In celebration of Obama’s election, I went out and bought a new shotgun. It is a 12 gauge Mossberg pump with deer and field barrels.

Actually, I needed a new shotgun. The one that I have is a piece of junk.

Originally, my father bought me a nice Remington semiautomatic 12 gauge. Then he bought my brother a C J Higgins semiautomatic 12 gauge so that he wouldn’t feel left out.

My brother complained bitterly about the CJ Higgins. And since I wasn’t doing much hunting at the time, my father asked me if I would trade guns with my brother. So, I did.

It wasn’t until about ten years later when I took it out deer hunting that I discovered it was a piece of junk.

Initially, I put the safety on, loaded the magazine, and chambered a round. Then, I found a good spot to sit an wait.

After a half hour or so, I saw a deer so took the safety off, aimed, and squeezed the trigger. Nothing happened! No boom, no click, just silence.

After examining the gun, I discovered that the action was not fully closed. So, I eased it shut.

Of course, the deer was long gone by the time I discovered what was wrong. And, since it was dusk, I headed back to the car. That is when I discovered another annoying feature of the gun.

When I went to unload it, I emptied the magazine first. Then, I opened the action to eject the shell from the chamber. But, instead of ejecting the shell onto the ground, the shell dropped down into the trigger mechanism where it remained until I totally dismantled it. Nice.

Thinking that it just needed to be cleaned and oiled, I proceeded to do so. Then, I put it all back together again, ready for the next day hunt.

But the next day was exactly the same as the first. Plus, I tried the fire the gun but was totally unsuccessful.

And even though I have tried many times, to this day, that gun has never been fired. I guess I don’t have to worry about cleaning it.