RE: Favorite weapon?
I have 2 870's. One I bought over 30 years ago is a 2 3/4 inch Wingmaster. When I started deer hunting I got a rifle sighted rifled barrel for it. About 10 to 15 years ago I got an 870 Express combo. It has a smooth bore, rifle sight barrel. I saw it displayed at a gun show by a dealer who had several of them, all new with boxes. One stood out as it had a walnut stock instead of the stained birch. I do not like the look of the birch stocks at all so I got the gun. My two boys were getting to be the age where they needed something to shoot too and I wanted something to shoot 3" waterfowl loads.
The Express has mellowed over the years the way walnut stocked guns do. I have confidence with that gun and I like the way it looks. The Wingmaster is just a gun to me, go figure. I think part of it is the looks and part of it is because of the success I've had deer hunting with the Express.
Both of my sons would rather shoot the Wingmaster. To them it is pop's gun, and it has the more polished finish. My older boy can shoot the eyes out of a snake with it too.
Of course my great grandpa's sporter M1861 Springfield musket (now shotgun) is right up there. He probably got it from Sears or Wards back in the late 1800's. I'm taking it with me the next time I go rabbit hunting, I don't like having a gun that I've never killed anything with. The gun had a powder charge in it when my grandpa gave it to my dad back about 1967. It kicks like a mule with light loads because the whole gun is so light. This gun does not have much monetary value and old grandaddy probably only gave around $2 for it but it has been in the family for 120 years or so and was used regularly till the late 1940's.
Bob