Right out of high school I did a lot of horse trading guns with the old man that lived next door to the folks and went thru several of the old Toppers and Partners IIRC. Bought a 12 ga. as I was coming out of hard times around 1982, did some dove and quail hunting with it and it always brought home the birds but it went away for a repeater. Just before joining the Army in 1985 I picked up a 20 ga. Partner youth model, cut the barrel to 20" for a truck gun, didn't even put a bead back on it; killed a number of rabbits out of the garden with it, point and shoot. In March of '95 went see the folks at the same time my old high school was having alumni weekend and one of my old friends had a Harrington and Richardson rifle in .30-30, think it was a Model 158 and the sleek lines just grabbed me. He wouldn't sell it too me, a couple of years later I found out my younger brother had bought it. He wouldn't sell it to me but while in Germany in early 2002 he wrote and told me that he found a Handi for $165, did I want it, well yeah, checks in the mail. Picked it up when I got back to the folks for Thanksgiving 2002. Killed my first and second deer with 180 gr spire point hand loads with that gun during the 04-05 hunting season. PCSed to APG in June 05, had .45-70 and .223 bull accessory barrels added. Love the .45-70, .223 not so much.
