I forgot an item or 2 but I wanted to expand on the adverts of "guns bored to shoot close and hard." One item was that it appears that Wililam R. Schaefer rented his business space at No. 61 Elm Street, Boston and there was an incident on February 19th, 1893 at 9 past 6 o'clock in the evening that a careless match was tossed into some packing material and the fire brigade was called out. The owner was given as R.E. Denman.

Regarding choke boring, a one sided tale by Joseph W. Long in 1879 has that Fred Kimble was responsible for the advancement of choke boring. I think the topic has been discussed here, possibly ad nauseum, so all this may be spilt milk. But in the 1869-1870 hunting season, Fred Kimble and hunting partner Joseph W. Long decide to source heavier 12 bore muzzleloaders from Oliver P. Secor of Peoria, Illinois. Oilver P. Secor was born circa 1816 in New York and more than likely learned the gun trade there also. But since Mr. Joseph W. Long was from Boston he opted to have Mr. Joseph Tonks build his muzzleloader so somewhat of a contest arose for the sporting weapons with the better pattern, with both patterns to be forwarded via the post. But Joseph Tonks refused and convinced Joseph W. Long to have a breechloader built. A short while later, Joseph W. Long notes that he souced both Messieurs "Tonks and W. R. Schaefer" for choke bored scatterguns.

Fred Kimble's account of the origins of choke boring are a bit different and involved his practicing with musket barrels for choke boring. Evidently he had conveyed the technique to Oliver P. Secor as well as J.L. Johnson, who was some what physically challenged from choke boring so Fred Kimble would execute the pattern effort after the boring. In Iowa, choke boring was attributed to Mr. W. Ehrman, who along with a George R. Conrad travelled to Young America, Illinois in 1872 on an invitation by Fred Kimble, I assume, to watch gunsmith J.L. Johnson at work. A short time later an agent or sales rep. of Schovering & Daly was in his shop watching the exercise and noted that it was an exercise in futility so W. Ehrman suggest the jug choke. Folklore has it that the technology was transferred to The Daly Gun factory where W. Ehrman's method became a staple. Somewhere around 1882 or 1883 Mr. W. Ehrman's heath really began to deteriorate due to the choke boring, but he was purported to be one of the best.

So either of these tales could have been the conduit for the transfer or technology of choke boring from the Mid-West to Daly's "factory" in Suhl.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse