Yes- but it was his choice of one of 2 PURDEY guns, edmundo. A Purdy is a fine paintbrush, but NOT a shotgun. Charles Cadwallader Norris, a life long bachelor, like Corey Ford, who shot birds with a 12 gauge M21, by the way- He was a professor of gynecology at Penn State, gre up in "Old Main Line" wealth-also an avid fly-fisher who loved Salmon fishing in the NE rivers--I owned, at one time, a Hardy Cascapedia Fly Reel and a Gillum 9&1/2" 3 pc.salmon rod supposedly owned and used by him. RWTF
"Tap" Tapply shot a Model 21 20ga. Burt Spiller gave his Parker VH 20 to Bill Tapply, Tap's son. Morris Baker acquired it after Bill Tapply passed away.
Steve Grooms shot an Ithaca SKB Model 600 OU 12ga he called "Cacklestopper". He contacted me several years ago, after he was no longer hunting, about putting Cacklestopper on the market along with autographed copies of his two pheasant hunting books.
Michael McIntosh shot a Wilkes 12ga. He also had an AyA 12ga made with the same specs as his Wilkes. The AyA was his "travel gun".
Jack O'Connor had a short barreled custom Model 21 twenty gauge. He ordered it to hit center of pattern 1 foot high at 40 yards. His theory was that rising birds would fly into the pattern and mitigate any lack of follow through. I think he was on to something personally.
I'd better chuck in some from the other side of the big pond: Denys Watkins-Pitchford who wrote under the name BB after his favorite shot size for geese. He wrote Children's books and quite a few Countryside and Wildfowl Shooting books. He used a double 12 bore 3" magnum by The Midland Gun Co. A friend now owns the gun together with his shooting diaries. The gun is well provenanced with an account of its purchase in the diaries together with the original receipt pasted in.
Another Shooting and Wildfowling author by the name of James Wentworth Day had a double 8 bore by Joseph Lang which he called 'Roaring Emma'. This gun is now owned by a Wildfowling Club and is loaned out to members. There are many accounts of its use in his book 'The Modern Fowler'. Lagopus.....
Reading "The Old Man and the Boy" at age 13, and the Boy Scouts, changed the direction of my life The Old Man used a never named pump The Boy's first gun was a 20g loaner from his grandfather, but his Christmas gift was a 16g Sauer https://biggamelogic.com/ruarks-guns/
Larry Brown owned too many guns to remember and a whole bunch to be named later.
You hit the bullseye there! This year, I'm currently enjoying a honeymoon with a Bland 16ga that comes in a bit under 6 pounds with 28" barrels and chokes that are nice for grouse and woodcock. It's worked out pretty well on skeet and a couple rounds of sporting clays. But I've yet to find a grouse or woodcock that's shown itself for long enough to even offer a shot. Not a lot of birds so far, and still too much foliage making it easy for them to disappear in a hurry when they flush.
OK, Herr Adler Augen-- from just looking at that image, I'll grant that one might verify, by the frame shape, "carriage bolt" with dished out radiused recess, but 2 queries-if I may: (1) How do you discern that is a VH (extractor) and NOT a VHE- same gun, but not an extractor gun, but equipped with selective ejection, and also the gauge? Hummm?? Der Fuchs
About 5-10 years ago the then owner of Gene Hill's hammergun let me shoot a pair on the five stand at a nice club in West Virginia. I broke the pair and handed it back to him. He insisted that I shoot it some more but I turned him down. I told him that I was afraid I'd miss!
When Gene Hill and Michael McIntosh visited MI with Brian Belinski on a promo trip for Orvis, the manager of the nearby Thornapple Orvis shoppe arranged for me to take Gene Duck hunting of a Sat. morning, lunch later. My Lab Dixie was in her prime, I shot a Model 12, Gene had his Remington 12 gauge 1100- one of my favorite spots, lots of mallards, we had a fine hunt, and chatted between flights. I told him that of all his many great stories, my 2 favorites were: "The Stranger" and "Pepper"-- I still have pictures of myself, with Gene and Brian and Michael on the front porch of the Orvis shoppe in Ada, MI--I have all of his books, which he personally signed for me. A sportsman like Gene Hill never wears out a welcome-never. RWTF
Gene was the guest of honor at one of the Iowa Governor's annual pheasant hunts. Usually a dozen or so teams of hunters. Unfortunately, I was not on Gene's team. But I spotted him wandering around as some of the other hunters were still lingering over lunch. I introduced myself and struck up a conversation with him. He indicated that he wished those slow pokes would hurry up and finish eating. He wanted to get out there and shoot some more pheasants.
I had a somewhat embarrassing moment on one of those hunts. The governor and his youngest son were having a friendly contest to see who would shoot the most birds. At the end of the day when we gathered to report our results, the DNR's MC asked the governor to report on the results of his contest. I'd hunted with the governor that afternoon, with my shorthair Blitz providing our team's canine support. Governor Branstad had a real flurry of action. He killed one rooster over a Blitz point. Another one flushed as Blitz was making the retrieve. He also killed that. Then there was another flush from our left. I was to the governor's left and I looked for him to shoot. Didn't look like he was going to, so I pulled the trigger on that one, right before he did. The governor reported that he was down 2 to 0 at our lunch break, but that he got 3 birds to his son's zero on the afternoon hunt. At which point our Pheasants Forever guide piped up: "I'm sorry, governor . . . but Brown killed that 3rd bird." No hard feelings I guess. They kept inviting me to those hunts.
Eleanor quail hunting in AZ about 1938 with a double. She also had a Model 21
Sonora c. 1945 with what looks to be a Cutts equipped SA
After I retired and was cleaning out the house in Seattle where I grew up, getting it ready to sell, I found a couple of boxes of Outdoor Life from the 1960s. In that I didn't bother to get TV cable or internet hooked up there I spent my down time reading through those old magazines. Most of them I dumped in the club house at Seattle Skeet & Trap, but the one I kept was September 1965. In that issue Jack's column was titled "The 20 Gauge Moves Up." In the article he states that at the height of the Great Depression he bought a 20-gauge 30-inch ejector Field Grade L.C. Smith for $17.50 with case, cleaning rod and two boxes of shells. Then goes on for two columns of text extolling all the great shooting he did with it. He then calls a 20-gauge with 30-inch barrels a preposterous freak and spends the rest of the article explaining why his 26-inch barrel guns with SST and beavertail forearms are better?!? He mentioned that Ellenor had a 26-inch barrel Ithaca 20-gauge but doesn't mention grade or whether Flues or NID.
what the Hell, don't forget Francis Sell-- if memory serves, he was a big man for the 3" 20 gauge, possibly like Elmer Keith was for the 10 gauge. RWTF
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