted down the barrel. Man that target was so tiny and so far away. I pulled the stock into my shoulder as hard as I could and squeezed the trigger. I don't remember any kick at all and I was still standing, then "It's a hit" came across the walkie talkie. You should have seen the look on those guys faces. The one who took my money said " I'll be !!!!ed, you can shoot that thing can't you"? I said "yessir". I didn't get a turkey but I peppered that target, even putting six holes in the inner circle. I walked over to my dad and handed him his gun back and he was smiling. I accomplished two things that day. I earned the respect of grown men who didn't think I had what it took to shoot that old model 12 but most of all I made my dad smile. That's an accomplishment I never achieved very many times in my life and will never have another chance to do so again. I never gave him many reasons to be proud of me but he was proud of me that day. We went back several times that summer but never won a turkey. I never failed to hit the target tho. My brother in law finally did win a turkey with their featherweight and you can bet it was a long time before he let us forget about it.
I still have most of the guns I grew up with and the ones I don't have are painfully missed. They're all special to me but that old model 12 is my most cherished possession because every time I look at it I see my dad smile. And it was his gun.

[wirehunt]

Nice

[jerry]

That's cool, thanks for taking the time to write it.

[Johnny_Revolver]

Great yarn....