Here is a photo of a letter I found in an envelope taped to the back cover of Vol II of 'The Modern Shotgun' by G. Burrard. I'm hoping some people here find this interesting. He discusses the fact it took him 8 yrs to write the three volume book and he also discusses the 'air cushion wad' which was invented after he wrote the book, but before the advent of the plastic shot cup wad. [img:center][/img]

Here's a photo of the 'air cushion' wad. Apparently, Burrard thought highly of this wad. [img:center][/img]

1936 ad

Very cool. Thanks for posting.

Drew,
Circa 1950 Eley cartridges in the U.K. were in short supply. At that time the only shell available at times, was the Pneumatic.The recoil was indeed light. The problem was that in my experience they were feeble and seldom resulted in a hit on any intended target.
.

Neat letter, Buzz. Thanks for posting!!

DDA

Nice letter, thank you for posting.

The Home Guard during WWII were a volunteer force of mostly older fellows. They were immortalised in the 'Dad's Army' BBC TV series, still getting repeats here. Burrard was clearly the Captain Mainwaring of Hungerford!

Tim

I'd rather be Captain Mainwaring of Hungerford than Andy of Mayberry any day.

That really is a most interesting letter. Thank you for posting it. While Dad's Army was a fun series to watch, behind it was the thought that is expressed somewhat in the letter. It was the spirit that I have always admired. In January 1941, the time in which the letter was written, England had been alone in carrying on a war against a superior foe in armament for well over a year. With the continent having fallen to Germany, it was still very much in the minds of the English that an invasion of their island could be expected. Nevertheless, they carried on with business as usual and preparing as best they could to defend their island. Outfits like the home guard made it clear that there was serious determination to stop anybody who would try to take England.

hello buzz,
what a fantastic find.i have always held burrard in highest regard and your letter only reinforces my opinion.thank you for sharing.
cheers,
mr w martin

hello mr rumpole,
i dont think england was ever alone, as the contributions of other nations towards the make up of british armed forces testify, and the entries on scottish war memorials will confirm!
cheers,
mr w martin

Oh certainly agreed, Mr. Martin! Many good people were looking to help in the fight at the time. But the opposition was well-armed and in better shape for a general engagement at the time. Nevertheless, as Mr. Churchill made clear, it would be one hell of an undertaking to subdue everyone in the UK and they were ready for a fight to the finish. In my view, a most admirable spirit!

THREE volumes? Years ago when I was going through some hard times a friend of Bill Wise's gave him a slipcased TWO volume set to send to me. It was a lovely gift out of the blue.

It shall remain as such, of course. I'm just a little mystified. Is it possible that two of the volumes were combined to one?

The early edition was 3 separate volumes. Later printings combined the 3 volumes into 2. After reading 'The Modern Shotgun', I'm not surprised it took Major Burrard eight long years to produce. What a fabulous book with so much information. I, for one am grateful he took the time and labor to produce such an outstanding work.

In the States, we had something like the Home Guard: the State Guard. They were volunteers who replaced our National Guard units (I think the British equivalent was the Territorial Army)when they were called to active duty for the duration of the war. But we did have the advantage of being better off in terms of private ownership of firearms, including quite a large number of surplus military weapons from the WWI era.

The version I have of Burrard's "The Modern Shotgun" has a 1960 or '61 copyright. It is the three volumes contained in Two volumes with several appendices which were written later than the original work mostly after WWII & contain much useful information.
I would recommend this work over anything I have read on the shotgun to date.

Thanks very much for clearing that up, Buzz.

While I haven't read the entire book, I've read enough here and thee to appreciate the exhaustive research Burrard did. Like you I'm grateful for his efforts as well. It is, as you mention, an outstanding work.

The letter and its discovery is a great tale in itself.

Great stuff.