Ornate Shooting Trophy
 

Interesting ornate trophy. Also, the Field and Stream page mentions the use of smokeless powder in 1892. There is a popular misconception that pre 1900 guns were for use with blackpowder only. We regularly get questions here concerning whether they can use smokeless powder with their early guns. Smokeless powder became commonly used in the 1890's, this F & S mention being only another verification of such use.

It would be interesting to find this trophy now.

wow - that one is not off the shelf

Great trophy. Thanks for posting.

I've been speaking out against the old "black powder only" myths for some time.

Is it true that in that era the powder would have been "Bulk Smokeless" and loaded by volume the same as black powder?

Dave I believe the answer is yes and no depending on when the "Non Bulk" nitro powders came out. Some were existence by 1911 as seen below. Since most shotgun powders were bulk but a few were not by 1911, no wonder some guys most likely overloaded their guns using bulk measures with non bulk powders and with possibly catastrophic results. Looks to be a darn confusing time to be a shotshell reloader and a time with much less communication of information than is available today in addition to greater illiteracy.

""Infallible Smokeless Powder".....21 grains of "Infallible" Powder equaled 3 drams, 24 and 25 grain loads were recommended for field and trapshooting." Made by Laflin & Rand, then Dupont, then Hercules, then Alliant and now ATK. (Powder is now called Unique).

""Ballistite Smokeless Shotgun Powder" - "Whereas one avoirdupois pound of black powder will load 85 "three dram loads", 4f oz. of Ballistite smokeless will also load 85 shells with "24 grain loads, i.e. 24 grains is equal to a '3 dram load" of black powder"

""Dupont Smokeless" A bulk shotgun powder. "The recommended load for 12-gauge guns are 2f to 3j drams by measure, put in the shell with 25-30lb pressure and 1^ to 1^ oz of shot."

""Hazard Shotgun Smokeless", whose manufacture has now been discontinued is a small brick red grain bulk nitrocellulose powder."

""E.C. Improved Shotgun Smokeless" is an orange colored bulk nitrocellulose powder...."

""New Schultze" is a hard grain smokeless bulk shotgun powder.." Made by Dupont

""Empire Smokeless Shotgun Powder" is a dark grey granular bulk... In 12-gauge guns the loads run from 2-2 to 3j drams."

""King's Semi Smokeless Powder".....it is a bulk powder, the best results obtained by an ordinary primer such as used for starting black powder"

All information taken from Edward Wordens book "Nitrocellulose Industry" dated 1911

Oddly enough it appears that "Infallible Smokeless Powder" was later renamed "Unique" and was introduced to the market in 1898 along with some other Powders one of them being Bullseye.

"Page from a 1996 Reloader’s Guide, immediately after Hercules sold their smokeless powder business to Alliant.

The Infallible/Unique powder in this jar was actually manufactured at Laflin & Rand’s Pomton Lakes (Haskell, New Jersey) plant about 25 miles northeast of Kenvil, New Jersey. The jar still exists in 2007 and was moved to Alliant’s New River plant in Radford, Virginia. Originally, there were two of these jars, but one of them has not been seen in many years. The label on the front reads, “ Unique Smokeless Powder This powder was placed in water on

June 26, 1899.
Renewed: August 13, 1917
August 6, 1981 ”

If you read the article below it is fasinating, they have taken the powder from 1899, dried it out, loaded it and obtained excellent results.

http://www.castpics.net/subsite2/Gen...-Smokeless.pdf

Thanks Pete for the lesson. Printed and saved....:)

Dave I think it is proof that non bulk nitro powders were developed and used at a time when composite barrels were the norm and black steel in it's infancy, very late 1890's. If non bulk and bulk shotgun powder were being sold concurrently and they were, then I could see some blowups occuring from using the old tried and true powder dipper with non-bulk powder. Shell development changed again in the early 20's with the advent of the Super-X heavier loadings. So the real crux of the matter is that if your dam or twist Parker is in good sound condition and you load your shells to pressures and velocities for that time period you don't have anything to fear. One could in theory load paper cases using Unique powder with nitro cards and filler wads and have a pretty true to period shell.

Interestingly enough Unique is a double based powder (vs single based like SR7625 and SR4756).

"Unique (introduced 1900, still produced today), initially produced by Laflin & Rand, absorbed by Du Pont in 1902, given to Hercules in the 1914 anti-trust settlement. By Sharpe's words: one of the best of the entire Hercules line for mid-range use in the military rifle family or the so-called Sporting Rifle type such as 30/30, 3855 etc... one of the most useful and flexible powder a reloader can have available. A disc powder (.060" diam x .005" thick). RQ is 300. "

http://www.gmdr.com/lever/pistolpowi.htm

I don't suppose that that trophy could be tracked down? It is quite unique and should be found in some collection. David

I don't have much in the way of ammunition catalogues for the 1890s, but my 1893 Chas. J. Godfrey catalogue offers UMC shells factory loaded with Schultze, E.C. and a powder refered to as S.S. All were bulk. According to Stadt, Winchester provided smokeless powder shotshells to "selected" shooters in 1893 and began offering them to the general public in 1894. My 1894 Chas. J. Godfrey catalogue agrees, as it offeres both UMC and Winchester nitro powder shells, with the Winchesters offered with Schultze, E.C., S.S. and American Wood. By my 1895 Chas. J. Godfrey catalogue DuPont Bulk has joined the offerings. By my September 1897 Chas. J. Godfrey catalogue, dense smokeless powders, Walsrode and Gold Dust are being offered in UMC "Acme" shells.

My earliest ammo company catalogue is a 1903 UMC, and by that time the dense smokeless powders being offered were Laflin & Rand Infallible, Shotgun Rifleite, Walsrode and Ballistite. In that 1903 catalogue, pink Nitro Club shells were loaded with medium charges of bulk smokeless powder; yellow Nitro Club shells were loaded with medium charges of dense smokeless powders; salmon colored Arrow shells and green Trap shells were loaded with bulk smokeless powders and maroon Arrow shells were loaded with dense smokeless powders. By that catalogue, the maroon UMC Acme shell was being offered as a primed empty for loading with dense smokeless powders, the equivalent of the maroon Arrow loaded shell. The UMC Expert was the primed empty equivalent of the green Trap loaded shell, and the salmon color UMC Magic was the primed empty equivalent of the salmon color Arrow loaded shell. Similarly the pink UMC Challenge and the yellow UMC Monarch were the primed empty equivalents of the loaded Nitro Clubs.

A lot of those trophys were sterling silver and very heavy, I'd say during times when silver got high many of them went to the smelter. Same reason you so seldom find E. Howard keywind watches in their original case. When keywinds became out of date, for many years, the cases were worth more than the watch. It's getting that way again today I'm sad to say. I just heard of a 14k railroad watch being scrapped because it was worth more in gold than as a watch.


Destry

I would guess that these trophys were awarded back when fine shooting was "respectable"

I don't find early trophies of much interest unless I can tie the trophy to a "winner". That research is not easy, even if the date and location of the shoot is engraved. Without a shooter's name engraved, the task of identifying the "winner" is difficult.

What are the Odds???...
 

There's only one thing I could imagine being better than a printed image of an "ornate shooting trophy" in a 1892 F&S publication, and that would be an original old photo from the same time period showing an early (identified) live bird shooter standing with his long barreled Parker next to an identical "ornate shooting trophy" he had won in competition... What are the odds of such an interesting and unique old Parker related photo like the one I've described actually surviving the test of time and still being around a 100+ years later?... Probably about the same odds as finding Jack Fanning's long lost Parker/Curtis Try-Gun hidden under the mattress of an old gun hoarding curmudgeon in the Maryland area.:D... Some folks might consider the above statement a long-shot, but those in the know would call it a sure-thing when making a serious money bet...;)

Best, CSL
_________________________
.

I donated a book to the Silent Auction last year in Louisville which was the "History of Trap Shooting in Missouri from 1887" or some such title. In any case, there were some great pictures of awards and trophies in that book with the names of the shooters to whom they were awarded. Maybe the buyer of that book will step forward and possibly answer some questions.

CSL, can`t help with Mr Fannings parker but I do own a nice orignal cabinet card of a young F.D. Kelsey standing with one of the largest silver trophies
I have ever seen...

RD

Some plates from the book I mentioned earlier in this thread.



.

20 Years of Trapshooting in Missouri... and the Kansas City Star Cup. Won and retired by the great JAR Elliott more times than any other shooter. Great
book filled with information and shooting matches from well known shooters.. 1878-1898.

RD

--------------------------

RD, That would be a great Cabinet photo, I'd like to see it sometime... I also have a few original images of Kelsey... If memory serves, Frank as a young boy was a drummer during the Civil War conflict, and he continued to be a high percentage shooter well into his later years... As for Jack Fanning's Parker Try/Gun, I know where it is...

Best, CSL
__________________________________
.

CSL.. I`ll have to take a pic to email for your viewing. Also have his last
Grand American trophy.

RD

Gents,
With regards to the Forest & Stream "ornate shooting trophy" shown at the beginning of this thread, Some folks might enjoy taking a close look at their 2010 Parker Pages Summer issue and be pleasantly surprised with what they find on the front cover...;)

Best, CSL
__________________________
.

-------------------------------------------------

Randy, PM sent...

CSL
__________________________
.

For those that don't have it, here is the cover page mentioned. Click on it for a better, closer view.

Bindlestiff, CSL, great photo... Thanks for sharing!


Trap3