DuBray article on California 20 ga waterfowlers

[Frank Srebro]

I’m doing some research on a California duck club and found an interesting article by Capt A W DuBray - writing under the nom de plume “Gaucho” - on the popularity of 20 gauge guns for west coast waterfowling. Sorry, I don’t have a scanner and three .jpgs are the best I can do. Article was in the June 28, 1913 issue of the American Field. That’s when bulk and dense smokeless powders were in use…. a decade before the intro of progressive burning powders as used in Super-X and similar heavy 20 gauge loadings. Capt DuBray and his peers certainly thought highly of these 20 gauge guns and the 1913 loads for same. Enjoy!

http://i1044.photobucket.com/albums/b450/silvers897/62813-1_zps1f43d42b.jpg

http://i1044.photobucket.com/albums/b450/silvers897/62813-2_zps0ccfb2a2.jpg

http://i1044.photobucket.com/albums/b450/silvers897/62813-3_zps2b4a5bf3.jpg

[Destry L. Hoffard]

There's a great story in one of the of the William Hazelton collections about a hunting trip to a "small bore only" duck club in California. I used to own the book but have since let that collection go. A little searching should turn it up, the name of the club isn't mentioned but I've always wondered if it's The Widgeon Club of the famous guns.

There's also a lot of smallbore duck gun writing in a magazine called Western Field that was published about this same time. A little research and reading could produce a dandy article about this period of California history. A few guys I know have made noises about writing it but it's never been done as far as I know.


DLH

[Dave Noreen]

Thanks Frank. Very interesting. I wonder what the deal was with those 3-inch Winchester Leader 28-gauge shells? I don't have any Winchester ammunition paper of that era. All the Western Cartridge Co. and Rem-UMC paper I have of that era only offers 28-gauge shells in the "standard" 2 1/2 inch length and the 2 7/8 inch length. The "standard" 28-gauge load of the era was 1 3/4 drams of bulk smokeless powder and 5/8 ounce of shot. Chas. Askins the elder wrote in his 1910 book about having an early 28-gauge Parker Bros. with 30-inch barrels and he was handloading 2 1/8 drams and 3/4 ounce of shot in those long 28-gauge shells.

[Kevin McCormack]

I have had discussions with Dan Cote regarding what will probably be at least a 2-part article for DGJ, maybe even 3 parts, on the Western California Duck clubs recorded in the Western Field 3-year series. I originally planned to put it in short book form but the very short "read life" and even shorter purchase interests have been shown to be counterproductive even for desktop or "smallbox stores" (e.g., Staples; Office Depot) publication so far as cost of layout, duplication, binding and etc. And I am still dealing with the liquidation of the last of Ed Muderlak's reproduction catalogs; the very last of his hardbound books I finally sold about 3 months ago, which itself is a cautionary tale regarding the printed word vs. Google. So it is a question of packaging and timing. Be patient; these things take time.

[Kevin McCormack]

P.S. - Sold the only 3-inch 28ga. shell I've ever seen out of my collection at the Baltimore Show last weekend. I'd promised it to a very good client who finally called my bluff. No. 6 shot as I recall.

[Drew Hause]

Outing 1914, “The Case of the Small Bore Shotgun” by Edward C. Crossman
http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/Outing/Volume_63/outLXIII04/outLXIII04u.pdf

[Angel Cruz]

Great article Frank, I have a Trojan in 20 ga with 30 inch bbls choked full and full. It was sold by Du Bray back in 1917 to Lewald and Schlueter in Fresno, Ca.