My father and his two brothers were farmers and each had a Winchester Model 12, 12 ga., with 30" full choke barrel. None of them had .22 cal.rifles. You were right about where the shotgun was stored. By the back door with the shells, both No. 6 and 00 buckshot in boxes close at hand. My brother was given a .22 bolt action Mossberg (Model 46b) if I remember correctly. I was given a Mossberg .410 bolt action. These were about $25.00 firearms at that time. They were never considered or called "weapons". They were just guns. Deer rifles were very rare and I found out later why. My father asked us not to shoot the deer we saw around home because they had killed most of them during the depression of the 1930s for food and my father wanted to see them multiply when they weren't absolutely needed for food. Lots of pheasants and cottontail rabbits and we ate many of them. nThe area now has a pretty good population of whitetail deer.
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