Some Opinions From a Shooter of the Time
When I scored a copy of Guns, Ammunition & Tackle by A.W. Money and others, copyright 1904, off ebay, it turned out to be quite interesting. The book had been a gift to S. Bruce Elwell from his twin brother Alcott Farrar Elwell in the summer of 1907. These boys were the sons of the famous sculptor Francis E. Elwell. There were two pages from the April 1908 issue of Recreation containing an article by Charles Askins titled "The Problem of Selecting a Shotgun" pasted in the book as well as a handwritten table of his firearms, along with comments. He had five double barrel shotguns --
1. Remington K-Grade 12-ga 30" - Easy action - hard close shooter - one of the best guns ever. 1902 - 07
2. Parker DHE 12-ga 30" - Handsome gun - easy action - some poor features - (too complicated). 1907 - 08
3. Tobin No. 40E 16-ga 28" -- Very poorly made - cheap in every way - Tobin Co. no good. 1907 - 08
4. Lefever FE 16-ga 28" -- Wonderful little gun - fine simple action - good hang - strong, hard hitter. Oct. 1907 --
5. Sauer - bought Jan. 21, 1909, and he never got around to writing comments about it.
On another page in the book he gave names to some of his guns --
12-ga Sauer - "Dixie"
16-ga Lefever - "Beatrice"
30-40 1895 Mod Winchester - "Col. Farrar"
44 Sp'l S&W - "Louis II"
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