D Grade Engraving Question

[Rod N. Gunn]

It seems like most D Grade hammerless guns have pheasants on the floor plate as do all the Repro D grades. I came across this 1907 gun with ducks (at least I think they are ducks) on the floor plate. Is this unusual? noteworthy? significant?... or even interesting?

[MarketHunter]

My #2 frame DHE has ducks really similar to that, unfortunately, my #3 frame of the same style has pheasants or grouse or whatever those things are. Wouldn't you think that on what's obviously a duck gun they'd put ducks?

The engraving doesn't matter though, it still kills ducks just fine. I shot some with it Saturday and they didn't know the difference.

DLH

[Austin W Hogan]

The early hammerless DH grades had a dog flushing a bird on the floorplate; Remington resumed this on the last few hundred guns. There are also some periods noted when outside engravers did DH floorplates. I would say that the deviation from the standard four winged somethings is a plus.

Best, Austin

[10ga Hammer]

Destry I feel your pain. My 1903 DH 16ga,26in titanic, choked Im/cyl and Mod, an obvious bird gun, would look great with pheasants or grouse on the floorplate,but nooo,it's got DUCKS! Go figure!

[Richard Flanders]

My 2-frame DH12 has some kind of upland birds on it... I think. They don't look like ducks to me.... but what do I know?

[Dean Romig]

Very generally speaking, three ducks or sharptails or pheasants on the floorplate are found on a GH while four gamebirds are found on the floorplate of a DH. I've seen five birds on CH and BH guns but I've never seen six birds on the floorplate of a Parker. This is not to say they don't exist...

[Don Kaas]

My new DH 8 gauge has 4 ducks on the floorplate and (unusually) ducks on each of the sidepanels in place of the traditional setter and pointer. With its 9lb 2oz D3 barrels it is not a quail gun so for this I am grateful...

[Double Play]

Here are a couple of examples of D engraving from various periods. I believe the oversized ducks are what we commonly refer to as flying turnips. The only one I would consider really nice is the one with two pheasants on the ground and two in the air.

[Rod N. Gunn]

Waterfowl must have been quite plumb at the beginning of the last century. Thanks for the pictures Larry.

[Dean Romig]

Larry, those "turnips" must have been launched from a catapult - no way they could have gone aloft under their own power

Fortunately they are the figment of someone's weird imagination or sense of humor . . . looks like Shel Silverstein's work