The phrase “One Good Gun” can mean different things to different people, depending on the gun’s history, type and style. After all, a gun is just an inanimate object, a machine designed and built to perform certain functions. Right?
But, as all of us gunny types know, a gun isn’t just a “thing.” Over time, with use, travel and many hunting trips, a gun gradually acquires character, a personality, a life of its own, as molded by the owner’s interpretation. So it is with the history and heritage of my Richland Model 200 20-gauge side-by-side shotgun.
Let’s start at the beginning. My gun was made by Zabala in Spain in about 1971. Richland Arms Co. was founded in Blissfield, Michigan, in the mid-1960s by Thomas Hoagland, Jr., who also owned…