A new shotgun?

Today I'm thinking about guns. Sitting here this morning watching through the window a hundred, (maybe more?) little birds flip from the front-yard birch to the bird feeder and seeing the thermometer reading a downright cold 40 below zero, I'm happily reclined in my chair with Gabbi curled between my legs, a steaming cup of coffee and a sporting magazine to page through seems right. The birds are mostly redpolls, with a few chickadees, nut hatches, and a couple of purple finches to add more color. 

It was a quick trip outside this morning to fill that feeder and give Gabbi a short walk, and I observed once again that the air is clearer and purer and the sky bluer when the winter temperature is frigid cold. The night-time moon nearly glows while bright stars never seem closer. Too bad it's so hard to stay out long to experience it. 

But back to my chair. I opened the magazine and saw a photo of a gun. A beautiful side-by-side shotgun. Now, what kind of shotgun would I look for if I were in the market. So I started daydreaming about ordering a gun.

The magazine photo showed a sleek Italian-made box lock bird gun. Then I did a little research to decide how I would have my gun built. The first thought would have to be the gauge. For me, it'd be between the 20 and the 12. I know some other gauges are popular, but my choice would be as stated, for reasons I won't go into here.

 I'm a tall fellow and like long barrels so I'm thinking 30 inches -- maybe 29 in a 20 gauge. The gun comes with fixed chokes, but some extra cost will add screw-in choke tubes. I'll spring for the tubes to make it versatile for all upland game birds. Flush mount tubes, of course. It's taken me a while to get used to extended choke tubes protruding out the end of muzzles on single barrel guns and over/unders, but when I've accidentally seen a couple of side-by-sides with them I could only turn away and hope to keep my mouth shut.

My new gun will have a splinter forestock with two triggers before an English-style straight buttstock. A coin finish and standard wood and dimensions (15-inch length of pull. Nice.) will suit me fine. A concave rib at another extra cost, OK. I'll skip a few of the other options as this gun is already priced way more than I've ever thought of spending on a gun.

Yes, that graceful double gun is the one for me. Then I turned the page and, oh!... two eye-catching over/unders!

The truth is: I'm not in the market for another gun. I don't even want another. I like what I have and sometimes I just have to admire the fine workmanship and details that made a good shotgun something special. No, for the shooting days I have, I'm well off.