doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com 1930's - 1940's shooting vest

Saw an interesting piece of shooting history today and can't help wondering if I should have brought it home with me.

It was a very nice shooting vest - completely covered in shooting patches. Almost all dated starting in 1939 and runs through 1954. There were patches from Camp Perry, NRA national small bore championships (he won), Detroit Mich. competitions, Mansfield Ohio competitions, ORA state championship patches for every year, there were several others that my memory can't recall as well as the guys leather mitten type shooting glove in one pocket (I'm assuming it was so that the hot barrel didn't burn your hand). The Vest was embroidered with the name "DUKE" on top left.

I don't know a thing about competition rife shooting, but I did think this was a neat piece of history. Any place to research the history to find out who Duke was? The antique shop wanted $75 for the vest and I thought it was worth that just for the vest and glove, let alone 50 neat old patches. If I were into shooting rifles it would be a cool addition to the gun room.

You left it there.?? Smile Whitey

When I see something like that at a Gun Show. I wonder where is all of the other shooting gear this man had accumulated.
Gary Bush

That looks like some pretty neat shooting "stuff". Problem is...I look at that picture and can't I.D. 95% of it. I've probably walked right by a ton of good stuff over the years. I have a hard enough time just trying to keep up on doubleguns that are in my price range. Hell, "my price range" narrows the field quite a bit and it's still hard to keep up.

The glove was to keep from pinching your hand between the sling swivel or hand stop, the stock and the sling. The padded fork keeps your rifle muzzle out of the mud when you put it down in a long prone match. There is a muzzle cover and something that looks like a micrometer for precision adjustment of the ladder sight on a 1903 Springfield. The glasses, stopwatch and scorebook are self evident. Something in that bunch is for blackening the front sight, but I can't spot it. The cartridge thing is probably a bushing for a cleaning rod. Someone else can add to these guesses.

The very bottom item that looks like a metal block with a short tube attached is an old fashioned bore light for reflecting sunlight into the barrel and viewing the state of the bore from the muzzle.

The device is placed into the chamber and the rifle tilted so sunlight shines onto an angled mirror inside the metal block. Similar items are still to be found of Ebay for 303 SMLE rifles, and Martini actioned 303's.

Harry

The cyclindrical brass item in the lower center of the photo is an Alcohol sight blackener, the item on the sunglasses is a Merit Diopter Sight Device for making iron sights clearer by adjusting the iris size,the little aluminum container shaped like a splitshot box, is for front target sight inserts and the long thin silver and black item at the top is a bore guide for cleaning. The item with the orange cord appears to be a homemade pull through cleaning device. The sight adjuster isn't a true O'HARE DEVICE but may be for another gun other than an 1903. The leather item with holes, I believe is an eye sunshade for shooting in the sun and avoiding sight glare [similar to using a nylon hose over a scopes objective by a sniper to avoid sun flare]. At the very top, black with pocket clip, a magnifier to check bullet cuttings and whether they cut the target ring or not. I may be off a tad but by and large, I believe this is pretty close! Jerry

Just a few hints Two items top left are cleaning rod guides top is a Newton next is aP.J. O'Hare
Gary Bush

I was going to forget about this post but I changed my mind. Is there any way to research old NRA records? The owner of this vest (Duke) was a small bore NRA instructor that won the NRA award for "special war service - outstanding merit", he won the 1946 small bore national matches at Camp Perry, He won the Detroit Evening Times - W.R. Hearst Citizen rifle championships in 1949 & 1950, member of the north central Ohio gallery league, Intra-club gallery league (Mansfield, Oh),Westinghouse Rifle league (mansfield, Oh), Olentangy Village rifle champion, Past President of Ohio Rifle and Pistol assoc. 1945-1950, Captain of the YMCA shooting team and finally he won the Michigan Rifle and Pistol assoc. gallery rifle 50 state championship in 1949.

It sure seems like I should be able to track down the mystery of who Duke was.

Any suggestions on how to start?

Contact the NRA.