This had somehow gotten by me, but I learned today that no gun manufacturer is building new single barrel single shot shotguns of any gauge. There are multi barrel systems with .22, a shotgun gauge, and a rifle caiber, but the days of the single barrel Rossi or H & R are over. Need to run one down soon for the safe, as I don't have one.

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

Did not know that!
I still have my old Sears (Winchester) 20 gauge.
Bought it long ago, first gun I ever bought.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

Plenty available in older gunshops,pawnshops,friends' closets,etc.,at least around here. Better guns than the newer stuff too. I see Winchester Model 37's fairly often. The sub-gauges are a little scarcer,but not that hard to find with a little effort.
f.t.

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South Carolina-God's country

What about Browning BT99? Is that not a single shot shotgun?

My bad. "Economical" single shot shotgun . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

There is one great advantage to a single shot for all us old fossils who still go hunting a little - there is nothing lighter to carry around. I still have a nice H&R SS in 20 gauge, and still shoot it a little. Strangely, my very first shotgun was also an (ancient) H&R single shot, but in 12 gauge. As I remember, one shot was usually enough to do the job at the time.

My first gun was a a Winchester M 37 in .410. Wish I still had that little rascle.

I still have mine!
f.t.

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South Carolina-God's country

Let's see, how much was my 20ga H&R Topper back in 1982...$60? It was the perfect gun for a teenage kid. That's a shame they quit making them.

Death to the tree rats.

My problem with the newer ones is that they are stocked so poorly. I still have the 410 M 37 that was my dad's and then mine.

The demise of all single shots troubles me. Most single shots were usually built very cheaply . There is a tradition of great high quality single loaders but their cost is astounding. A nice 1885 Winchester goes from $4,000 to $10,000. Some of the nice English single shots built for Africa can go for higher prices yet. The Winchester model 20, 410 shotgun demonstrates how a workman's single shot could be made. And the sorry state of affairs when it comes to single shot 22 rifles does not need to be revisited. I could easily hunt the rest of my life with nothing but these much misunderstood classics.

I have a friend who has one. Think he mentioned wanting to sell it. Don't know what it is or how old. All I can tell you is that it's a 12G and it shoots modern ammo.

It looks like H&R is still making the Topper:

H&R Topper

And Gander Mountain has "Pointers" in stock:

Pointer Break Action Sporting Shotgun-936211 - Gander Mountain

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

They got killed by all the cheap pumps. I always had a weakness for the Ithaca M66, which had a lever action to open the breech.

This was my first real gun (other than BB guns) as well.
My dad bought it from a neighbor and gave it to me for
Christmas. My best Christmas gift ever. Killed alot of those
little Grey squirrels in the Carolinas with that gun.


Chuck

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They hold no Quarter

I bought a 66 as my first shotgun when I was 14 years old. Walked up to the counter of a Gibson's store and laid down $24 and was handed my 12 gauge. A box of shell bought for me by my uncle and I was off rabbit hunting. I pulled the trigger the first time and thought it had blown up. No gun should kick that hard and still be intact. I guess I needed to bulk up a little.

I haven't been to a Gibson's store in a long time. I think many of them in Texas have closed. The last one I visited, maybe 5 or 6 years ago, was in Kerrville TX. They had a fairly large gun and ammunition area, but they were very pricey there. When I lived outside Fort Worth over 20 years ago, there was a fairly large Gibson's in Weatherford TX and they carried a good stock of reloading equipment and supplies. Ditto for one in Midland TX, where I lived before I moved to Ft Worth. Both those may well be long gone for all I know.

The Gibson's where I purchased my model 66 was in Hobbs, New Mexico. We would hunt jackrabbits in the alkaline flats around Hobbs. I thought my shotgun was bad as it did not hit many rabbits. It had to be the guns fault as the barrel was pointed directly at the target just before I turned my head, closed my eyes, and jerked the trigger.

YES............For a base price of ........$3599.00.

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S&W Accumulator

I've got 3, elderly and nondescript.... A 20 stays in my shop, a 12 hangs around in the house and a 12 stands guard behind the door at my lake house...........Silent, unnoticed, and ready for instant use.

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S&W Accumulator

I've got 2 Meriden Firearms Co. single shot 12ga shotguns.
One is a 32" hammerless Twist Steel bbl that I rebuilt from a $50 junker missing a few parts. Payed too much, I know, but just can't let an old beauty go. Shoots good now, same smokeless Clays load as the rest of my 12ga guns.

The other is a 28"(I think) steel bbl hammer gun that is complete and tight as new but no wood, metal in the white. I don't think it ever had any wood fitted. Perfect bore. Another project I guess. Couldn't help myself at an OGCA show for $10. last year. God Help Me...

My best game gun when I did hunt (and I haven't since the mid 70's) was a I/Johnson 12ga w/a cut bbl at 24". Bought it that way in the late 60's at a garage sale for $10. Got more game with that little gun than any other shotgun I hunted with.

My brother started out w/a Stevens 220 (?) hammerless 12ga single. Way too much drop in the stock (what did we know at the time!!), light- weight, and the 2 3/4 Baby Magnum #4s prescribed by Dad as the only thing that'd kill a pheasant on the wing or rabbit in the brush made for a miserable start to shooting sports.

I think there is 2 reasons for the demise of the single barrel. The
first is that all kids use to start out learning and hunting with a
single barrel. These days kids get a pump or auto, as their first
gun. Same thing is true with 22 rifles. The second and maybe
the biggest reason is that due to production cost vs profit, a
Pump or auto is more practical to sell. Same thing has happened
with field grade double guns. The old Win 37, Stevens 94, H&R
Topper, and IJ Champions seem like gun makers art, compared
to today's models.

I had a .410 & a 20 gauge "single barrel" when I was a kid..... That's how I learned to shoot ....making every shot count!

Got Winchester 37's in 20 and 410.
My son took his first deer with the 410 at age 12.
As you get older, you tend to leave those big heavy fancy shotguns in the vault and hunt with those single shots. At least I do. Ahame if no ones making them anymore but like everything else, I'll bet they come back in style one day.

My first shotgun was an H&R topper 20 gauge. Sure wish I still had it, eventually I will buy one to add to the safe.

My dad had an old single shot when I was a kid, most likely a JC Higgins because it seemed like everything we had sporting related came from Sears and Roebuck at that time. We used it on muskrats, snapping turtles, bats and any other varmints that he deemed undesirable. My memories of that old 12ga was that 3 things happened every time you pulled the trigger...it kicked like a mule, due to the kick the breakopen lever invariably cut the web of your hand between the thumb and index finger, and due to the lever engaging that strip of skin splitting it open also caused the gun to break open and eject the shell directly into your right eye. What a horrible and wonderful memory, both at the same moment.

Makes me think of my first .410. Bolt action single shot with 3 inch chamber. JC Higgins from Sears. Cost was $24 I recall. Nuttin fancy but was a great squirrel gun.

As romantic as many stories are, the guns were a step above junk. But only the good ones, as many defined junk itself. For those of us who graduated to other actions and styles, we never look back fondly.

My father hunted with a Winchester M12. He spent my entire life, as I can remember it, bragging on the wonderful features of that Winchester. Dad has been gone now for a while, and I realized I didn't know what he hunted with before the M12. So his only surviving hunting partner wasn't doing so well, and I realized I needed to ask before it was too late. Cousin Mel led a tough life. But he did it laughing, always. And he took the question near hysteria. Seems Dad had always been cheap. He called it economical, a function of the depression. So Mel and dad were hunting one day, as always in the autumn. And some lucky bird got up and flew. Dad apparently got on target and pulled the trigger. But as with many cheap and junky guns, it didn't even click. So he and Mel got together and tried to make the hammer fall. And after 3 attempts and no joy, they gave up. On the way home, dad stopped at the local gun shop. And he bought the Winchester he'd longed for. Not just a single step upward but a huge leap. Not just a repeater, but a working repeater!

We frequented the Paris, KY gun show put on by Jerry Taylor. A good guy. But the one constant of that show was the numbers of single barrel shotties. It was the unit of measure for those folks.

I did buy one for $20 long ago. It was broken, another constant with them. But only the stock and barrel were bad. We sawed off the barrel to a fully legal 18", and screwed the stock together with epoxy lathered brass wood screws. It might have been ugly, but it worked.

As romantic as you want to make them, I prefer to leave them in the past or to those of you that really want them. At least this won't be expensive for you.

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Dick Burg

I'm confused... Isn't this a current production Rossi single shot 12ga? With an MSRP of $170. It's available in 20 or 410 as well. I recently inherited a 20ga model from my late uncle, it's not a bad shotgun to have in the safe.
FULL SIZE FIELD GRADE SHOTGUNS

There are a few out there. Legacy Sports sells a Turkish made single. H&R may still list the Topper but when the Handi-Rifle was dropped the shotguns seemed to vanish too around here. The only H&R products I've seen lately were the chinese made pump guns. Rossi does still show their singles as available as a shotgun only, not just in a combo package.

The single was the "farmers gun", the poor mans hunting gun when I was a kid. I think more affordable repeaters and changing lifestyles have contributed to it's loss of popularity. The small family farms of my youth are few and far between nowadays, far more big farming operations. Rural small town America has changed too. People are far more likely to spend their money on a good pump or even semi-auto than to buy the old fashioned single shot for the hunting they do.

I have one in 28ga I keep in the truck.

My one contribution to this "inexpensive" single barrel shotgun came about as an act of love.

When my wife and I first got married (around '72), I wanted to get her interested in shooting, and I thought that trap shooting would be fun for her.
So during those lean times, I bought a new Remington 870 for me, and a brand spanking new Winchester Model 370 for her (20ga).
Well, it didn't go so swimingly as her shoulder turned blue from our first outing. That was the only time that Winchester was ever fired.
So fast forward almost 45 years, and I still have an "as new", fired one time, Winchester Model 370, 20ga, 2-3/4"/3" shotgun.
I don't know why I've kept it, but that's the story on that one.

Interestingly enough, for our 10th Anniversary, my wife bought me a new Browning Citori Trap Combo (comes with double O/U barrel along with a high-rib single barrel).
I guess that was her "giving back".
Now that I mention it, I need to take it out and shoot a round or two with it.

I guess it's hard to talk about single barrel shotguns without bringing them from the past as memories.

Singles were (and arguably still are) the utilitarian shotgun; generally inexpensive yet suited for their purpose. Most of us older guys likely started with one of these. You learned quickly to make your first shot count because it was likely your last at that given target. Somewhat reminiscent of hunting with a flintlock where your shot must count, and quite unlike today with the spray and pray capability. My father and his friends ate well using the old single shots which forced them to make a 'good shot' the first time. I see no shortage of them being available on the new or used market. As a matter of fact I have recently seen some really nice vintage pieces coming out of the woodwork at gun shows and LGS..... and the prices are not high.

I'm holding onto dads H&R topper 158 12ga, it was broken a few years ago when he tripped and fell off the porch with it, sheared the hammer sear.
The poor thing has sat in parts waiting for me to fix it, even the dog chewed the stock. I really need to get it back into shape again, just have to find all the parts, poor thing.

They went the way of the single shot 22 rifle. Once a staple in every home, now they're just a reminder of a simpler time.

I also miss the old fashioned hardware store, the country general store, and women who know how to cook a meal from scratch.

I don't believe that parts are difficult to find. I've bought several H&R parts from Numrich.

You're right. I think it's just a matter of getting it done and figuring out how to pin everything back together. It's not a horribly sophisticated gun.
I would like to restock it too and clean up the wood, it served my dad pretty well, aside from being rough to shoot.

My first is a single shot , bolt action, .410 from the Western-Auto Supply store. Marked "Revelation". Still got it and it still shoots.
You never forget your first "real" gun.
That was Christmas 1961 and I'll never forget it. Daddy made me the happiest 12 year old on the planet ....mom wasn't too thrilled about that present at all ! I later (years later ) found out she had told him not to get me a gun . The old man bought it on his way home and hid it in the car trunk....then Christmas morning he went outside and brought it in. It was cold and wasn't wrapped, just in that cardboard box that guns come in. I'm sure he caught a lot of flak for that , but Daddy knew how much a gun means to a boy. That .410 brings back a lot of great memories hunting with my Dad.
Gary

I have a 12 and a 20. I like them very much. I've traded off a lot of guns in the past, but for some reason I hang on to these.

My dad bought my sister an Ithaca M66 in .410 back in the early 70's. To my knowledge, she still has it although the last time I saw it, it was in pretty bad shape.

My dad bought my Mother a Stevens single shot .410 when she was pregnant with me for the princely sum of $7.00 new. That was in 1938 and he carried it home on the city bus. It turned into my first shot gun and now belongs to my Daughter. Her 17 year old son now claims it. It is still in great shape.

On a side note my Dad was using a borrowed 20 ga. Stevens to hunt with because he couldn't get .410 shells at the time. Something broke in the action so he came home. While he was cleaning it that evening he remarked he should just snap the 20 ga. barrel on the .410 frame. He tried it, it fit and he hunted the rest of the year with the mismatched gun.

The little .410 is now 77 years old.

In the winter of 1988 while in college at 18 years of age I went into a brand new Dick's sporting goods on their opening day and bought a New England Firearms 12ga Pardner SB1 and a box of Remington #6 shot. The first gun I ever bought. One of my roommates parents lived south of us and we were invited to go rabbit hunting once the season opened. His dad was a biology teacher and just ran their beagles for us, he didn't even take a gun. The four of us roommates and the one's 3 younger brothers went out. When we came back for lunch the mother, who was the home economics teacher, put out quite the spread for us. One of the stories I heard about the dad was that he started dating all the home-ec majors is college and went through about half a dozen before he met his wife. To this day, he is one of the smartest men I have ever met. Back to the shotgun, we technically lived in off campus housing so storing our guns for weekend hunting didn't become a problem. On one return trip, I wrapped the shotgun in my jacket to take it from the parking lot back into the town house and it slipped straight down and broke a piece off the bottom of the stock. I took it apart and brought it up the machine shop, drilled a hole, glued it up and put in a screw. I then ground the head of the screw off flush on a bench grinder, certainly not a gunsmith quality repair, but I still have it, know where the repair came from and have taken rabbits and turkey with that $90 shotgun. It was the first shotgun my kids ever shot. I also have my great uncle's single shot Remington 33 from 1932, that's the first gun I ever shot and the first gun my kids ever shot. Those 2 single shots have their place.

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Model 60, 15-3, 66-8 & 28-2

I have never owned a London Best shotgun but I have shot them. I have owned A. H. Fox, L. C. Smith and M21 Winchesters but I have fond memories and in reality probably had more fun being a dirt poor kid and using a single barrel Iver Johnson. My son now has the Iver Johnson. Larry

I still have a Stevens 12ga 28 inch full choke.. Bought new in 1967 for a woppinging 39.59 .still looks like it,s new...
Wife bought it for me so price is priceless.

My first shotgun at age 8 was a Stevens M-94 in 410. It looked like new but has some age on it. Dad gave it to me and traded my 22 LR single shot for it.

Times were different, I was taking it squirrel hunting soon there after. We lived close to lots of woods with small fields. Plenty of both grey and Fox squirrels.

I had followed Dad from the age of 5, he programmed safety into me. Seems he as the rural paper route as a boy in Northern Iowa and carried a single shot 22 on his bike. He brought home many pheasant which was great during the depression.

That fall I got my first duck. We were at Grandpas farm pond, a Mallard drake flew straight into my elevated gun. Dead duck.

My wife, son and oldest grandson all learned to shoot shotguns with it. My oldest grandson now has it.

Both my grandfathers had a single shot guns in 22 LR and 12 gauge on their farms. The guns were used to hunt and the 22's also did the hog and beef butchering shot. Horses, mules and dogs were also euthanized by the 22 when the time came.

My Dad and uncles also learned to shoot and hunted with them. My Dad nor any of my uncles chose a single shot anything when they were adults. Pumps, autos and bolt action guns is all I ever knew them to own.

I did buy my #2 Daughter a SS H&R in 28 gauge but she never took up with hunting.

The inexpensive single shot mostly served a time in history when sport hunting had not yet become so big. These guns were made for the masses on small farms or a gun to keep in the closet or a cheap way to get a kid a gun.

Would I use one again? Only if that was my only option.

My first SS shotgun was a well used Iver Johnson 12 ga. (or 'Ivory Johnston' as you'll hear old timers in the South refer to it...). I was about 13 at the time. It had a barrel cut at about 26", and hence, a cylinder choke. Kicked viciously and I loved it.
My alternate firearm was a Winchester M67 .22 bolt SS. Accurate and being so slow to load and shoot, a 89 cent box of ammo could last a couple of hours.

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Ret'd LEO
SWCA #2275

You guys that still have them are ahead of the game. By Hillary's 5th or 6th year as president that's all we'll be allowed to own

Wow- what a downer. I'm sorry I did that. Could someone please reverse the mood by posting a pic of your "single"

Sorry, no love lost here on single-barrel break-open shotguns. My first gun - an H & R Topper 20 gauge. $27 at K-mart in 1968. Kicked like a mule. Learned to manage the recoil, but never could hit a flying bird with it. Then one day dad thought to pattern the thing. At 25 yards, you could throw cats through the holes in the pattern. He sold this marvel to someone he worked with and bought me a Browning Sweet Sixteen. I've never missed the Topper. Could actually hit a dove with the Browning. My brother still has it.

I started shotgunning with my Grandpa's Iver Johnson 410. Bought one very similar to it a couple years ago and it resides over the door on my back porch; loaded. Those guns were works of art; steel and walnut hand fitted to last a couple or three lifetimes.