Hit Tam's tip jar.

Friend Tamara busted her collarbone the other night. This puts a kink in her ever-increasing schedule of activities, in her career as a "self-unemployed gun writer."

Y'all may notice that I haven't got a tip jar on my blog, here. That isn't because I believe it is gauche; it is simply because I do not believe that I am providing enough of a service to accept money for, here.

Tamara, on the other hand, provides excellent technical writings on pistols, shotguns, and even the odd rifle. Her historical perspective is particularly good on firearms, although she applies it to other topics as well. Her _Sunday Smith_ occasional column is a treasure.  Why is it so good? Because Tamara Keel is a professional freelance gun writer. In a world where we find people declaring themselves to be gunwriters as they fill articles with dreck, it is a pleasure to read an informed opinion on firearms. Tamara is a professional reader, who also does the work, putting in hundreds or even thousands of rounds a weeks, and attending high-level classes in the field.

All this, and now she has medical bills, too.

If Tam or I were in town, wouldn't you buy dinner? I know that I would. It's impossible to walk out of a cheap greasy spoon diner without having dropped $20 or $30, after tip, for a  meal for two. Do me a favor, please, and go to Tamara's site, and click on the yellow PayPal button on the right side of the screen, and put in what you would've spent on dinner for our friend. If not for her, please do it for me. She has given a lot of free entertainment, over the years.

Shotguns.

Lately, I get the wants for a new shotgun.

A friend asked elsewhere: Should I get a Beretta 1301, or jump on one of these tricked-out police trade-in Remington 870s which are so thick on the ground, at present?

I think that a 1301 is a much better shotgun, but these 870s are stupid-cheap, these days.

I have neither.

Which?