CHECKERED BUTTSTOCKS

[Bill Murphy]

Dean, you have to tell us the particulars of the gun you picture. General Billy Mitchell's CHE 12 with 28" barrels on the #1 frame has a checkered wood butt.

[Mark Conrad]

Checkered butts are rare. The Wagner AAHE has a checkered butt. This gun is pictured in the last Parker Pages with Kevin and Bill looking it over. The order says no butt plate. I have also seen orders that say no steel plate. I have not seen an order that just says checker the butt. Bill is right, the stock book copies we have will not show the butt treatment. I am told the original stock book has a block for information that would include special order stuff. One Clark Gable gun had his name in that block.

Checkered butts are popular in England so the LOP can be shortened easily. Kirk Merrington and I have discussed this at length. Wm Wagner sold lots of British guns and that is why his gun probably came with a checkered butt. Note, I have only seen this in the order books and they end December 31, 1919.

Mark

[Bill Murphy]

William Wagner of Washington, DC special ordered quite a few guns with "No butt plate". I always assumed he would install recoil pads at a lower price than the factory charged. Maybe some of Wagner's special orders were not for a specific person and he wanted to be able to modify them for the eventual owner. Wagner was a gunsmith as well as a retailer. By the way, the "Wagner Gun" that Mark describes is a gift to Wagner from Parker Brothers in appreciation for his high volume sales of Parkers.