Posted by John Kuhn Bleimaier
on April 23, 2012, 3:31 pm
71.168.194.92
Last year at the Virginia Vintagers Reception during the Southern Side-by-Side I happened to recognize Diggory Hadoke, the British firearms author, helping himself at the buffet. I brought Diggory’s presence to Jent Mitchell’s attention and he asked me if I would introduce our distinguished foreign guest to the group for some questions and answers. the ensuing discussion turned out great.
This year Jent asked me to seek out a guest speaker for our Reception which will take place at The Flame Steak House in Sanford, NC on Friday night, the 27th of April 2012. I am pleased to announce that our speaker this year will be Walter C. Snyder, the distinguished shotgun expert who wrote the seminal text, The Ithaca Gun Company - from the Beginning. Walter is an engineer by training, a life long side-by-side enthusiast and an avid Ithaca collector.
It has long occurred to me that a cogent argument can be made for the proposition that the Ithaca Flues was the premiere boxlock shotgun of all time. The simplicity of the mechanical design was a stroke of genius. Certainly the Ithaca Flues continues to hold the record for the fastest lock time. Aesthetically Ithaca side-by-sides’ external design provided much surface for engraving. The art nouveau acanthus leaves depicted on Ithaca Flues 1.5 grades early in the 20th century are my personal all time favorites.
It should be a treat to hear Walter Snyder at the Virginia Vintagers event on Friday.
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