Chambers, Bores and Chokes of 31088 "Bo-Whoop"
 

Going through more of Austin's archives again last night I found the measurements he took of Bo-Whoop's barrels while it was at James D. Julia's several years ago when it was auctioned.


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Thanks for posting that, Dean. Bo Whoop has been of great interest to me since about 2003, when I first began to read Buckingham's books. I was uniquely privileged to spend an hour with the gun in Savannah, GA a couple months before the owner sent it to Julia's for auction. A friend of a friend set the meeting up at his office on a rainy October day.

When we scheduled the meeting I immediately called Dave Noreen and we spent considerable time discussing the gun, it's potential to be the real deal, and what i should look for, as far as originality. I measured the bores, chokes, chambers, barrel length, etc. before lastly hefting the old warrior to my shoulder.

As i looked down the rib I thought to myself "I'm shaking the hand that shook the hand". I was keenly aware that I was seeing the very same barrel view that Nash saw so many times, as a greenhead crumpled in mid-air above the cypress tops. To say I was excited would be a gross understatement. My heart felt like it was going to leap from my chest.

Bo Whoop and me:

https://www.jpgbox.com/jpg/62215_800x600.jpg

SRH

I'm confused (which is sort of a normal state for me). My understanding is that the opriginal Bo Whoop was lost, or fell ff the roof of the car or ??. Presumably, this gun is the second gun Nash used. Was it also called Bo Whoop? Is it an exact copy of the original gun?

This is the one that was lost. It was sold over 60 years ago to a gentleman from Savannah, with the wrist broken, for $50. It sat in a closet for about 50 years in it's broken state. The owner died and left it to an heir, who commissioned Jim Kelly, a fine gunsmith in Darlington, SC to restock it (buttstock only). Jim read the serial number, did a little research and "put the pieces together". He did the restock and the new owner (the heir) took it home. It stayed there for another couple years until he decided to commission Julia's to auction it and see what it would bring. The rest is history.

There was much conjecture at the time that it was a counterfeit, mostly by people who were more enamored with the story of it being lost than they were with it being found. Hogan, and Julia's pronounced it as the real deal, and we all know what it brought when the hammer fell.

SRH

It's a long and convoluted story but this gun is the "real deal" for certain. It has been restocked twice (this is its third stock) but it is the original Bo-Whoop.

There has been a lot of discussion on various Internet forums and even a couple here.
I searched by serial number 31088 .

http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthr...ighlight=31088


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Nash's second "Bo Whoop" is in the Ducks Unlimited museum. As I understand it, the first one is there too.

Are the two guns identical?

It’s doubtful John. Would Becker have bored the replacement?





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They are not identical. According to sources, Becker was beyond his best years when he was contracted to build the second gun, not even getting the straight grip stock right. The second gun has a pistol grip. I'm not sure whether the receiver finish was close to identical.

The original Bo-Whoop is an Ansley H. Fox HE Special with XE-Grade wood and engraving. It is pictured in its original XE livery in the original Derrydale edition of Ole' Miss.

Attachment 91989

Here it is with the ebony tip of the original forearm missing --

Attachment 91992

and here it is with the Burt Becker restock to more closely match Nash's gun of the Henry Bartholomew pair.

Attachment 91991

A.H. Fox Collectors Association table at Las Vegas 2010 --

Attachment 91993