Kevin
I remember the Browning. If memory serves me you showed it to me at Pintail during the vintagers a few years back but forgive me if I am crossing timeline..... I have access to the 410 thru a business/acquaintance
the 410 is not skeet choked but is skeet configured.

Bruce
Robin "BIG" Gates's heart was as big as his presence. He will be forever missed. Mike Tracy made the funeral and it was well attended. God Bless and rest our friend. Here is Robin "BIG" Gates and our friend Mark Mclean at Hoffman with the great setter " Shadow Oak Bo".... There you go setter guys!:) Bo was a two time National Champion!

Nuff Said!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The great " SHADOW OAK BO" at the "Drop Zone" Hoffman , N.C.

Shadow Oak Plantation and the ever generous and humble "Mr. Butch"

Shadow Oak Plantation owner Butch Houston is a renowned bird dog man and upland bird hunting enthusiast. He has bred and trained bird dogs as well as guided quail hunts. For the past 40 years he has campaigned pointers and English setters on the major field trial circuits with top professional handlers, primarily dogs competing on the Open All-Age circuit with trainer/handler Robin Gates. No name in the field trial world earns more respect than the name “Gates” as Robin’s father John S. Gates and brother John Rex Gates are both honored members of the Field Trial Hall of Fame. Also in the HOF is Butch’s great champion pointer Joe Shadow from where the name “Shadow” Oak Plantation is derived. Other field trial champions include: Ch. Silky Sullivan, Ch. Live Oaks Bo, Ch. Lady Addition, Ch. Flint Shoals John, Ch. Phillips White Twist, Ch. Law And Order, Ch. Shadow’s Back Talk, Ch. Three Rivers and currently being campaigned, Ch. Shadow’s Next Exit, 2016 Purina Derby of the Year.

Most famous of all, Butch’s English Setter Shadow Oak Bo rocked the field trial world with his back-to-back wins of the most coveted of all, the National Bird Dog Championship in 2013 and again in 2014! No setter had won the grueling three-hour endurance stake held on the Ames Plantation in Grand Junction, TN in 43 years. And no Setter had won back-to-back since the great female Llewellin Sioux won in 1901 and 1902. Bo’s list of field trial championship wins also includes the 2011 Continental Open All-Age Championship run on the prestigious Dixie Plantation, Greenville, Florida. Retired in 2016, Bo now lives a life of luxury at Shadow Oak Plantation.

Old Researcher of course has saved out the auction pictures.

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By the condition, Mr. Stack obviously wasn't out "huntin' the bottoms" with Dave Lien with this gun!!

Robert Stack's Parkers were all different grades. The .410-bore was a DHE, the 28-gauge was a BHE and the 20-gauge was a CHE. Unfortunately I don't have the serial numbers of them.

Chuck: Here are some of the champion dogs mentioned in your Ames Plantation story. These are calendar tops put out by E. I. Du Pont De Nemours Paladin 1951,Sierra Joan 1949,Saturn 1947,Mississippi Zev 1946 Setter,Ariel1945 and 1941,Luminary 1942. I have all the national Champions from 1938 to 1961 and had planned on framing them but you put them away and forget about them. Thomas

couple more

Dave - thanks so much for the pictures! The fact that the .410 bore was not a straight grip was one of Jerry Knight's 'ploys' steering people away from the statement that it wasn't a "real" skeet gun (e.g. straight grip as usually encountered vs. a pistol grip and not bored skeet). Apparently Stack didn't care!! Stack requested and got AH-grade wood on his BHE 28 gauge as part of a sweetheart deal from Remington when he traded in his LC Smith award gun as skeet champion for the Parker which he had always wanted.

Chuck - excellent memory! The .410 is not skeet choked, another downplay factor in Knight's very skillful deflection of potential buyer's interest in the gun. As you will recall, the Grade V Browning was a spectacular gun, even after with the alterations in the stock and Cordy barrel set. Engraved by Gaston Vandermissin in deep relief with dark shaded backgrounds, it was one of the best Superposeds I ever had the privilege of owning and shooting. Choked .027 and .040, it was a killer bunker gun, which Stack loved to shoot.

So many are gone. I worked for Herb Holmes when he was in IL and "Billy" was just a kid. Got to meet John O'Neal Jr, Mr Elhew, and a bunch more as they would pass through headed south stopping at Herbs. They were all gentleman and what knowledge they had....

I learned a great deal, including "some tricks".

Kevin
I will see if I can get the Stack 410 to the Southern.....Its that good. The browning was spectacular and you were grinning like the proverbial Cat!