Delgrego Trojan? on GB

[CSL]

The BTF looks a bit odd with it's wide uneven shape near the end. I would think "Del Grego" work would be a little more streamlined and closer to original... Perhaps the wood was done by someone else at a later date?

Best, CSL
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[Dean Romig]

Chris, I think you nailed it.

[edgarspencer]

While it may have begun life as a Parker Trojan, at some stage in the hands of it's latest smith, it seems to me that it becomes more the smith, and less the Parker. When a guy takes a small block Chevy V8, and puts it in his '32 Ford pickup, the truck doesn't become a Chevy. Kinda reminds me of the guy who claims to have his grandfathers axe, even though it's had 5 new handles and 4 new heads.

[Bill Murphy]

Someone buy this thing so we can show it to the Del Gregos. Babe will deny that he has ever seen it, even though the metal may have been done in his shop. I would bid a reasonable amount for the gun but for the fact that the inletting needs about a thousand dollars worth of work to get right. Check out the trigger guard and the inside of the forend. Maybe it's a trick of the camera, but I don't think so.

[B. Dudley]

I see that Vintage Gun grips, at least, does make reproductions of the Illion, NY grip caps. Hard to tell if the one on this Trojan is original Remington or a reproduction.

The seller clearly does not know anything about these, that is evident by him stating that the recoil pad may be original. I did drop him a line giving him a bit of information on the gun so that he could at least advertise it more accurately if he wanted.

[Austin W Hogan]

There was a "secure room" behind the shop, at the original Del Grego shop in Ilion. Three BTFE Trojans hung there which were the familie's own hunting guns. There was a story about them being damaged in an auto accident.
Del Grego had a branded pad at the time these guns were made, and a patent on the fore end attachement.

A person from Maine called himself "The Fox Shop" and had a triple table of gun parts at New England shows for years. He had DHBP's , Ilion, and Meriden grip caps through the 1990's,

Ther were three BTFE Trojans for sale at a VT show around 1995. None of these were made by Del Grego.

I think this gun should be looked at as what it is; a very high quality custom gun that is made with some Parker Trojan parts.

Best, Austin

[Bruce Day]

It always bothers me to call these guns "restored", because that means to me that they were returned to original condition. This is an interesting gun using a Trojan barrel and action, but it is restored no more than one of the many custom rifle makers , including Griffin & Howe, Beisen and Garrett, "restores" a Springfield '03 or Mod 70 with their custom work.

With that wood and stockwork, imperfect though the inletting may be, that custom stock had to be costly, and far more costly than the Trojan action and barrels.

[Blind Dog]

A DelGrego Trojan, BTFE and Miller trigger, is pictured on the third plate following p. 175 of EDM's "Old Reliable". It was made for Larry III by his grandfather for his tenth birthday. I have seen the gun and it is really nice, a family heirloom.

[Bill Murphy]

Austin, I still have "stuff" I bought from The Fox Shop. I recently sold a complete 3200 Remington shotgun receiver and forend iron that obviously came from the Remington factory. He probably got his buttplates from Remington also. I also bought some great custom rifle stuff from him, like horn buttplates and European swivels. That wasn't Captain Higgins, was it?

[Austin W Hogan]

It has been 10 plus years since he has been in my area; I can't remember his name, Bill

Best, Austin