Pigeon Gun info.

[Chris Travinski]

Ok, I have the PGCA letter and a few picutres of the gun. It was bought by O.R Dickey but was possibly for another pigeon shooter. Kind of a bummer it's not Dickey's gun, I guess there is no way to know if he used it at all or bought it for a client. The gent G.M Wheeler who eventually owned the gun was a trade rep. for the Peters Cartridge Co., I can't find much information on him. If anyone has any information or could direct me to some, it would be greatly appreciated. It's without question a purpose built gun, lots of wall thickness, high stock, and the wrist is very thick. I wish I had the first factory stock, the current stock is extremely high at 1 3/4" DAH! Check out the pictures, it's a very neat gun. Also, doubble click the letter and give me your interpretation of it.

Thanks,
Chris

[Chris Travinski]

xxx

[Chris Travinski]

I don't know what to make of the letter. It was sold to O.R. Dickey, then he sold it to Wheeler?

[Paul Ehlers]

Interesting letter!

If I'm seeing this correctly the gun was turned into the factory for credit by Mr. Wheeler in September 1917 and then bought back by Mr. Wheeler in March of 1918.

I wonder what went on that Mr. Wheeler turned the gun in and then bought it back a few months later. If only these guns could talk!

[Angel Cruz]

I betcha he turned it in for credit and missed her so much he had to buy her back. How many of you guys would sell your go to Parker??

[Bill Murphy]

There are entries in the order books for pigeon guns or trap guns that state, "his gun as long as he shoots for us". The assumption would be that a shooter would have to turn the gun in if he were to switch allegiance. The la84foundation search function is temporarily out of service. When it comes back up, you can find loads of information on Wheeler.

[Austin W Hogan]

There are some often forgotten points that may help understand the letter on this trap gun.
Mr King did not sell Parkers. He recieved orders from Parker salesmen and or through the Parker Company; made Parker guns; and shipped them. His order books reflect orders recieved, and the price (grade) of gun made to fill the order. The order book accounted for the work payments owed King by Parker, and the payments King made to his employees.
A gun returned to King was inventoried in by price (grade), and out by price (grade). Mr King recieved payment for work done , or new components fitted as noted in the order.
Mr Dickey apparently attended all major eastern tournaments and more distant national tournaments for many years after winning the GAH. He is often noted as the person delivering a Parker gun to a competitor, recovering it from a competitor, or exchanging it among competitors. He aparently provided the condition of loan Bill expressed verbaly in some cases.

Best, Austin

[Bill Murphy]

Orren R. Dickey was not only a shooter and Grand American winner, he was a high volume gun and sporting goods dealer in Boston. He sold as many Parkers as any dealer except Abercrombie and Fitch and Iver Johnson.

[Arthur Shaffer]

If you want to dig further, I did a quick check on Ancestry.com.

Gilbert Maxwell Wheeler was born to William and Martha Wheeler in Bowdoin ME in 1866.

The parents lived in Lowell MA in 1857 when their first son was born but had moved to Bowdoin by 1858 when he died.

GM married in early 1899 to Florence Gilbert. Both were 32. GM was a printer and Florence a book keeper.

He was still a printer in the 1900 census.

He was a "Commercial Traveller - Ammunition" in 1910 Census.

He was a "Commercial Salesman" in 1920 Census. His 2 daughters were ages 18 and 16.

He died in 1956. His daughters had married Emerson W Zietler and William Senter JR.

He is buried in Riverside Cemetery in Brunswick.

Hope this leads to more info.

[Drew Hause]

Dickey's GAH win was in 1896, and as Bill observed he was a major gun dealer and rep for the United States Cartridge Co.

https://digital.la84.org/digital/collection/p17103coll17/id/47169
O.R. Dickey, of Boston. Mass., winner, used a very handsome Parker Bros. hammerless gun, of the pigeon model, and his load consisted of 50 grains, or about 3 1/2 drams by measure, of American “E.C.” powder, 1 trap wad, one 3/8 inch pink felt, one 1/4-inch pink edge, and 1 1/8 ounce of No. 7 chilled shot in the United States Cartridge Co.'s “Rapid” shells, 2 3/4 inches in length.

He was still shooting as a Professional in 1915
https://digital.la84.org/digital/collection/p17103coll17/id/22374/rec/265

[Arthur Shaffer]

One more note on GM Wheeler. I thought the return in 1917 and repurchase pm 1918 may have been connected to the war, which started in April 1917. However, since he was 50 years old at the time, it wasn't imminent service. He may have been expecting a job transfer to the war effort, and then reclaimed the gun when he found out differently. It is also very possible that Dickey ordered the gun for one of his store accounts and had it dropped shipped there (Milwaukee), where Wheeler purchased it on one of his trips as a commercial ammunition salesman. Everything reported here would lead me to believe this was the likely chain of events. Dickey was one of the largest wholesalers in the country and recieved an order from the WI hardware; Wheeler serviced the WI account for ammo and bought the gun while there for a business call. He then owned the gun and returned it for service several times.

I can remember as a kid in the 50's/60's that this was the normal chain of events. Every hardware store in our small town purchase all their inventory and special orders from Belknap supply in Louisville, who did the orders directly with the manufacturers.