The PCS Gun

I've not hunted the last 2 days so that I could work and pay for my wife's Christmas gifts.

I've been wanting to put down on "paper" the story of my PCS gun. Perhaps I have time now.

A way back in 1973 I'd hied myself out of high school government class and to the recruiter to enlist in the US Army. I was fortunate enough to qualify for language training and asked for (can you believe this) Chinese (Mandarin dialect). I knew I was going places but I had no idea what places those might be. I'd also just turned 18 and what better reason than that do you need to buy a gun. I actually got 2, a Winchester M320 .22 LR bolt action and an Harrington & Richardson Topper 12 ga. The .22 is pretty straight forward but the shotgun was going to take some "fixing".

That shotgun came to me with a full-choke 28" barrel. After my first travel as a soldier I could see that the barrel length was going to be problematic. However, if I simply lopped off some barrel, I'd have no front bead and no choke. Choke is useful. I figured an adjustable choke would be yet more useful. To that end I had the barrel cut to 20" and a Lyman Adjustable choke installed. The length is such that when it is disassembled the two parts (barrel w/forearm and stock w/receiver) are just the right length to be packed in the center of the issue duffle bag with boots at the bottom and clothes all around and shoes on top. Despite the probable abuse it suffered from baggage handlers I never had a problem.

I did get it modified too late for my first assignment in California at the language school (Defense Language Institute - West Coast) and subsequent assignment to Goodfellow AFB outside of San Angelo, TX but the gun made the trip to Korea, California again, back to Korea and return to Virginia. It has been used on pheasant, hogs, rabbits, squirrels, mourning dove, grouse, and groundhogs. It has even stood ready to repel home invaders!

The PCS Gun as it is today. Still in pretty good shape after all it's travels/travails!

It was only many years later that I installed the Uncle Mike's sling swivels. I never found that I needed them when I was in service. The sling is a 1907 that I received in pieces but there was enough to use on this gun. It is very handy sometimes!

I have other shotguns, some bought for various reasons, some gifted, and some inherited. There are pumps and fine doubles but I often use this gun for our rather limited bird hunting.