Kefan1's post has brought to my attention the fact that I haven't introduced m'self "properly", as it were.
My nickname, "Captain Chaos", is the result of the fact that I break stuff - anything, anytime, anywhere. Sometimes, just being close by is enough; the Chaos Field extends several feet from me, apparantly... I've been known as "Chaos" for, I suppose, about twenty years, now.
I started shooting shotgun in late 2009, a few months after Dad died and left me with a few guns to "play with". The collection was eclectic, to say the least. Three, I had destroyed. They were in bad shape, of no historical interest and not worth anything.
As for the rest, I gave away all the guns that I was unlikely to use. A Marlin M55 goose-gun went to a family friend. A Greener GP and and old BP, bolt-action single-shot went to my cousin. A hundred-year-old Greener, SxS hammer-gun went to my uncle. I figured that each time they used a gun of his, they'd remember him...
The guns that I kept were all pump-action: a mid-seventies Remington 870 Wingmaster, an early-fifties Higgins M20 and my favourite, an early-eighties, Parkerised, Ithaca M37 DSPS.
The first time that I was invited out to shoot clays, I broke the M37 - a spot-weld let go at the end of the action bar and, on this particular gun, the *other* spot-weld hadn't "taken" so that was enough to disconnect the forend. Eventually, I got it welded back.
Mid-2010 saw me acquire an FAC (FireArms Certificate) and *now* I was allowed two *unrestricted* shotguns. Most PSGers seemed to be buying Benellis but, before I could rush out and get something like that, an RFD (Registered Firearms Dealer) offered me his M37 which was identical to Dad's but was *not* crimped and restricted to three-shot.
I've been using it ever since. It's not terribly reliable and I've had to replace some parts but it's *great* fun to shoot. (I also shoot an unrestricted Chiappa 1887.)
True to form, last Sunday saw me break another M37 part; this time, it's the little pin that fastens the action bar and bolt carrier together...
I've also managed to acquire an M51. I broke *that* without even taking it out to shoot...
As for the avatar, well that's me shooting the ol' M37 DSPS. (The cap's lettering says, "ChAoS".)
Regards,
Mark.
Came late in life to shooting but is making up for lost time...