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

I stated that the gun sat in it's broken state in a closet for 50 years, because that is how it was explained to me that day. There was another buttstock accompanying it. This one, which is not the original the gun was built with.

https://www.jpgbox.com/jpg/62218_600x400.jpg

https://www.jpgbox.com/jpg/62219_600x400.jpg

https://www.jpgbox.com/jpg/62221_600x400.jpg

It may have been on BW when it was delivered to Jim Kelly for restocking, but that was not what was told to me. I will be visiting Jim in the near future, and will ask him if the gun was delivered to him broken, or with this other stock in place.

SRH

More data on AH FOX # 31088 is shown here in a few of Austin Hogan’s chamber, bore, and choke graphs that are in my possssiin.


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As 31088 was originally built for Nash, it was an HE-grade with XE stock and forearm and XE engraving.

Attachment 122444

Note that the card states, "Chamber 3" Shell for #4 Chilled Shot." Western Cartridge Co. didn't introduce the Lubaloy shot until two years after Bo Whoop was built. This is the shell 31088 would have been targeted with --

Attachment 122448

Attachment 122449

Attachment 122450

Bo Whoop was pictured in its original state in the Derrydale edition of Ole Miss.

Attachment 122445

In this picture it appears to be in its original A.H. Fox Gun Co. livery with the black forearm tip missing.

Attachment 122446

My supposition is that Nash had Becker restock 31088 to match his Henry Bartolomew gun the lower one in the picture above. In this picture it sports a Becker forearm and stock --

Attachment 122447

likely the now broken stock.

As for the "ten Pound" that is a big problem with Nash Buckingham writing that he never allowed exact facts to get in the way of a good story,

Why is the original Bo Whoop not considered to be stolen property?

Because it was lost by Buckingham’s own carelessness and the fact that it was found and not returned to the ‘unknown’ owner does not constitute theft. Maybe a failure of morality at best.





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As I understand it Buck was compensated for the gun by some insurance company that is long defunct. Hence when the gun came to the surface any claim to it reverted to that long gone insurance company.

That information is in Nash's letter to John Bailey dated Dec.2, '48, on page 37 of the book Nash Buckingham's Letters to John Bailey.

I suspect my providing that information to Jim Julia greased the skids for us to have Bo Whoop at our A.H. Fox Collectors Association table in Las Vegas at the winter 2010 show.

Attachment 122506

Attachment 122507

I spoke with Jim Julia personally, by telephone, some weeks before the auction about guaranteeing ownership, due to the convoluted story about it's loss. We also spoke about the insurance company's part in potentially wanting it back, since they had paid the claim to Nash.

He told me that they had been through this same kind of thing with insurance companies many times, with other items sent in for auction, and that the company in question in this particular instance didn't seem to be in existence any longer. His final statement about it was that, when Julia's announced the auction date, they would be backing the full ownership of the gun by whoever bought it, 100%. He meant that the onus was on Julia's at that point, and that they stood behind their declaration of a clean title completely.

Stan, I think I had seen that in writing somewhere back then.



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