Took Grandpa's Shotgun For A Walk

On a whim I grabbed my grandpa's old winchester model 25 12ga from my brother's house last week thinking I might take it on an afternoon squirrel hunt and give the dog a break. I've been off work since Thanksgiving due to getting covid and he's pretty worn out, as are the pheasants. While I was cleaning up the gun that probably hadn't been fired in 30+ years, I thought it felt pretty good in my hands, certainly more nimble than the hulking 3.5" bps that rarely leaves my safe. Unfortunately the gun is full choke, but I know the bismuth shells I use (when required) shoot a much more open pattern than lead shells. I was lucky enough to have my dog point a test subject in this heavily hunted public area. When I walked up I wasn't even expecting a bird in the ankle deep folded over grass in front of my dog, but of course there was a sneaky rooster buried under there. I dropped him on shot #2 and I watched the bird crawl into a brushy creekline while my dog was navigating the barbed wire fence. I knew he wasn't going far and it's always fun when the dog gets to point the rooster a second time and one, or both of you get to pounce on it. Only rooster of the day before I had to call it quits due to the December heat wave here in Iowa. The old gun is going to get some more field time in the future since I'm currently batting 1.000 with it, might have to have the choke opened up to something a little more practical though.
 

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That was a long historical shot!
 
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