I have no photos yet, but last month I bought a Remington Model 11, 12 gauge, in excellent condition. I got an extremely good deal, and when I got it home and looked up the ser.#, it dated to 1909. In fact, it's not even marked "Model 11". I found out they started marking them with that designation in 1911, so this would be the Remington Autoloading Shotgun, and it's marked with Browning's patent dates. It shoots great, with target loads and full power 00 Buck. I've never had one of these, or an Auto-5 either, but figuring out the friction rings was no big trick.

What's cool about it for me, is knowing that John Browning was alive and well when this gun was sold. At the time, he considered it to be his finest work, and as many of you know, this was the gun that caused the split between he and Winchester, because he wanted a royalty for each gun sold, not just to sell the patent outright. He took it to FN, and also Remington. When my gun was sold, John Browning made money from the sale. For me, that's true gun history.

My next oldest is a Colt New Service that was made in 1916, but that's a story for another day.