Years ago I owned a Superposed Broadway Trap gun. One of the finest target guns ever produced by Browning.
My wife and I were married while I was still in college. After graduation and finding a good job I wanted to try trap shooting, but my only shotgun was the used, but in good shape Browning humpback A5 in 20 gauge, which was gifted to me by my Dad when I was about 14 years old. Good hunter but not exactly a trap shooting gun. Just before Christmas that year my wife grabbed my hand and took me to the largest local gun/sporting goods shop. I couldn't afford a Superposed, but the two long time salesmen there suggested I look at a kinda/sorta copy of the Broadway.
They handed me a B.C. Miroku made Charles Daly branded Superior Grade trap gun with 30" barrels, Monte Carlo stock and broad flat rib like the Broadway Trap. It was love at first sight. My wife asked about the wood on any others so they brought out the other four they had in stock and opened the boxes so we could choose the one with the wood we liked best. We did and that Daly was my Christmas present that year, which was 1975.
I had a Pachmayr trap recoil pad installed on it and started shooting trap for the first time the next spring. As normal, the seasoned trap shooters were very helpful for a new young trap shooter and I broke my first 25 straight in the first month of the trap league. I was hooked.
Anyway, my wife has always been over generous in buying guns for me for Christmas, birthdays etc. So in the many years since 1975 I've received numbers of guns as gifts from her. But, like Ralphie in The Christmas Story, no present has ever been so fine and cherished as that first new Charles Daly shotgun. I still have it and it will be passed on to my son one day, but only when I am beyond using it.
Us. The years have taken its toll. My eyesight, tolerance to hot weather, age, etc. I decided to go to a 20g for all of my target shooting. About a pound lighter and easier to handle. Not quite the killer of a 12g but a real pleasure to shoot.
