Widgeon Duck Club guns

[Bill Murphy]

Phil Carr's letter is interesting. Boston area dealers Iver Johnson and Orren R. Dickey ordered more than a couple 3" chambered 32" 20 gauges. My old 153,333 was ordered at eight pounds to shoot 1 ounce loads. My present #2 frame 32" 20 also is chambered for 3" shells. Both of those guns came from Orren R. Dickey.

[Researcher]

In the letter for 177597, "Iver" is misspelled. Ivar is a well known Seattle seafood restaurant.

[Setter Man]

This is the 20 ga VHE "Big D" referenced earlier. It has a fair amount in common with the infamous "Widgeon Club Guns." It's a #1 frame, 20 ga VHE, with 32" barrels choked F(.38) and F (.41), chambers are 2-7/8", straight stock and is DOES have a safety.

Mr. Conrad sent a note along with the letter indicating it was the first time he had seen the same gun sold twice. As you can see from the letter it was originally sold in April 1917 chambered for 2-1/2" and 2-3/4" shells to Cline and Cline in LA and again in October of 1917 with 2-7/8" chambers to a gentleman in San Francisco. Given the configuration and the location it was surely used for ducks along that flyway. Weight is 6-lb, 12-oz.



Note on the photo of the barrel flats "22" is stamped on the left flat. A repair code, perhaps when the chambers were lengthened?

[George M. Purtill Member #28]

[QUOTE=Jay Gardner;180627] Given the configuration and the location it was surely used for ducks along that flyway. Weight is 6-lb, 12-oz.
QUOTE]

But they didn't have those nice TALL LL Bean hunting shoes out in California.

[charlie cleveland]

even this gun was ordered with 2/3/4 inch chambers and the 20 ga shells were only 2 1/2 inch at this time...in 1917 the guy that ordered this gun was maybe loading his own shells for primed empty hulls could be ordered in up to 3 inch in 1917 at that time...charlie

[Researcher]

even this gun was ordered with 2/3/4 inch chambers and the 20 ga shells were only 2 1/2 inch at this time...in 1917 the guy that ordered this gun was maybe loading his own shells for primed empty hulls could be ordered in up to 3 inch in 1917 at that time...charlie

While the 2 1/2 inch 20-gauge shell was the North American "standard" shell in that gauge, 2 3/4, 2 7/8 and 3-inch 20-gauge shells were available. In the 20-gauge, the maximum loads offered in the "standard" 2 1/2 inch case were 2 1/4 drams of bulk smokeless powder or 18 grains of dense smokeless powder such as Ballistite or infallible pushing 7/8 ounce of shot. In the 2 3/4 inch and longer 20-gauge cases one could get 2 1/2 drams of bulk smokeless powder or 20 grains of Ballistite or Infallible pushing that same 7/8 ounce of shot a bit faster.





These were the shells for the famous Hanford and Widgeon Duck Club Parker Bros. 3-inch 20-gauge guns and the J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co.'s No. 200 pump.

[Craig Larter]

Dave: How about these 3" 20ga shells. I would guess being from California they were used.

[Researcher]

Originally Posted by Craig Larter

Dave: How about these 3" 20ga shells. I would guess being from California they were used.

Great box of shells. I love that they give the actual wadding on the label, "Thin Grease Proof and 3 Black Edge" --





Truly a custom load, UMC wads in a U.S. Cartridge Co. AJAX case with Schultze powder and Selby shot.

The Remington - UMC boxes of long 20-gauge shells I have or have seen just have a "Special Wadding" label --



From some of the old west coast shoot reports in my archives, it seems the big ammo companies in the east shipped a lot of NPEs out west to be loaded by local companies of which Selby in California was certainly the largest. California Powder Works was another large one. Honeyman Hardware in Portland, Piper & Taft in Seattle, Hardy Hall in Seattle, Miller Bros. in Tacoma and Ware Bros. here in Spokane.

[charlie cleveland]

nice shells...these are hard to come by for sure....charlie

[Spin Drift]

I have a three inch 20 also, it is a GHE, ball grip, 30" PST tubes, splinter on a 2 frame, SN 157187. The pic is the ass end of a "2" frame next to a "0" frame set of barrels. Sort of looks like a .600 Nitro Express. Maybe we can start a 2 frame 20 club.