"The World of Parkerdom"
 

I was checking my files on past material concerning the Dupont shooting facility at Young's pier and came across an old e-mail from Murphy back in November of 2006... Bill and I were discussing Parker Dupont Try-Guns, and he also mentioned what I believe is the same 20ga DHE shown to us in this thread... Bill said he had never actually seen the gun, but he thought it had been sent to the Dupont shooting school at the end of Young's pier... I remember thinking the chances of seeing a DH 20ga with a gold scripted Parker Bros bottom frame surfacing anytime soon were probably pretty slim, but now 5 years later here it is... This is what keeps things interesting in the world of "Parkerdom", you never know what you might see or find from day to day... I'm an avid researcher and long time collector of early live bird and trap shooting history, and also enjoy interesting old double gun provenance... This is a very unique Parker and it would be a fun gun to research, I hope Chris Davis can provide us with some additional larger photos for a better overall look... Like we sometimes say, if only this gun could talk and tell it's story, imagine the many adventures in might reveal... Part of solving this mystery will be to figure out the identity of "F.B. Potts" and the significance of "#717"... I've been looking, has anyone else found anything, Dave Noreen, Murphy, Drew?...

Best, CSL
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http://www.webpak.net/~cslien/1DupontTrapScoreSheet.jpg
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Long way from Missoula to Young's Pier, and 'POTT', not Potts, but interesting
http://web.mac.com/robertdotson/iWeb...nz%20Pott.html
There is definitely a 's' engraved?
Could #717 be a fly pattern?

There was a "Frederick Potts" who shot trap & live birds in the New Jersey area, and at the Lakewood country club during that early time period... This would be fairly close to the Dupont shooting school at the end of Young's Pier... Looks like this fella also competed against the well known Parker shooter Capt Money... Perhaps there is a connection here between this "F. Potts" and the "F.B. Potts" on the 20ga DHE Dupont Parker???... The shooting history and close proximity to Atlantic City is certainly there.

This from 1901... http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstrac...DA405B818CF1D3

Best, CSL
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Chris, wonder who the manager of the Dupont School would be? Might there be records to check the Dupont employees?

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Not sure if there are surviving Dupont Powders records from that far back (almost a 100 years)... I do know the man in charge of the school at it's inception in early 1916 was Henry "Hank" Stevens, a professional shooter and former factory rep for Remington... Hank was also known as one of the best shooting instructors around... Hank's assistant in the new Dupont Powders shooting school venture was Hayes Apgar, son of well known professional shooter Neaf Apgar... Hank Stevens is shown at left in the photo below, middle is Jack Fanning a Dupont rep, and at right is Neaf Apgar a rep for the Peters Cartridge Co... These three men were all well known and respected shooters of their day...

Best, CSL
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http://www.webpak.net/~cslien/1StevensFanningA.jpg
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In my records I have the names of some of the "wheels" at the Dupont Shooting School. I'll try to locate the names. By the way, the Frederick A. Potts from Lakewood only shot registered Interstate Association or American Trapshooting Association targets in one year between 1913 and 1922, the years that the School may have been active. That year was 1916. He was referred to as middle initial A in the 1916 average book, so I guess he is not the guy whose name is engraved on the gun. I think I mentioned earlier that there are at least two D Grade 20s sent to the School. The School was mentioned in early publications as using 20 gauge guns exclusively. The School try guns, however, seemed to be 12 gauges, at least the ones I have seen. At least one is a Parker GH Grade and at least one is an Ithaca single, both try stocks made by Arthur P. Curtis. The Parker ended up with Colonel Townsend Whelen and was used by stockmakers in his gun store in Washington, D.C. until the store closed. Walt Snyder probably knows which of the Flues Ithaca single barrel Curtis try guns were sent to Dupont. I have the impression that there are more than one Curtis Ithaca out there, but I don't know which ones were sent to Dupont for use at the School.

Neaf and Hank 1913. Hank now shooting a Remington pump
http://www.la84foundation.org/Sports.../SL6104017.PDF

Another 20 gauge Dupont Shooting School gun is #172,459, a VH Grade ordered in 1916. It had (or has) "The Parker Gun" in white letters. The GH Curtis try gun, mentioned in The Parker Story, is #158,664, ordered New Years Eve 1914, in time for the opening of the School, as I recall. No brand identification was placed on that gun.

The Dupont Try-Guns...
 

The more I've studied and researched the early Dupont related "Try-Guns" the more it seems they had less to do with the Dupont Shooting School at the end of Youngs Pier, and more to do with being on the road with a select group of Dupont Powders factory reps touring as many gun clubs as possible in their respective territories... I'm also inclined to think there may have been more than one Curtis equipped Parker Try-Gun, but only the person in charge of the Parker records would know for sure... From what I've been able to find in my research, Jack Fanning was initially going to be in charge of the Atlantic City shooting school, but for whatever reasons, Hank Stevens assumed that Dupont position at Youngs Pier in early 1916... Fanning went on the road with his Try-Gun, which was probably the best way for Dupont to utilize a man of his skills and celebrity shooting status...

I have always suspected there was a great untapped story with the relationship between Parker Bros and Dupont Powders... I believe (head Parker store guy) Louis Parker and Jack Fanning were probably good pals. And who better to grease with gun favors (like a gratis Parker Try-Gun) than "Jack", an aging pro-shooter and respected shooting instructor who could recommend Parker Bros guns to people at gun clubs all day long... This would be like having Ty Cobb or Babe Ruth hanging out at the ball park telling kids what brand of baseball bats and gloves to buy... A sure thing, money in the bank...

Murph had mentioned an Ithaca single Curtis modified Try-Gun, which may well be the gun that Jack Fanning is sharing with other Dupont reps in the 1915 image below. Also looks like there is another single Try-Gun leaning against the table behind them...

Best, CSL
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http://www.webpak.net/~cslien/1FanningTryGun1915C.jpg
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Chris: I scanned these images from the August, 1926 National Sportsman article by Fanning "Technique of Trapshooting"
It is similar, but longer, than "Trapshooting Hints by Jack Fanning" which appeared in Forest and Stream August, 1921 http://books.google.com/books?id=xUs...AJ&pg=PA356&dq

He looks to be in his 50s, and was shown shooting a Smith

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../381232258.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../381232255.jpg

The gun against the trap house may be a Remington pump, and that could be 'Hank' in the middle leaning over the try gun