Joshua M. Smith
Member
Hello,
When I was a teenager I bought my first slug gun. It was a 20 gauge smoothbore H&R with rifle sights. I believe it was called "Tracker."
I moved on to a Mossberg 500 with interchangable barrels after a couple years. Because the H&R was now a backup shotgun, I loaned it to a friend for a hunt.
My friend ended up plugging the barrel and firing the H&R, ruining it. He made it right by giving me his 12 gauge NEF with bead front sight.
I moved on with the Mossy being my main shotgun, but, in truth, I never liked it as much as that single-shot Tracker. The forend wobbled, it was heavier, and it just didn't feel as good overall. Yes, it was a 12 gauge and a repeater, but I never really needed those fast follow-up shots. I used a .22 for squirrel and didn't bird hunt. It wasn't a bad shotgun, but, for my uses, the Tracker really would have been better.
I've since looked off and on for an H&R Tracker, just a simple break-action smoothbore with rifle sights and a modified choke. I've never seen one save for a 12 gauge, once, years and years ago when Gunbroker first came out. I've seen plenty of Tracker IIs, the heavy-barrel rifled version they came out with later, but never a 20 gauge original Tracker.
Are they really that rare, or am I simply not looking in the right places?
Thank you.
Regards,
Josh
When I was a teenager I bought my first slug gun. It was a 20 gauge smoothbore H&R with rifle sights. I believe it was called "Tracker."
I moved on to a Mossberg 500 with interchangable barrels after a couple years. Because the H&R was now a backup shotgun, I loaned it to a friend for a hunt.
My friend ended up plugging the barrel and firing the H&R, ruining it. He made it right by giving me his 12 gauge NEF with bead front sight.
I moved on with the Mossy being my main shotgun, but, in truth, I never liked it as much as that single-shot Tracker. The forend wobbled, it was heavier, and it just didn't feel as good overall. Yes, it was a 12 gauge and a repeater, but I never really needed those fast follow-up shots. I used a .22 for squirrel and didn't bird hunt. It wasn't a bad shotgun, but, for my uses, the Tracker really would have been better.
I've since looked off and on for an H&R Tracker, just a simple break-action smoothbore with rifle sights and a modified choke. I've never seen one save for a 12 gauge, once, years and years ago when Gunbroker first came out. I've seen plenty of Tracker IIs, the heavy-barrel rifled version they came out with later, but never a 20 gauge original Tracker.
Are they really that rare, or am I simply not looking in the right places?
Thank you.
Regards,
Josh
