Another Iver Johnson owner
I never hear anything about this brand anymore, but I have an Iver Johnson Champion, a single shot top break in 16 gauge, that I aquired from a close friend in a trade of sorts between us for musical equiptment (I'm a bass player, he was a drummer), and he threw it in to sweeten the deal. I was twenty two or three, recently married, and hadn't even thought of having a gun, although I had a lot of prior experience with my Dad's guns during my adolesent/early teen years, before my Dad passed away. So, after the honeymoon, I found the Champion behind the door, and decided to take the gun, with a K-Mart license and two boxes of purple Federal Game Loads in the blue and white box, and drive 30 miles to the rural lake bottoms near the mouth of the creek feeding into the upper end of the silted in old lake. I knew this area very well from growing up,and the cold, brisk fall/winter air, and the smells of the lake, the decomposing leaves/limbs, and Quail exploding at my feet..........man, I was hooked. Armed with a full choked single shot, and two shells in my teeth, and two more in my left palm under the forearm, I was a proud, young hunter. Oh, I'd have to wait to fire when they'd flush, because of the full choke, which isn't easy after almost messing my pants at the flush. I hunted alone mostly, without a dog, and once I did fire, I'd have to walk toward the downed bird while reloading, not looking from where the bird would go down. Yeah, eventually I had pump 12s, a Pointer, and even friends to hunt with, but AHHH the memories that little un-assuming Iver Johnson provided me are priceless. Today, at 59, I still have this gun, however I left it out in the garage for awhile, and now it has small rust forming all over it. Mine has color case hardened reciever etc. with a real nice Pachmyer pad on it. My little gun was always light, tight, and easy to point/swing, very natural. I never even imagined they made a side by side. I bet that one you have has those same natural qualities, and is a cool gun.
