I should have qualified my earlier post with the caveat that pigeon guns can be anything the gunner wants them to be. I was not there when this happened, but when the big flyer shoot of the year was held at Malloy's, years ago, it is told that a hunter from, I believe, PA, was urged to go to it and enter because he was such a good shot on game birds. He was a working man, a logger if I recall correctly, and had a mortgage on his home (not the financial condition of most serious flyer shooters). He arrived on the day before the shoot began so as to get acclimated to the "game" he had never competed in. There was a lot of side betting going on as he shot his first flyers of his life. His wife had pleaded with him to not throw away the house payment on shooting pigeons.
After the first day it is said that he called his wife and told her not to be concerned about the house payment ............... in fact, "Don't be concerned about the house at all. I've won enough money to pay off the mortgage already". He went on to win the whole shoot with ................. a Rem. 1100.
If this much circulated story is inaccurate I would appreciate anyone with firsthand information correcting it.
Anyone who really wants to learn the history of pigeon shooting, and pigeon guns, should buy Cyril's book. It is not cheap, but it is priceless.
SRH
