The Parker try gun that Hutton and maybe Humphrey used to fit their stocks was ordered by Dupont to be sent to A.P. Curtis to be fitted with his try stock. It was originally used by famous Dupont shooter, Jack Fanning, and later passed to Colonel Townsend Whelen to be used in his gun shop in Washington, D.C., then to Ben Toxvard at Shenandoah Guns in Berryville, VA. No one can guess how many shooters were measured on that gun over the years. It is a shooting try gun, fully capable of normal firing activity. By the way, Michael Petrov placed Humphrey at addresses in Round Hill, Virginia and Purcellville, Virginia, both possible commuting distance to Shenandoah Guns in Berryville. It is still likely that the gunsmith who lived on the mountain behind the Shenandoah shop was John Hutton. It's too bad that given the many hours I spent with Ben Toxvard, I never asked him the name of the "old man up on the mountain". I was too interested in getting him to sell me the great Parker Try Gun. My quest probably lasted the best part of a decade.
