Fred Kimble??

[John Davis]

Yes he did. And herein lies the genesis of the claim that Kimble "invented" choke boring in shotguns. His first choked bored muzzle loader was a 6 gauge Tonks. In 1879, J. W. Long published the revised and enlarged edition of his 1874 book, American Wild Fowl Shooting. In this edition, Long includes his version of the discovery of choke boring. Long tells the story of the wager he had with his good friend Fred Kimble to see who could come up with the closest shooting gun. When Kimble saw the results of the gun Long had found, he wrote to Long and said “Buy that gun, and send it to me sure.” Long did so “and that same act was a means of causing choke-bores to spread, as they never had spread before, even throughout the civilized world.” Long’s reference to “the civilized world” implies that it was Kimble’s gun which was responsible for spreading the word of choke-boring across the Atlantic. Joseph Long was an agent for Greener shotguns in America. Around 1874, Kimble’s 6-gauge, choke-bored shotgun was sent to W. W. Greener in England for testing and measuring. Thereafter, Greener claimed to have invented choke-boring as we know it today.


Now you've really got me missing EDM.

[Bill Murphy]

John, is that because EDM would dispute your story or just embellish it. Do you have the "For Sale" ad from an early publication, offering the 6 gauge Tonks for sale? I don't know whether I sent you the copy or just a reference.

[John Davis]

Bill, I still remember you scolding the two of us for slapping each other around (with words of course). You were a great referee. I'm sure Ed is now in the great beyond typing up a 200,000 word rebuttal to my last post.

You did share with me the ad for the Tonks gun and as always I greatly appreciate it. John

[Bill Murphy]

Anyone who has any interest in Fred Kimble should search for a copy of one or both of his books devoted to the great Fred Kimble. I reread volume 2 last week, cover to cover.