A Fox Sterlingworth like the 1920s vintage gun I am hunting with here is still quite affordable.

Some hunters see their shotguns as nothing more than tools; they couldn't care less who made them, when they were made or how they look so long as they get the job done.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with that attitude. In fact, some of my best friends feel the same way about their guns and I have never held it against them. When a hole needs digging, they reach for the shovel; when it is time to go hunting, they reach behind the door for their gun. With them, it never gets any more complicated or emotional than that.

Fewer in number are those of us who enjoy being in the field with a fine gun as much as we enjoy the actual hunting. And since we feel the same way about fine dogs, especially the old ones, surely we cannot be all bad.

Fine old guns can be neatly divided into two groups. The first group is made up of the extremely rare and the sinfully expensive. More often than not, those pieces are bought for looking at but not for shooting. Let's call them collectible guns and leave them for those who can afford them.

The second group consists of guns most of us consider to be classics but due to various and sundry reasons, they do not cost an arm and a leg. This puts them within reach of anyone who wants one badly enough. Some of those guns have been out of production for many hunting seasons and that alone can make them desirable.

Some, like the Parker double and the Winchester Model 12, have been reproduced in limited quantities. A few, like the Remington Model 1100, have been on the brink of obsolescence for several years but the ongoing demand from hunters has kept them alive.

Regardless of which category they fit into, I call these guns collectible shooters. They should not be bought with the hope of turning a profit overnight because their value on the used gun market usually increases at about the same speed as molasses flowing through a snowbank.

An L.C. Smith in .410 is both scarce and pricey, but the same gun in 12, 16 and 20 gauge is less expensive than some of the better Spanish doubles being imported today.

But it is highly unlikely that their value will ever decrease, so you can believe me when I say money is spent more wisely here than on leather seats for a new automobile or for a new computer. And besides, everybody knows fine old guns are bought for love and not for money.

So what are some of the affordable old guns sentimental people like me love to own and hunt with? To cover all the great classics in the detail they deserve would fill a very large book and since my allotted space is quite a bit more limited than that, the best I can do is include some of my picks in the four categories. If I fail to mention yours, it is not because I dislike your gun but probably because I ran out of room before I got to it.

A double-gun man at heart and patriotic to boot, I'll start with names like L.C. Smith, Fox, Lefever, Winchester, Parker, Ithaca and yes, even Iver Johnson. Just about any gun made by one of those companies is worthy of filling a slot in your hunting battery.

The Winchester Model 21 might just be the strongest side-by-side ever built, but its price has skyrocketed beyond reason lately and that leaves half a dozen or so in what I consider to be the affordable category. Exceptions are doubles in the smaller gauges. They are more expensive because as a rule, the smaller the gauge, the fewer the number built. L.C. Smith, for example, built only about 2,665 .410s, which explains why one of those can cost about 10 times more than the same gun in a 12 gauge.