Some times there comes a gun that has a history. Will you could say all guns have a history. But some are more colorful then others.

This is a story about my father, John Albert Hobaugh and a gun he bought in 1921 with a wagon load of apples. Place of purchase, Frankland, Oklahoma.

Dad was about 27 years of old and lived on a 80 acre farm with his mother. While in town (Frankland) he met a man with a double barreled Muzzle loading shotgun. It was a pin fire "W Parker". The man told dad that he had loaded it twice by accident and was afraid to fire it. Looking over the gun dad saw it was a very fine gun and it had nice inlay. The agreed price was a wagon load of apples. The family farm had a large apple orchard and dad made the trade.

Now dad knew where there was a good covey of quail and decided to try the gun out. It was his notion to have a mess of good tasting quail for supper. So dad being the good hunter I knew him to be , made a slow and quite approach to the brush pile that the qual were in. Moving ever so slowly he approch the birds to have the best shot and to get as many as he could, he had both hammers in the cock postion. Now you know if you have ever hunted quail that when they come up, they come up. Will there must have been two dowsan that went to flight that day and John Albert Hobaugh was ready. Firing both barrels at the flight of quail.

All John could see was clear blue sky with feathers floating down on top of him. Feather and more Feathers as he lay flat on his back. Ears ringing and shoulder hurting he pushed the gun off him self and got his wobbly feet under him. He had made a good shot. Not one bird got away. But the bigist pice of any bird was it's feather. Feathers and more feathers was all that there was to his kill.

Dad said it took his shoulder that had turned black and blue, three week to heal. Some time later his brother inlaw saw the gun and ask his mother for it. Mrs Sussie Marble gave the gun her son inlaw and later he gave it to his son, Delbert W. Scott. As a young boy, Delbert showed the gun to me and it is just as nice looking as it was in 1950 when I first saw it. Delbert took very good care of it and it was his favorite gun. And he had a lot of guns. Recently, at the age of 73 Delbert past into the Hands of our Lord. The last request he made was that the old "W Parker" pin fire muzzle loader be given to John Albert Hobaugh's Great Grandson, Steven Don Harden. With just a little over a week of Delbert's passing, June Scott presented the gun to Steven. The same day his mother was holding his 12th birthday party. May the good Lord look over them both.

Johnny Ray Hobaugh 8/4/2006

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