Elmer's Shotguns

On one of the posts, someone ask about Elmers smooth bores...I have looked them over several times and cannot locate the question...Some where in my pile of magazines dating back to about 1959,  are some of Elmers older articles..plus there is his shotgun book...this is from memory, so everything may not be perfect...I remember reading in the Shotgun book, he used a Fox 12 bore with 3 1/4-1 1/4-6's one fall for his waterfowl shooting...he bagged a limit of 25 mallards for several days, and that was their supply of duck for the fall...But Elmers favorite smooth bore ga. was the 16...like all of us he started with what ever he could afford or borrow...in one of the mag.s it says when he was about 15 he worked one summer to purchase a new shotgun...when he had the funds, he wrote to Ithaca and ordered a #2 grade double with damascus barrels..because WW1 was on in Europe, they sent him a #3 grade instead...with steel barrels ..Damascus were not available due to the war...he used that gun for 17 years, he said until he bought other guns...it had so much drop, he could not go back to it after shooting other guns...I believe he made a run of 17 ringnecks straight with that gun...
For waterfowl, he had a best quality Westly Richards 3" 12...but in the early days, he started with I believe a Purdey Double 10 ga. for the 2 7/8's in shells.. He later bought from Major Charles Askins the first Ithaca double bored for  the 3 1/2" 10 ga...this was his famous waterfowl gun with Win. Lubloy 3's...This gun can be seen in Cabelas in Boise...Elmers favorite upland gun was also Major Askins...in was a 16 ga. 30" barrels both barrels bored full....He wrote when he purchased the gun, it had been abused, and he had it reworked before he used it for his upland shooting...While Elmer had many shotguns, these two were his favorites.both from Maj. Askins the 16 ga.and the big 10 bore mag.....He wrote in a letter I have that he had a Greener with Damascus barrels that had fired 17 cases of Super X 12 bore loads...He also mentioned in an article that Col. Charles Askins had an AYA 16 ga. made for Elmer when the Col. was in Spain.....it had zero pitch, but Elmer said he could still shoot the gun fine..Hope this helps..Wish the site were a bit more active...and I especially like the older articles guys have found and shared and the old time photos...great stuff....