Fun with Twenties

[John Davis]

No doubt. But the question remains. Why would a trap shooter back in the day want one any more than a trap shooter would want one ( for practical reasons) today?

[Bill Murphy]

Back in the day, just like today, trapshooting was and is not all competition for money or prizes. I have researched a bunch of trap guns whose owners don't show up in Interstate Association, American Trapshooting Association, or Amateur Trapshooting Association records, or show 100 birds and none afterward. Many shooters in the very early days of competitive trap and flyer events, many shooters used twelve gauge guns when tens were legal.

[John Davis]

Agreed. Kimble was a 10 gauge guy, only once they banned his choke bored 6 gauge muzzle loader. And Carver was a 12 bore gentleman, when 10's ruled the day. But, there's a pretty big difference between a 10 Vs 12 and a 12 Vs 20. Today the Parker 20 gauge SBT is a rare and valuable find that any Parker collector worth his salt would die to have as a part of their collection. But back in the day, it was an expensive novelty. So, who was the guy who first owned her? He had to be a fascinating character. As is her present owner

[John Davis]

As an afterthought. I wonder what Dr. Truitt's scores are 10 ga. Vs 12 ga.?

[Researcher]

A while back, Walter Snyder did an article in The Double Gun Journal on a 20-gauge Ithaca SBT made for the shooting school on the pier in Atlantic City. Could the Parker SBT 20s be for that too?

[Bill Murphy]

Funny you should ask, John. As you know, I never let a trap gun remain without provenance. One of my twenties was ordered by William Coleman Bristol, in 1917. He was the U.S. District Attorney for Portland, Oregon. It is described in an article in the Winter 2016 Parker Pages by my friend, Frank Halsey, who owned it before me. I discovered the gun in a letter from another owner addressed to Dick Baldwin at Remington, inquiring about its history. Dick or his daughter gifted me a file of letters that were written to Remington over the years by Parker owners. I discussed the gun with Frank at a Southern Side by Side over dinner after it appeared in an auction catalog. He outbid me at that auction, but later consigned it to Julia's Auction when he became ill. I had the full file of correspondence and provenance for some years, and gifted it to Frank after he bought the gun. Frank was a serious trap gun collector.
My second twenty was discovered on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, being shot in ATA competition by H. Earle Cooper from Chestertown. He is presumed to be using the second barrel, a twelve gauge 32" barrel numbered to the gun. The 234,000 series gun is too late for order book entry, but is assumed to have been ordered by Marine Corps Colonel R.M. Cutts, because it has a Cutts Compensator mounted. Colonel Cutts spent a lot of time in the Maryland, D.C. area and is mentioned in Parker order books pre-1934. He was apparently experimenting with his compensator on the 20 gauge barrel. One order book entry mentions Colonel Cutts ordering a 26" single trap if I recall correctly. The short barrel was for the installation of one of his compensators. He also ordered Ithaca trap guns to experiment with his compensator. At least part of his son's estate was sold in Maryland in the 1970s at Sloan's Auction in my home town, Rockville, MD. His son, R.M. Cutts lll, was a Marine Corps Brigadier General. Unfortunately, I never saw any gun related items at the auction house. However, when I was in my teens, I saw a Cutts equipped Ithaca Knick in the front window of Tendler's Sales, a D.C. pawn shop. It was a throwaway gun, priced at about $125. This was probably one of the Ithacas mentioned by Walt Snyder

[Bill Murphy]

Researcher, neither of my 20 gauge traps have any connection with the Dupont Shooting School. A fellow you and I know owns a third 20 gauge Parker single trap and I know nothing about the history of his gun. I don't know who owns #4 and #5.

[Jeff Christie]

Bill— When I was a kid in Camp Springs MD in the Fifty’s a friend of mine and I would skip school (Surratsville JS High School) and ride the bus into the District and go to Griffith Stadium and watch the Senators lose another game. It was mandatory that we stop at Tendlers (9th and E?). I found a great P08 there that I had my father buy. I still have it. Great place. He bought a Lefever trap gun there as well.

[Dean Romig]

Originally Posted by Bill Murphy

Researcher, neither of my 20 gauge traps have any connection with the Dupont Shooting School. A fellow you and I know owns a third 20 gauge Parker single trap and I know nothing about the history of his gun. I don't know who owns #4 and #5.

Wasn't a certain (1 of 1) 18 gauge Parker associated with the Dupont Shooting School ?






.

[Bill Murphy]

I remember the article on the 18 gauge, but I don't remember what connection it had.