<center><img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/85583/aya2481_002_edited.jpg"></center><p>It will be here on the 24th or there abouts. This is the best pic I could get but it is the actual gun. I have always wanted a sweet little 20g SxS and this my friends fits the bill. I will practice much at the trap range in the off season....never have owned a double trigger shotgun. If all goes well it should help me fill the bag with more than enough pheasant next hunting season. Weighing in at around 5 1/2lbs it should be a joy carry in the field...can't wait for the dog to F it up.

that's all: wow.


i'm jealous

The best will be after I hunt it smooth handing it to my son about 30 years from now.

that is a great thing about firearms... buy nice ones and they get passed on for generations.

I will have the oval plate on the stock engraved with my initials.

Our boy is due in June, my wife picked the name of our daughter and I get to pick our son's name.

I am only considering names that will match the engraved stock so that the gun will be truly his when it is his turn.

He will not be a jr.

well done!

No pics right now....16gaX9.3


Beasutiful weapon, but it really doesn't match my collection nor my style.

Like this but a drilling:

<img src="http://elephantandcastle.biz/images/merkel147el.JPG">

Looks like a beaut.....you don't hunt?

a rifle that appraised at over $6500. That is more money than I will spend on a car.


I have a few other shotguns that will do the shotgun job just as well or better, and will be using a Garand for hunting deer.


I figure if it is good enough for the Marines, it is good enough for me.

If so it is your duty to keep it.

Odd story. I inherited my Uncles collection after he was murdered. Since he was murdered with a gun, some family members blame a gun for his death. So I had to pay for the collection, as it was put on the public market. When my Mom found out I bought the collection ( $10k or so ) she told me I did not have to pay for her half. My other Uncle did not feel the same way.

This rifle was part of the collection. Most of the collection belonged to my Grandfather, and some to his Father, and a few to *his* Father.

The guy who did the appraisal is my local shop, whom I buy from, and he has known my family his entire life. He suggested that my parents should just give me the guns, and when they flew off the handle he backed off. Then he called me, we went over the collection to see what was missing/stolen/stuck in a cops pocket during the investigation, and the shotgun was there. I have never seen it before. I lived with my Grandfather right up until his death. I loaded his guns into my Uncles car. That shotgun was *not* part of the collection, and really doesn't match my Grandfathers or Uncles personality. They both went for working, operating, work type guns, not, for the most part, flashy or engraved guns. They, like I, prize guns that can be pushed around in the undergrowth, fired at the range for fun, more blue collar guns if that makes sense.


Wow, this got long:)


Anyway, the collection ended up appraised pretty low, with that shotgun being most undervalued, as it is the only one I would consider selling.


Yes, it may have been my Uncles, and I may have to face his wrath in the afterlife for selling it, but that is really the only way I can pay my other Uncle for his half of the collection. Both my Uncle and Grandfather are spinning in their graves that my family made me buy the collection, but it was all I could do to keep it.

( Of course, this all came about *right* at the worst possible time for me financially, we had been making more payments on our home to try to retire out mortgage early, and simply did not have a $10k buffer )


Thanks for reading. I know it went long, I can assure you not as long as I think about this, and if I should be angry with my family or just let it go. I have chosen to never bring it up again, but certainly harbor some ill will.

( As another aside, the estate is worth millions. These guns, financially, mean very little to the estate. )

Sucks that you were treated like that by family. On the other hand you have to be happy with yourself for doing the right thing and acquiring the collection.

Good luck with the sale of the Sodia.