LC Smith-Lefever stocks-performance shotshells

[LtCol Henderson Marriott]

You have a good point as to amateur would-be truck or road hunters before the season
opening. Older gobblers soon learn to be as quiet as Grant's tomb, or to visit quieter country.
*****
Nash Buckingham in the 1930s, with the help of John Olin, found his answer for high-flying ducks near the Mississippi River with a 3-in Super Fox.
A similar recipe has been shown to help with a much larger and shyly elusive native bird.

[Researcher]

Nash Buckingham in the 1930s, with the help of John Olin, found his answer for high-flying ducks near the Mississippi River with a 3-in Super Fox.
A similar recipe has been shown to help with a much larger and shyly elusive native bird.
__________________

More like a decade earlier circa 1921. Nash's article in the September 1955 Outdoor Life, "Magnum Opus" opens with --

"Nearly 35 years ago the late P.C. (Perry) Hooker walked into our sporting goods emporium in Memphis, Tennessee, and handed me eight unmarked boxes of 12 gauge shotgun shells with one hand and a surprisingly heavy leather gun case with the other." Perry goes on to tell Nash that the shells are all #4, but half are regular 2 3/4 inch and half are 3-inches long--Magnums. They are all loaded with a new-fangled slow burning powder that is supposed to give more velocity, and denser shorter shot strings. The gun's an 'over-bored' Magnum. The boss wants you to test them and give him a full report as soon as you can.

Late in the article Nash says the new shells were on the market a year later and still are with the label Super-X, and "I lost no time in acquiring a 10-pound Fox Magnum of my own."

We know the 12- and 20-gauge Super-X loads were on the market in 1922 with the 16-gauge added late that year. We know the heaviest Super-Fox doesn't weigh ten pounds. As much as I enjoy Nash's stories, the most polite thing I can say is he never let exact facts get in the way of a good story!!

[LtCol Henderson Marriott]

"Mr. Buck"used his 3-in Super Fox right into the late 20s-early 30s to the 1940s on mallards at his BeaverDam Lodge and other duck coverts in MS-TN- Arkansas right up until "Bo Whoop" was lost on an Arkansas road about 1948 or thereabouts. ( Much later:"found") Bert Becker had a hand in the custom boring of Buckingham's personal Super by Fox. Interestingly enough, the first original lost "Bo Whoop" was not fitted with a safety. It now sits in the Ducks Unlimited Museum outside Memphis. Fox XE pattern engraving. My 3-in Super Fox weighs in at about 8 pounds 15 oz. with St Stock, 30 in barrels.

Ironically, an owned 1924 Parker VHE 2 7/8 in shotgun with 32 in barrels can keep right up with the Super using Winchester 3-in Long Beard # 4 shot at any practical range. Last year the Parker managed to down a turkey with these plated #4 lead pellets at a measured 49 yards. These latest Winchester turkey shells might have had both Olin and "Mr. Buck" scratching their heads. (Not for ducks!) The Fox and Parker original stockmakers might be just a little bit proud...or nervous...102 years later.

[Researcher]

Nash had a couple more decades of Bo Whoop II which he eventually moved on to Dr. Andrews. It was included in the diorama at DU headquarters when I visited there many years ago. From Dr. Andrews' book --

Bo Whoop II, Dr. Andrews book.jpg

Jim Julia let us have Bo Whoop (31088) at the A.H. Fox Collectors table at Las Vegas 2010 for a couple of hours --

Dave trying to look like Nash.jpg

Dave with BoWhoop and James Julia.jpg

[LtCol Henderson Marriott]

Dave:
I remember these pictures...think they were in the AHFCA magazine or the Fox Forum...or even the Double Gun Journal. There were some excellent articles on Buckingham in the DGJ... and Garden and Gun.
That looks like the original straight stock that was broken on the original Super "Bo Whoop", in the Arkansas road so many years ago. Whoever found it did not run an ad, and it spent many decades in a closet, through a couple of "owners". The history is fascinating, and a blessing that Nash had insured the shotgun.
A lesson also in making sure that your Fox or Parker is safely stored and safeguarded in a vehicle during a hunting trip. Thanks again...