Quote:
Originally Posted by todd allen
I used to shoot with Don occasionally. Bought a nice BHE from him. I haven't heard anything about Don for some time. Any updates?
|
When Don Criswell was active as a dealer in high grade shotguns (mostly 21's) he also shot skeet competitively and was very good at it. He used a 32" mod. 21 before long barrels gained favor. I shot on his squad for years. I think it was on Thursdays that Jerry Knight would put out all the new arrivals at Kerr's when he worked there. Don and I would always be at the store as early as possible with all the other dealers and collectors to view the new merchandise. Jerry would let some of the dealers, John Kilgore, Mike Weatherby, Bill Moore, Criswell to name a few take the guns home with no more than a handshake and try to sell them on commission. I remember one, a Purdy 20 ga. new in makers case that Kilgore had from Jerry that was offered to me for $5000.00 and I passed. Still lay awake at times just thinking how dumb I was. We won't see the likes of Kerr's and the people who frequented the store ever again. All the people mentioned here have passed away. Don Criswell died last winter 2020. His wife Donna passed about a month before Don. Jerry Knight moved to Minden, Nevada in the early nineties and continued to shoot skeet (mostly .410) and do a little varmint hunting until his passing about 16 years ago. An interesting note, the records from Kerr's may be out there somewhere. They were in bound books and I looked through them when Mike Weatherby had them. It seemed like every movie star from the era was a customer.