Parker factory Kautzky Triggers

[Jim Thynne]

Probably not known, But the Parker Factory "did" send Parker Shotguns out on request to Kautzky Sporting goods in Fort Dodge Iowa for requested single triggers. Joseph Kautztky was the inventor and installer.
We are not sure if A.H. Fox "who bought the rights to the Kautzky trigger in 1914" ever fitted facory triggers for new Parker guns.
As we have found out in our research the larger gun companies shared far more than we thought. They were careful of patent infringments, but cooperated with each other.
So dont get in a twit if your trigger isn't one of the annointed.

[greg conomos]

Is there proof of that happening?

[Bruce Day]

Thanks Jim. My parents and grandparents were from Fort Dodge and I remember visiting Kautzky's Sporting Goods on the town square. Our families were related by marriage and attended Corpus Christi church a few blocks away. Joe, Joe Jr , Rudy and Marie worked in the store and were accomplished trapshooters.

Pheasants were plentiful and the store sold lots of Win Mod 12's and Browning Auto 5's. I own a Mod 1912 and a Parker 16ga PHE that came from the store. Joe Sr was also the inventor of the Lazy Ike fishing lure, I have a small collection of them from early days.

I had no idea that any Kautzky single triggers were installed in Parkers. I knew they worked on Parkers and were a dealer, but that is interesting new information. I've never seen one, but will look for one, as it would be a nice to have and personally meaningful.

I have a combat knife Joe made for my father when he went off to WWII.

Again, thanks.

[Jim Thynne]

Marie Kautzky wrote an artical in one of the gun digests;"I will send you the gun digest #," and in this article she remembers the guns coming in from Parker to Kautzky from "Parker Brothers" prior to the A.H. fox aquisition of the trigger rights.
She was Joseph Kautzki's daughter and secretary, and is in the trapshooters hall of fame.
She used a Parker gun to win the Grand American Handicap in 28-29-and 40. She raised a family in the 30s.
I found this article with her statement in her biography while researching her fathers Fox gun.
You may find this part of the article in the Des Moines Register Historical pages. More than likely it is on line.

[Jim Thynne]

Look up Marie Kautzky Grant and 3/4 the way down she states that Parker Brothers were a customer. More than likely from customers that requested the Kautzky single trigger.
I had the great pleasure of meeting her and her brother Rudy in the early 60s and saw the "K" the first X grade engraved gun ever made. It was an early A grade gun that was sent to Fox for a re-fit of the ejectors. He shot the first ever 200 straight with this gun and they sent it back with a new stock and forend as well as the X grade engraving.It had a huge gold inlay with the letter K on the trigger guardI also saw Josephs 16ga hammer gun built by hand, stocked and engraved by the old master himself. And yes he did invent the Lazy Ike, probably more walleyes caught with this lure than any other. A friend of mine ownes the "K" gun and sent it to me for inspection a few years ago. I asked if I could shoot it. It was a magical 32inch gun that pointed out the clays and I ran all 25. It was the gun, the shooter, however poised ,just held it. I hadn't seen the gun since the meeting with the Kautzky family in the 60s It had been sold to Fort Dodge collector Bob Glazer who has since passed away. I wish I could have bought her, as she is magnificent.

[Jim Thynne]

Bruce,
I lived about 40 miles from Fort Dodge Iowa"Sac City" and remember seeing as new Parkers, or I thought they were, there as well as some new or newer Fox and "still in production" L.C. Smith guns. Lots of model 12s. Makes you wonder about how long those "new" Parker guns were there
My Grandfather took me there to see the place where they made the Lazy Ike lures, but talked too long to Rudy and we never got to see it. If I remember they were made away from the store. "Long time ago folks." "Grandfather passed away in 1951." It must have been 1948 or49. He bought a Iver Johnson Pistol that day. In later life I got to shoot it.

[Patrick Lien]

Does anyone have a PGCA letter with reference to a factory Kautzky trigger? I think that would be a great letter to share. You could also add it to the Parker pages as the first Kautzky trigger found.

Patrick

[Kevin McCormack]

Jim; I had a chance to inspect the K-gun while it was on display at the Northeast Fine Arms Collectors Show the first week in January 2013 at the AH Fox Collectors Association booth. You are right; it is a beautiful gun and a wonderfully handling gun as well.

As an aside, I think the Kautzkys may have entered their store a time or two in the Remington Arms storefront contests that were held up through the 1950s and early '60s (not sure of the exact dates). The idea was to decorate the storefront windows for a full week with Remington products (guns & ammo etc.) to celebrate the kickoff of hunting seasons in early October every year. The stores would arrange their displays, take photos of them, and send them in to Remington to be judged for competition.

Some of them were really amazing; entire display windows turned into hunting camps, duck blinds, etc. Gordon Fosburg of the Remington Society of America (RSA) put together a wonderful article published in the RSA Journal a year or so ago showing a selection of photographs from various years of the competition, and later gave a presentation on same that was really wonderful. Thousands of stores competed over the years, from 'Mom and Pop' cubbyhole-sized shops to the large inner-city giants like A&F. Unthinkable today, how neat it must have been to wander through them!

[Chuck Bishop]

A quick search for the name Kautzky in the archived research letter database didn't turn up any hits.

If anyone has S/N's of guns they think have a Kautzky single trigger, let me know and I'll see if we have an order for the gun. Also, if you could give me a date range of when a gun may have been sent to Kautzky, I can look at the index at the beginning of the order books. Would the correct name be: Kautzky's Sporting Goods, Ft. Dodge IA?

[Dave Suponski]

Jim, The owner of the Kautzky gun is a good friend of mine. I have fondled this great gun at length and yes as Kevin states it was at the Stamford Show this year. Thank You so very much on this important link to the history of these fine old guns. It's great to hear from you and I hope "retirement" is going well.

[Bruce Day]

A quick search for the name Kautzky in the archived research letter database didn't turn up any hits.

If anyone has S/N's of guns they think have a Kautzky single trigger, let me know and I'll see if we have an order for the gun. Also, if you could give me a date range of when a gun may have been sent to Kautzky, I can look at the index at the beginning of the order books. Would the correct name be: Kautzky's Sporting Goods, Ft. Dodge IA?


Chuck, that is the correct name. They were in business from around 1910 to the 1970's. My grandfather's P 16 was bought used from them.....of course to me they were old fashioned guns at the time and those Auto 5's were the desired thing to have.

Kevin, Kautzky's front windows were southern exposure and I don't remember them having much for window displays, but inside the store were fascinating displays from the various manufacturers with all the advertising incidentals and racks that are so sought after today. But the store went the way of many downtowns....when the new Crossroads shopping center was built, stores started moving out and the big box stores came in, and all these neat little shops with oak counters and ladders to get to the high goods were gone. At Kautzky's you could still buy new near Parkers in the 50's and I don't doubt that Rudy had some still tucked away in boxes.

Jim, Sac City ( named after the Sac indians) was a RAGBRAI town in 2012. This year its a southern route and I'm riding on the USAF team again. Want to bike across Iowa sometime ?

[Bill Murphy]

I have seen Kautsky orders for Parkers, but I assume they were just store stock. Marie's single barrel Parker is apparently not known by serial number.

[Dave Noreen]

There is an aricle on the Kautzky family in the Winter 1963 issue of The Iowan by John Kautzky. It includes a picture of Joe Sr. holding a vent ribbed Parker Bros. double and a couple of Marie with her Parker single. From Dick Baldwin's wonderful book The Road to Yesterday, Marie never "won the GAH", she was High Lady in 1928, Third High Lady in 1929, Ladies' Clay Target Champion 1941. In 1928 the GAH was won by Ike Andrews, 1929 by Mose Newman with an Ithaca, and 1940 by E.H. Wolfe.

Joseph Kautzky's first single trigger patent drawing, Patent No. 827,242 granted July 31, 1906, shows it on a Parker Bros. Joe's Patent No. 990,562 granted April, 25, 1911, and Patent No.1,109,632 granted September 1, 1914, show his single trigger on an Ansley H. Fox action.

[Gary Carmichael Sr]

Any body got a picture of one of these triggers installed?

[charlie cleveland]

hope you boys turn up a picture and serial no of one of these triggers on a parker... i sure would liked to have seen those little stores and the big ones with their hunting and fishing displays... charlie

[greg conomos]

I think a few years ago on this site I posted something about Marie Kautzky, either a photo or an article.

I'm not saying Parker never used a Kautzky trigger but I'd need to see some proof before I considered it valid. The testimony of Marie is not proof, just some evidence which may or may not be factual. She might have been mistaken or misunderstood what was gong on back then.

[Bruce Day]

I'd be interested in a Parker with a Kautzky trigger.

Marie and my grandmother were friends as well as related by marriage.

[Drew Hause]

Here you go Gary

Fox Kautzky single-selective trigger in center position courtesy of Frank Srebro.

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL1373/6511424/22972484/403627377.jpg

Rear position

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL1373/6511424/22972484/382675772.jpg

Forward position

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL1373/6511424/22972484/382675773.jpg

[Jim Thynne]

Thank you for the kind words,
I retired for a short time, and it drove me absolutly bonkers.
My bride of way too many years told me to go find something to stop driving her nuts. I don't think that retirement and her poor health worked out too well.
Then My good friend John Gangel at Little Johns Auction asked me to come down and do shotguns for him for his auctions. I now inspect and measure and tag all the O/U and SxS guns that go through the auctions. I never met a fairer or more honerable man and am pleased he asked me to do this on a part time basis.
Well part time was fun BUT!!!! well Tue, Thur and Sat are my days. now so Saturdays are growing at a fast pace. At my age it's all Saturdays. Feel free to call. But I shoot all day Wednesday.8:00 At Prado skeet, 2:00 triple B skeet and 5:30-8:00 triple B trap. Heck of a day.My Parkers do get HOT...............Jim

[Jim Thynne]

Dave,
As I said she won the ladies HOA there was and I think still is a ladies HOA.

[Jim Thynne]

You may be correct. She was quite elderly when the artical was written. Then again Parker didn't have the single trigger until after 1914 (I THINK)

[Jim Thynne]

I found it under Marie Kautzky. It was her maiden name.

[Tom Carter]

Hi Jim, Good to hear from you.

Tom

[Jim Thynne]

Hello Tom,
I am really enjoying "retirement." it keeps me busy. My wife thinks its just about right.

[todd allen]

Jim, it's good to see you posting. Hope all is well.

[Jim Thynne]

Hi Todd,
For an old guy with shotun hearing I'm really very well thank you..................Jim

[todd allen]

I'll never forget the time we met at Beinfeld's, then had lunch at that coffee shop on Sahara, only to end up looking at Parkers in the parking lot.
That's back when I had the Runge/Delgreco A-1 Special 32" vent rib trap gun.
Those were some days!

[Jim Thynne]

It's good to hear from you Todd, I sincerely hope things are going well for you. I suspect the housing market shoud be turning around by now.