Another Widgeon lands in Montezuma

[Mark Kircher]

A short time ago I acquired #159075 the 1st of the 8 Widgeon Duck Club guns. It was assigned to J.N. Young. The PGCA letter I commissioned was the first to be done on this gun. I suspect the gun never left the Visalia, California area for its entire life as it resurfaced not far from there before making its way to me.

The gun is not without concerns. It has literally been “rode hard and put away wet”. The barrels have pitting both inside and out (measured twice and deemed safe). The original wood is lost. The straight grip restock is not of high quality – American walnut lacking drop points and coarse checkering patterns - a beavertail forend was created. The barrel reblue is not pretty. The good news is the metal is in decent condition (pics 1&2) save some blemishes. The screws are mostly unmolested and or salvageable. It’s all there. It’s still a Widgeon Duck Club gun! It is not near the condition of the J.A. Hannah (8th of 8) gun but I am proud to have it.

Moving forward I will have some decisions to make - as I am one to accept (even appreciate) more battle scars than some, I may not do much to it at all. The wood is my primary concern as the LOP is a bit short and it should have a splinter forend. I would really like to find some Parker 1 frame straight grip wood to fit this gun. I know it is unlikely but I will post and ad under “Wanted to buy” and hope to get lucky.

I will hunt the gun at Vanderbilt this fall. I suspect with low pressure Bismuth as it may not be a great idea to run the hotter Kent Matrix through this one. Hopefully I will report back soon with ducks in the pictures. Our season starts in mid October this year. This should prove to be quite useful on early teal, widgeon, and gadwall.

Also – The barrels and forend from #163962 – The J.A. Hannah WDC gun fit on #159075 perfectly. (pic 3)