Topper Rodeo

At a ripe old age (12?), the ranch hand's grandfather (Papuh) offered to sell his H&R "Topper" single-shot 12 gauge for the princely sum of $15.

There is no way to cogitate how a ragged country boy found that much cash, but the deal was struck and a hunting legacy began.

The "Topper" had an old screw replacing the front sight and black electrician's tape holding the forearm in place. A healthy patina of rust merely enhanced its beauty as a potential for endless adventure.

The most endearing trait of the "once shooter" was that the shell extraction device did not function. In other words, when a round was expended, a quick follow-up shot required one to:

1. Open the breech
2. Whup out the trusty Barlow, uncork a blade, pry the hot casing out
3. Dig fresh ammo from jeans' pocket and plug same into the chamber
4. Latch shut the shootin' iron
5. Cock back the hammer
6. Find the fleeing (or rolling around laughing his butt off) game animal
7. Pull down and blast the offending varmit
8. Try to figger where the hell the knife ended up?????

Needless to say, money... and thus ammo, was a precious commodity at the time. Wasting shots was not an option. Accordingly, the aforementioned shooting contortion became a well rehearse, but seldom selected maneuver.

As the ole fat boy has employed semi-automatic weapons over the past years, spraying rapid (missed) shots over the landscape, he has often had fond remembrance of that little shotgun in terms of "hit" efficiency.

Hmmmmm, maybe this dove season can be salvaged after all by easing that puppy from its place of honor in the gun safe for one more rodeo?