doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com True "Pigeon Guns"....

Oops! Another "hideous recoil pad"! And on a Fox gun that was purpose built to actually shoot heavy loads, day in and day out in the pigeon ring. Some people of tender sensibilities risk going blind looking at such an abomination. What is this world coming to? How could the long-deceased owners of dedicated trap guns built more than a century ago have been so insensitive to the knee-jerk emotions of 21st century Internet gun cranks?

Anyway, Dave, could you e-mail me the picture of the four "usual suspects" to...you should have my address. I wish I'd have known about this picture when I was winding up the image portfolio for Parker Guns: Shooting Flying... EDM

L.C. Smith 16g No. 2 Pigeon gun



No safety



Pigeon on the left lockplate rather than the usual quail

The problem with that AAH Parker is not so much that it has an ADDED pad (which is atrocious considering you-know-what was cut off) but that it also has a bunch of ugly spacers. A $45K gun should have its head held up a little higher than that.

What the owner did 100 years ago is not so much the issue as what the current owner thinks a modern buyer should swallow without a grimace. In the world of rare guns, they tend to fall into two categories - those that had stupid shit done to them and those that didn't. The AAH unfortunately fits into the latter category whether we like it or not.

If I were selling that gun, maybe I'd still ask $45K - but I'd at least show some humility and be reticent over the stock's condition.

I've watched Ivory Beads for years....Pigeon looking is not uncommon.

How about a 1920 12 bore J.P. Sauer #2 hammer gun:30" barrels, 70 mm chambers and so marked, chokes .044 and .048, standard stock configuration with cheek piece. Would this set up constitute a pigeon gun? Incidentally, original owner purchased gun in Italy. Wasn't Italy a hot spot for live pigeon in those days?
Thanks,
Jorge

Advice regarding pigeon guns and shooting
http://docs.google.com/View?id=dfg2hmx7_310ccmnrphm

Harvey McMurchy was responsible for the Smith Pigeon grade gun
http://docs.google.com/View?id=dfg2hmx7_343dn6phncv

and the top guns at the traps
http://docs.google.com/View?id=dfg2hmx7_311kp75d7hd

A Parker pigeon gun is usually considered a long barrel, tight choke gun without a safety. However, there is another feature that was considered an added feature on a gun used for flyer competition. Many savvy customers asked that their Parker pigeon gun be made without extension rib to facilitate reloading. I'm sure it was the history of competition shooters' requests for the "no extension rib" that influenced the same design in the single barrel trap model.

Quote
"A Parker pigeon gun is usually considered a long barrel, tight choke gun without a safety"

Would someone please explain to us uninformed souls how this description above differs from the description of a gun ordered for trap shooting?
Jim

Trap and pigeon guns have a lot of commonality and are frequently difficult or impossible to sort with absolute finality. The trap gun must be designed for high volume shooting whereas the pigeon must withstand heavy loads. Often, the same design features will interchange. On average, trap guns may be stocked a little higher while pigeon guns are more likely to have a broad, flat rib and often have a higher grade of finish.

Both types are subject to considerable variation.

Harvey “Prince Mac” McMurchy was a L.C. Smith traveling representative and professional trap shooter who won the first Interstate Inanimate Target (Ligowsky) Tournament held in New Orleans in 1880.
The last GAH at Live Birds was in 1902 and Hirschy, Spencer and Heikes were one, two, three all using L. C. Smith guns. Spencer then changed to a Winchester Repeater and Heikes to a Remington Double then a Remington Autoloader. Live bird competitions of course continued.
The name shooters used the same double gun for both until the SBTs and Repeaters took over Trap shooting.