VHE Trap

[Autumn Daze]

Ya know Pete somehow this is all your fault.......

[C.O.B.]

My trap gun is a DHE on a 1 1/2 frame. 30 inch vent rib, SST, BTF, M/F to a Hawkins pad. I like shooting 5 stand with it, come to think of it thats all I have ever shot with it

How's that Suponski, short and to the point?

[Mike McKinney]

Dave with an SKI on the end of his name has really been helpful to me in regard to some PM questions I have ask him about......but several posts ago I admitted that I really wanted to learn all I could about Parkers and I'm sure seldom knowledgeable enough to give good qualified information about that subject, but I have figured out tonight that you northern boys don't hold back. Maybe that's lesson #2, a southern boy just can't get too distressed about what is said, back and forth, because it comes out just like you think it.

[Autumn Daze]

Perfect Rich...

Mike,Whats that old saying ?...."Discretion is the better part of valor"...Not always...

Originally Posted by Dave Suponski

Ya know Pete somehow this is all your fault.......

- Naw- Dave- you are right. Like some folks who get long in years, I am "long winded" one of my many faults I will confess. But those few who really know me well would tell you that my loyalty towards my friends is unsurpassed (Semper Fi nonwithstanding)- and as I consider you and Dean and others on the PGCA to be friends, I plan to take your considered advice. I'm not here to annoy, if I come across that way, it is unintentional on my end anyway. I guess the computer is such a new novelty for me that sometimes I get carried away. So your words of wisdom will be heeded-

[Bill Murphy]

Austin, some shooters may well prefer light loads, but I wouldn't think that anyone would order a trap gun and be restricted to such loads. As we all know, Parker Brothers bored 2 5/8" chambers for 2 3/4" shells as a standard procedure, confirmed by factory specifications and hang tags.

[C.O.B.]

I wonder why there are more graded trap guns VS skeet guns? The majority of skeet guns are VHE and you seldom find a VHE trap gun.

[Mark Conrad]

One reason is that skeet shooters would shoot different guages and need more than one gun.

Mark

[Austin W Hogan]

I think we have fallen into the trap of what is called in science "aliasing the data"; that is we are assigning physical properties to something by giving that thing a name.
I suggest everyone re read Ken Waite's material in Iron Men of Gundom. Prior to 1910, The GAH, and a lot of other major trap tournaments, were won by shooters using DH Parkers with proper stock dimensions. These had splinter forends, the shooter's choice of grips, perhaps a specified choke, usually "as close as possible" or "tighten", sometimes a specified trigger pull, and the shooter's stock dimensions. There was no trap gun moniker applied.
Charles Newcomb purchased a "stictly stock" DH in 1901 and won many tournaments with it before buying a DHE in 1906. He converted to the single barrel trap gun a few years later, when clay bird tournaments required only one shot. Most other competitors did the same.
DuBray's 1901 table of competitors' Parker stock dimensions shows competitors at major events used barrel lengths 26 - 32 inches and a wide varieties of weights.
The VH(E) 30 inch, F & F two frame, and the M & F 1 1/2 as well, are pretty good trap guns if the gun has your dimensions. I have a VHE two frame, 32 inch, straight grip, monte carlo, btfe, no safety, single trigger that isn't labelled trap gun, and may not have been used at trap 90 years ago, but it has won our local league's A division 6 times.

I think we are around to provenance again; a Parker is a trap gun if it can be tied to use on a trap field. Don't forget that a trapshooter's duck gun might be configured exactly as his trap gun.

Best, Austin

[Autumn Daze]

Austin,A DHE 32" PG,BTF,recoil pad ,single trigger,vent rib,full and full gun that I have possesion of was owned by HH Ganson who was a known CT trap shooter.Also my VHE gun in the same configuration was owned by William Saxby or his father who was a noted trap shooter in the early days.As an aside Saxby was the attorney general under Nixon I believe.I bought the VHE from Mr. Murphy some years back.Both these guns have the provenance that you speak of.

So if I am understanding this correctly you are saying that Parker didn,t make a trap gun unless it can be provenanced to a trap shooter?