doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Baker Gun & Forging PictureTrail

This is a photo of my Baker, with the birds apparently etched and the rest of the lockplate and the frame engraved. I'm told by Buck Hamlin that this was a special order gun, due to the quality of the damascus, the upgraded wood and the number of birds. It has 2 on one side and 3 quail on the other. I have had other people call it a standard A grade, so, who knows. Serial # is 2721 and note the 3 pins.
Gordon
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This is the damascus pattern on Gordon's gun



And this from a Paragon



Very similar if not the same Three Iron Crolle, and a pattern I have not seen used by other makers of that era.

Drew, the top rib has the same pattern as the photo of the Paragon.

Daryl..........how was the etching done by the other makers you spoke about?

The copy of The Baker Gun Quarterly, Volume 5, No. 3, May 1900, I scored off ebay was waiting in the accumulated mail When I got home from Alaska 18 hours late!! There is no nifty cover picture like the issue you showed on The Picture Trail. Eight pages of articles and testimonials on the hammer-block safety, and testimonials on Baker guns in general. One little article on the weights of Trap/Pigeon guns used by the likes of Capt. A.W. Money (8 pounds), C.W. Budd (7 pounds 14 ounces), H.D. Bates (7 pounds 13 ounces), R.O. Heikes (7 pounds 15 ounces), J.S. Fanning (7 pounds 15 ounces), W.R. Crosby (7 pounds 12 ounces), and Col. A.G. Courtney (7 pounds 14 ounces). There was no indication or claim that any of these shooters used a Baker Gun, and I know Capt. Money is normally listed shooting a Parker Bros. and Col. Courtney normally shot a Remington. Several of the others I know pimped for whoever was picking up the tab. At one point in time W.R. Crosby did some fine shooting with a Baker. Nothing really surprising here in that the Pigeon rules of the time limited a gun to 8 pounds.

At this date they only appeared to offer 5 guns -- Model 1897 hammer gun with twist barrels $25 net, Model 1897 Hammer gun with Damascus barrels $27.80 net, the B-Grade with "London Damascus twist" barrels for $35 net, the A-Grade with Fine Four-Blade Damascus barrels $42.75 net, and the Paragon Grade with fine four-blade Damascus barrels with extra fine figure $60 net. There is a half a sentence that eludes to higher priced guns built to special order. They state that they introduced the Paragon about two years ago, but have been so busy with the lower priced guns that they haven't devoted the time and energy they should have in bringing it to the notice of the shooting public. They state that they do not have any Paragon Grade guns in stock and all are made to order requiring 4 to 8 weeks. They state that the normal engraving is scroll, dogs, and game; but could be all scroll, scroll and dogs or scroll and game.

There is some interesting text about the engraving on the B- and A-grades. "The cut of the Baker hammerless gun as shown here was made from one of the regular "B" grade guns picked from our stock on hand and is a fair sample of the engraving we put on these guns. We do not guarantee that every "B" grade gun will be engraved from just the same design but endeavor to have about the same amount of engraving on each. ... You may receive a "B" with a different design of border or a duck or a dog in place of the two quail, or a dog pointing game, we cannot tell as it is our aim to give a variety of designs." So, looks like when they went into inventory to get the gauge, barrel length and stock dimensions you wanted the engraving was a crap shoot.

Ten gauge guns were offered with 30- and 32-inch barrels; 12-gauge guns with 28-, 30- and 32-inch barrels; and 16-gauge with 28- and 30-inch barrels. Choice of grip style was only mentioned with the Paragon, the other four were all round-knob half-pistol grips.

Dave has been incredible gracious in sharing his knowledge and 'stuff' and we'll get that infro, and some pics, added to the PictureTrail.
I expect to receive a re-print of the 1909 Sears fall catalog soon, and will likely have some additions to the 'A.J. Aubrey and Meriden' PictureTrail also.

The article on Bakers in Shooting Times back in 1962 mentions a Baker $100 Pigeon Gun being offered in 1897?!? It supposedly had steel barrels, a straight grip and Pigeons in the engraving. Many of us believe this 10-gauge with 30-inch barrels is such a gun --













If I ever get far enough back in the safe to fetch it out I'll try to do some better pictures.

Lots of great stuff from Dave, and some new neat Baker ads are up http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=17434920

More neat pics from Researcher up!