continuing with buying things i saw in places like the blue book of gun values when i was i kid and thought i" i will get one of those some day "........., i saw the old single shot long tom [ H&R] shotguns mostly with 36" barrels but sometimes they were shown with 40" barrels,......what a joke, who needs or wants one:

well i guess i wanted or needed it.....saw it in a auction at bozeman and bought it. just what i needed...? yeah , sure.

'cause I've seen several since I was a kid. They were the hot ticket for turkey shoots, or so we were told. If you pattern that old shotgun, please let us know how it does.

nm

If you wanted it... it was not so dumb.

I saw one in Montgomery Ward in Lexington, KY when I was a boy (just prior to Christmas).

My father was with me and I commented on how I liked the shotgun with the really long barrel.

I still remember his exact comment although that was long, long ago:

"You could take that and shoot a rabbit going over the other side of a hill."

It cost $39.95 at the time and seemed unusually high to me so I wrote it off as just something I wanted and nothing attainable soon.

Christmas morning I went downstairs, put some more coal in the stove and walked over to the tree. There it was, 36" barrel, all the shine and color case hardening Harrington & Richardson could provide, brand new, leaning against the wall calling my name. Long Tom it was always called. (Still is, by me, my boys and soon by my grandchildren.)

Everyone from that event long ago has now gone on to the other side but Tom and I are still here. He still looks pretty much like he did that Christmas morning although I am a little rusty and have a few scratches I did not have then.

He and I go out to the squirrel woods at least once a year for old time's sake and we take a few grays just like the old days.

I think you will enjoy your purchase... especially if you have some tall oak trees in your area.

Congratulations.

Nice - seems like the sort of thing that AK Church was always turning up with.

I like it. - JM.

I acquired one of the model 37 Winchesters a few months ago. I tried to use it on doves, but it made hamburger out of them. Sure shoots a nice pattern though. I've wanted one for years and finally the right one came along. It has a place of honor in my safe.

you could not miss w/7.5 s under 25 yards or so...

--
Of the Troops & For the Troops

For a while back in the 70s the only shotgun I owned was a very old Hopkins & Allen 12 gauge single shot that had been hacksawed off long before I got it. The muzzle was visibly crooked. It patterned OK with the old paper/card wad shells, but with the newer plastic/shot cup shells it strowed shot like a seed spreader. I took it to a gunsmith and had him shorten the barrel to 24", recrown it, and put on a big brass bead. That was the quickest and deadliest gun I have ever shot out to 25 yards or so, but the recoil with heavy loads was unfun.

Later, after I got a couple more modern shotguns, I JB'd a homemade rear sight on it and filed it to put the little Aguila slugs dead on the front bead at 25 yards. That gun still sits by the garage door with a shell cuff full of the Aguila slugs and 7 1/2s. The squirrels hate it.

modest little guns...... that has been the case for me too.......though i hate to admit it !