Parker with gold Inlay

[Drew Hause]

Chris: I scanned these images from the August, 1926 National Sportsman article by Fanning "Technique of Trapshooting"
It is similar, but longer, than "Trapshooting Hints by Jack Fanning" which appeared in Forest and Stream August, 1921 http://books.google.com/books?id=xUs...AJ&pg=PA356&dq

He looks to be in his 50s, and was shown shooting a Smith





The gun against the trap house may be a Remington pump, and that could be 'Hank' in the middle leaning over the try gun

[CSL]

Originally Posted by Drew Hause

Chris: I scanned these images from the August, 1926 National Sportsman article by Fanning "Technique of Trapshooting"
He looks to be in his 50s, and was shown shooting a Smith

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Drew that's a good one, I remember running across that article a few years ago, Murph and I were debating over whether or not that was a Smith he is holding... The straight on image you posted of Jack's mug looking directly at the camera was a rare occurrence, as he had this thing about always turning away for a profile shot in photos... Of the 7 or 8 original old photos I have of Fanning at gun clubs and other shooting events, most folks are looking straight ahead, and Jack is looking sideways in all of them...

Best, CSL
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[Drew Hause]

You've no doubt seen this DuPont trade card Chris: Jack Fanning, Tom Marshall, Fred Gilbert, Rolla Heikes and J.A.R. Elliott and all look to be 'seniors'
Elliott retired in 1912 to promote his "Elliott Ear Drum Protector" introduced in 1904

[Bill Murphy]

Chris, you probably have the same reference I do of the Dupont salesmen going on the road with try guns. I think you sent me a copy of the "Dupont Try Gun" article. However Parker GH #158,664 was actually specified to be for the Atlantic City Trapshooting School on the Parker Brothers order. It was to be sent directly to A.P. Curtis, then to Atlantic City. The school may have been promoting a certain brand of shotgun, but it wasn't just Parkers because the Ithacas were marked with big white letters on the stocks as was the Parker VH 20. I believe, as you do, that there were more than one Curtis Parker try gun, but I have never seen one other than #158,664.

[CSL]

Originally Posted by Bill Murphy

Chris, you probably have the same reference I do of the Dupont salesmen going on the road with try guns. I think you sent me a copy of the "Dupont Try Gun" article. However Parker GH #158,664 was actually specified to be for the Atlantic City Trapshooting School on the Parker Brothers order. It was to be sent directly to A.P. Curtis, then to Atlantic City. The school may have been promoting a certain brand of shotgun, but it wasn't just Parkers because the Ithacas were marked with big white letters on the stocks as was the Parker VH 20. I believe, as you do, that there were more than one Curtis Parker try gun, but I have never seen one other than #158,664.

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Bill,
I'm just curious, are you sure about a reference on the Parker Brothers order page to send #158,664 to the Atlantic City Trapshooting School after A.P. Curtis was done with it?... And are you sure it was 1914?...

Perhaps I miss read the Parker Brothers order page, but I did not see any reference to the Atlantic City Trapshooting School, and I thought the date was 1916...

Just want to make sure my information and time-lines are correct...

Best, CSL
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[Bill Murphy]

Chris, you are right. Although the order for #158,664 was December 31, 1914, it was ordered by Dupont, to be sent to A.P. Curtis. No mention was made that it be sent by Curtis to Atlantic City. However, the date of the order was close to the opening of the Steel Pier Shooting School. The date of the article about the Dupont shooters going on the road with try guns was 1917. I think you have that original article. The price of the gun was $60.00, a 25% discount off the normal $80.00 GH price. The order for the VH 20 gauge was 1916. I wish we had order dates and customer information on the Ithacas. The Curtis Lefevers are even more of a mystery.

[Bill Murphy]

Drew mentioned the possibility that the gun leaning in the background may have been a Remington. I looks more like a pump gun than another Smith for sure. Is that Sousa holding the gun?

[CSL]

Originally Posted by Bill Murphy

Chris, you are right. Although the order for #158,664 was December 31, 1914, it was ordered by Dupont, to be sent to A.P. Curtis. No mention was made that it be sent by Curtis to Atlantic City. However, the date of the order was close to the opening of the Steel Pier Shooting School. The date of the article about the Dupont shooters going on the road with try guns was 1917. I think you have that original article.

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Bill, Do you have an actual reference to the shooting school opening in 1914???... From what I have found in research, I believe the Dupont shooting school opened in the early part of 1916 with Hank Stevens...

I'll check on the 1917 article you mentioned... I do have an earlier article from March 1915 where Fanning is educating a group of Dupont reps on the function of the Try-Gun, and then sending those men back to their areas of the country with their own Try-Gun for use at various gun clubs and shooting events...

CSL
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[Bill Murphy]

Chris, my date reference is not too ironclad. It is a dated reference to the school being in its "third year" or some such. I'll look it up.

[Dean Romig]

This is the only picture I can remember seeing of a famous shooter of that era using a glove on his barrel hand.