Posted by Researcher on December 16, 2006, 12:55 pm, in reply to "Re: Long Barrels"
Probably the two biggest proponents of the long barrel smallbores for waterfowling were in California. Edwin Hedderly was editor and publisher of Western Field prior to WW-I and wrote a multi-part series on such guns that ran for over a year in the magazine. He had Parker Bros. A1-Specials in 16- and 20-gauges with 32-inch barrels and a Parker Bros. DHE-Grade 28-gauge with 32-inch barrels. Later he was a member of the California Game Commission.
Parker Bros. top salesman A.W. DuBray was dubbed my none other then Nash Buckingham as "the father of the smallbore in America." DuBray in his later years lived in San Francisco and operated out of that area.
My 30-inch barrel Fox 20-gauge, ordered chambered for 2 3/4 inch shells, was shipped to a dealer in Los Angles in 1920, about three years before the Super-X 20-gauge shell was introduced in a 2 3/4 inch case.
Some years ago at the Winter Las Vegas show I recorded six Parker Bros. 32-inch barrel 20-gauge guns, a Crown Grade L.C. Smith 20-gauge with 32-inch barrels and a Grade 4E NID Ithaca 20-gauge with 32-inch barrels, but not a single Fox 20-gauge with 32-inch barrels.