Butcher- BAKER- Candlestick maker?

[Francis Morin]

At the area gun show we attended this past Sun- besides the 1940's 16 and 10 gauge paper shotshells, I also bought a Mint ed. of the 1989 No 80 Shooter's Bible-- with the three H&H doubles on cover- This is a great find for me anyway, as it has the fifty years ago- World's fair Issue of the Bible (Stoeger's that is) reprinted- Parker VHE Skeet guns at $168.45, LC Smith Crown Grade at $292.50-- and also a four page article on Baker guns-

Is there a Baker collectors website? Also a great article by Southern writer Jim Casada on British side-by-sides-- If you should come across this edition in your travels- and it is priced right, I'd suggest buying it. I have only seen two Baker side-bys in my lifetime--scarce as hen's teeth perhaps??:bigbye:

[Jack Kuzepski]

There is a Baker collectors website it is: www.bakercollectors.com. It is run by Dr. Bob Decker who also runs www.lefevercollectors.com and is the great grandson (I think) of Uncle Dan Lefever.

Jack Kuzepski

[Mark Landskov]

Francis, information on Baker guns seems sketchy. Your 4 page article would probably be the motherlode of info compared to what I have found! I managed to narrow down the manufacture date of my Baker 10 gauge to 1893, compliments of Daryl Hallquist, who is a major contributor to the L.C. Smith and Baker fraternities. My 'New Baker' was a budget priced gun, $30.00 in 1893, but is very well made. The Baker company made no apologies for the lack of fine polishing and fit like their higher priced models. Mine is used, but not abused. It was well maintained and shows lots of twist pattern, with a bit of wear at the muzzles. It is heavy, and falls between the Parker 3 and 4 frames in size.

[Francis Morin]

Francis, information on Baker guns seems sketchy. Your 4 page article would probably be the motherlode of info compared to what I have found! I managed to narrow down the manufacture date of my Baker 10 gauge to 1893, compliments of Daryl Hallquist, who is a major contributor to the L.C. Smith and Baker fraternities. My 'New Baker' was a budget priced gun, $30.00 in 1893, but is very well made. The Baker company made no apologies for the lack of fine polishing and fit like their higher priced models. Mine is used, but not abused. It was well maintained and shows lots of twist pattern, with a bit of wear at the muzzles. It is heavy, and falls between the Parker 3 and 4 frames in size. Mark- if you'd care to send me a PM on the PGCA and give me a mailing address, I can get copies made of that article and send them your way. One of the two only in my lifetime Baker guns I have seen was at the Lapeer, MI shoot- Mark Oulette had one on his display table- I forget which grade- believe it was a 12 bore--and thanks for your service to Our Country- two "biggies" coming up soon- USN and my USMC dating to 1775 or before- so on 10/Nov/ we "Jarheads" celebrate that, and next day is 11/Nov- Veterans Day-- we all owe so much to All our Veterans, no matter in which branch of the Military they served.:bigbye::bigbye:

[Mark Landskov]

Francis, PM sent. Here are some photos taken by the fellow I bought the gun from. It was in nice shape, but I did some 'detailing' anyway!

[Mark Landskov]

Here are some photos of my stock repairs. I wonder how many short 'Super X' loads were to blame for, or contributed to, the numerous splits! The screw holes were punky from oil, so I drilled out the bad wood and filled the holes with Acra Glas. The proper sized drill bit made for a snug fit with the original screws in the Acra Glas. There is a large 'U' made from a coathanger imbedded in the head of the stock. My one ounce grouse loads should be easy on the wood. Cheers!

[charlie cleveland]

mighty thick looking barrels on the business end..should be able to handle some stout turkey loads or duck and goose..... charlie

[Jack Cronkhite]

But still, thanks to a certain contagious virus picked up here, I'm looking at it. Barrels cut to 24". Checked with the Baker guys and to their knowledge no 24" guns came out of the factory.

[Mark Landskov]

Nice looking gun, Jack! What model is it? I have a chart for serial numbers and dates of manufacture. Charlie, the bores are near mint, also. The full chokes deliver some awesome patterns at 40+ yards with my one ounce loads. I really wanted a 10 bore hammer gun, but prices for most of them frightened me. I stumbled across this one on the Doublegunshop forum.

[Jack Cronkhite]

From the Baker guys, based on the pics. Not mine yet.

Jack, the gun looks like an A Grade. The A [Damascus barrels] and B [twist
barrels] were the first Baker Hammerless guns. Yours is a later gun,
probably 1905, give or take a couple of years. I have never seen a 24"
factory barreled gun. Daryl

[Jack Kuzepski]

Jack,

That looks like a R grade Baker. Although if your answer came From Daryl Hallquist, I'll defer to his opinion.

Jack Kuzepski

[Jack Cronkhite]

I'll take a look at their site. Yes, you have the right Daryl. Here are the rest of the pics I have.

[Francis Morin]

Francis, information on Baker guns seems sketchy. Your 4 page article would probably be the motherlode of info compared to what I have found! I managed to narrow down the manufacture date of my Baker 10 gauge to 1893, compliments of Daryl Hallquist, who is a major contributor to the L.C. Smith and Baker fraternities. My 'New Baker' was a budget priced gun, $30.00 in 1893, but is very well made. The Baker company made no apologies for the lack of fine polishing and fit like their higher priced models. Mine is used, but not abused. It was well maintained and shows lots of twist pattern, with a bit of wear at the muzzles. It is heavy, and falls between the Parker 3 and 4 frames in size. I made Zerox copies of the 7 pages, articles on both sides of 5 pages- on the Baker- send them to Mark as per his request- if anyone else wants to see this fine article from the 1989 Shooter's Bible, I'll be glad to make extras and send them along- via USPS:bigbye::bigbye::bigbye::bigbye:

[Robin Lewis]

Be careful, that is probably protected by copyright. You would not be the first person here to hear from a copyright holder about possible infringements.

[Francis Morin]

Be careful, that is probably protected by copyright. You would not be the first person here to hear from a copyright holder about possible infringements. This wasn't copied from a book, it was copied from a pulp paperback Shooter's Bible 1989- millions of copies sold- and I never took credit for writing it- Dr. Jim Cassada, a fine Southern gentleman writer from the South- wrote it--how can he sue me for copyright infringement on something that public and that old sent to a brother PGCA member (and Veteran) and not done for profit- You aren't a lawyer by any chance, are you???:bigbye::bigbye:

[Jack Cronkhite]

Not a lawyer but look at the issues from time to time. Copyright is a complicated issue.

You not taking credit for writing it is not a copyright issue - that would have been plagiarism.

Whether or not a motive is for profit, it is the act of making the copy that is arguably the infringement.

Doesn't matter if it's a book, a magazine, a cd or whatever, copyright is held by the author. That person can grant permission for the work to be copied (sometimes for a fee).

Once the author is dead, the material moves into the public domain - but not until the author has been dead for something like 70 years I think.

Then there's the whole "fair use" greyish area

I doubt that the author will want to sue anybody over these copies and the copyright police won't come knocking but such remedies are available.

Pretty hard to monitor all the photocopiers, video recorders, mp3 recorders etc etc etc. that are an accepted technology. Probably a "bazillion" potential infringements on any given hour around the planet. How does anyone enforce that? Big time piracy for profit is the action most likely to be pursued.

I think the DI might say "stand easy"

Disclaimer: The foregoing is not presented as legal advice. No animals were harmed in the making of this movie. You may take this with a grain of salt - which is not presented as medical advice. Do not take this with a grain of salt if your electrolytes are out of whack.

Cheers,
Jack

[Francis Morin]

Wisdom and insight from the North- and 'stand easy' or the second phase- 'stand by to stand by' works for me. Now that I reflect- if I had just sent him the entire heavy pb book w/o Zeroxing the baker pages- no problemo- Just trying to do a fellow Veteran and PGCA amigo a favor- next time-- I'll just call him on his cell phone and read him the text- verbatium--:rotf::rotf::bigbye: