best hillbilly gun

[The_Next_Generation]

I'd have to go with my Topper 158 with its 36" long, full-choked 12gauge pipe

Best 75 bucks I've ever spent...

 

[Mp7]

"Appalachian American" ... thx for that. Almost spilled my coffee!

( makes me think of http://www.letchercounty.ky.gov/tourism/parks/badbranch/ )

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Visiting relatives in the Browns Mountain-Bear Hollow-Butcher Valley area of Hawkins/Greene County Tenn. in the 1950s and 1960s, I saw a single shot 12ga shotgun in every home, supplemented most often by a .22 bolt action, single shot, clip magazine* or tube magazine bolt action. I recall One Remington Model 24 semi-auto .22. A few .410 single shots. One relative's pride and joy was a Savage .22/.410 over/under. Most common game hunted was squirrel for dumplins. Guns were necessary for predators that attacked livestock, and the occasional rabid animal. For snakes I was taught to use avoidance tactics, since they ate mice and rats about the farm. Deer population had not yet recovered from the Great Depression and meat rationing in WWII. My best friend's Dad had a 7.7mm Jap Arisaka and "sporterised" .303 Lee-Enfields were sold from a barrel at the Army/Navy surplus store in town. One relative had a bolt action .222 Remington for varmints. But until recently, there was hardly any deer hunting. Saw a lot of #6 birdshot, mention of pumpkin balls (probably slugs rather round ball), and no buckshot (I believe it was not allowed for deer).

Some of the family (who had relocated to the city) never forgave the uncles who still farmed on the mountain for selling to an antique buyer the Pennsylvania rifle and pin-striped buggy that the family had maintained since late 18th century.



*They were called clips in the Marlin ads, and unless you were talking about M1 Garands or Carcanos, clip was known to mean detachable box magazine.