Vintage Du Pont Powder Advertisement. ?

[Autumn Daze]

Upon further research I don't think that great piece of sporting advertising is the famed Remington Gun Club. This poster is from around 1911/12 Remington opened the Lordship shooting facility in 1920.

[Mike Stahle]

Next question,
Do y'all think any of those fine well dressed people
were shooting a Damascus or twist barrel with that
new fangled DuPont smokeless powder?

[Old and Reliable]

If I had been Mr. Baldwin I would have told that "Prima-Donna-Senora"- Si usted quiere la paloma muerta, pues- employeda su escopeta y cartogas"> Killdeer are protected species- talk about being a spoiled lady- to order him to shoot a nesting bird- if that killdeer was such a problem, then close that field and move to another and repeat the last 25 targets- Another reason why, IMO- shooting is a gentleman's sport- live birds in KY and TN in my Granddad's day sure were- just like the saloons before that stupid Volstead Act foisted upon a thirsty America by the likes of Carrie Nation--

I have a portfolio of Hy Watson's work- and the 1911 trap shooting scene, whether at Lordship, Dukeship, Baronship or even Earlship is indeed his masterful brush strokes-- "Uncle Dupey" did indeed own Remington Arms at one time- not so today--

As to the lad who broke 2/3's of 25 clays at 16 yards with his single shot .22- I believe that. The late USMC legend Gunny Carlos N. Hathcock of rural AK- grew up dirt poor and hard working- he was give a Stevens single shot .22 at age eight- fed the family on squirrels, rabbits, and later on ducks and quails he shot "On The Wing" in the head- he had 20/10 or better vision when he entered the USMC in 1959- and shot a record 248/250 with the M-1 Garand on the Parris Island MCRD rifle range (see the Kubrick movie- "Full Metal Jacket"--) when Carlos was 12, a neighbor gave him a 20 gauge Iver Johnson hammer shotgun-and he was head shooting birds on the wing with that, but went back to the .22, as the shells were cheaper and he damaged less eating meat with the little rifle- Show me a farm boy who can keep the larder filled with wild game with a single shot weapon- and I'll show you what we call in my USMC- A "Dinger"!!

[Dean Romig]

Similar story - My first year at deer camp I stood watching as my Dad and Uncle Jack took turns shooting a can tossed out over the field in front of camp and they hit it almost every time. Uncle Jack asked if I wanted to try it and I said "Sure". He handed me the rifle and a .22 Long and told me to call it when I was ready. I said "Okay" and he threw the can into the air... Their jaws dropped when I hit it the first time. They finally let on that they were using .22 shotshells. It was luck, I'm sure but I felt pretty good about it.

[Jack Kuzepski]

That print "Shooting Off A Tie" is one of the prints offered for sale by Double Gun Journal. The other one entitled "The Sportsman" I've yet to see.

Jack Kuzepski

[Researcher]

By 1911, smokeless shotgun powders had been in use for 35 years. DuPont Bulk smokeless powder was far from "new fangled" in 1911!! I doubt one saw many competitive shotgun shooters using black powder much after the early 1890s. By 1911, black powder shotgun shells were for the poor sharecropper/sod buster who had moved up to a breechloader from a bored out Civil War musket muzzleloading shotgun for his pest control and putting food on the table chores.

[Dean Romig]

I'd guess a lot of shooters were still shooting Damascus barrels with smokeless powder. Fluid-pressed steel barrels had been around for more than fifteen years at that time but not everybody bought the hype that damascus barrels were dangerous with the "new" smokeless powders. Sure, some had bought new guns with fluid steel barrels and some had even sent their Damascus barreled guns back to be rebarreled.

[AmarilloMike]

There are and were Damascus barrel guns marked "Nitro" from the factory. And of course most of the English Damascus guns I have seen have been reproofed to nitro.

[Researcher]

Manufacturers didn't come up with this "Damascus and Twist barrels are dangerous with smokeless powder" scam, until after progressive burning smokeless powders were introduced to shotgun shells with Western Cartridge Co.'s Super-X loads in the 1920s. All my Remington Arms Co. catalogues, from the years Remington Hammerless Doubles were in production, state they were guaranteed to handle all black and nitro powder factory loaded shells.

I have never seen any solid information on the presures developed by the various smokelss powders used in American shotshells from say 1890 to the early 1920s -- bulk - DuPont, E.C., Schultze, Hazard; dense - Ballistite, Shotgun Riflelite, Walsrode, Laflin & Rand Infallible, etc.

[Drew Hause]

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