laststandonzombieisland

When I was a kid, my great uncle Gus took me out to the delta marsh of the oxbow lakes of the Mississippi River. For those unaware of the area, this is one of the finest parts of the country to sit and wait for flight after beautiful flight of wood ducks, snow geese, and Canadian geese to fly over. The night before the trip he reached far back into his closet and retrieved a bundle the size of a pair of baseball bats wrapped in an old wool blanket and tied with a piece of cord.

“Here you go,” he said, passing the bundle off.

I quickly took to the mystery like a hyena to a carcass and dug right in. Blanket and cord parted ways until only an old bolt-action rifle with a barrel that looked like it could part the moon in half lay exposed. It wasn’t an elephant gun, it was a Marlin 55. Whether they were built as Swamp Guns, Goose Guns, the Super Goose, or the “Double Nickel,” the Marlin Model 55 series bolt action shotguns were some of the best waterfowl pieces ever made.

Read the rest in my column at the Marlin Forums