Captain E.C. Crossman and a .410 Parker

[C.O.B.]

When I was just a lad we would spend every Sunday at the lake sailing. Dad had an 18ft boat that we raced every week. If we finished in time (depending on the wind) perhaps we would go skiing or tubing behind a members speed boat.

My brother and I were the crew on the sailboat and we often asked dad why we had a sailboat and not a cool ski boat. His reply went something like this "Any damn fool can run a power boat up and down a lake. A sailboat takes a fair degree of skill"

The small bores are my sailboats. A 25 at skeet with a 12 is one thing its quite different IMHO with a 410 or 28. When and If I ever get a Parker 410 it will be the second happiest day in my life. I say the second because the first will have been winning the lottery.

I learned also to love sailing- summer camp up in Northern MI. Ice boating is also a real thrill.

In another issue of the National Sportsman I bought, the back page shows actor John Barrymore at his private skeet range, tweed shooting coat and possibly a Model 21 (1934 issue) and the No. 4 peg. His stance is very wide, but if it worked for him, sure. Waiting his turn, and with what might be a Rem M11 with recoil pad and a Cutts Comp. is a young but dapper Clark Gable. The article mentioned that Gable shot four rounds with his host Mr. Barrybore- scoring 6/25, 8/25, 11/25 and finally 12/25. That was with the 12 gauge.

I can see the challenge for the skeet shooters in using a .410, where I believe a visible chip from the clay counts as a dead bird on the score sheet. However, in the field, where the name of the game is dead birds and minimum crippling losses, I am with the late Mr. Buckingham 100%.
I believe he wanted pumps and autoloaders and .410's banned for waterfowling, and not the 8 gauges.