FOREST AND STREAM 
8 
had the ballistic and chemical properties of this 
new powder been worked out, that it took the 
lead immediately and has ever since enjoyed the 
reputation of being the most popular bulk powder 
in the world. The basic principle in the forma¬ 
tion of this powder has never been changed, 
nor has any other manufacturer tried to dupli¬ 
cate it; but the manufacture in the original plant 
(part of which is still used) has kept step with 
the demand for perfection which the sporting 
world requires. 
Mr. du Pont, unlike the average inventor, did 
not lose interest in his creation as soon as it was 
pronounced a success. He knew that if the new 
powder was to attain the reputation that he hoped 
it would be necessary to see that it lacked no 
quality likely to please the customer. He realized 
that laboratory and ballistic tests were only 
part of the story, and that a powder could be 
pronounced satisfactory as a result of these tests 
and yet not always please the sportsman. For 
this reason, though he could ill afford the time, 
he practiced clay-bird shooting, and by this 
means he kept himself informed of the differences 
between various powders and of the preferences of 
shooters as regards intensity of recoil, sound, 
smoke, and residue. He made it a point to attend 
important shoots whenever he could, and in this 
way to come in contact with the best shots in the 
country and to hear their criticisms and praises 
of the various powders and ammunition used. 
Mr. du Pont had the gratification of seeing his 
invention become the best known powder in 
America, and the manufacture systematized to 
such a point that if maintained it would remain 
unsurpassed. In place of his original little mill 
turning out a few thousand pounds a year, there 
now stands a great plant making hundreds of 
thousands of pounds. 
Tailor-Made Trap Guns 
Wherein is Told the Inside Story of How Your Gun is Built 
By Fred O. Copeland. 
Twenty years ago there lived in one of the oldest 
towns of the state whose western boundary is lapped by 
the blue waves of Lake Champlain an old gunsmith. Be¬ 
tween the river and the sunny little porch where he in¬ 
variably sat, rapt in thought with a snowy beard of 
prodigious proportions, nestled his weather beaten work¬ 
shop seemingly as ancient as himself. On a sleepy 
September day the door of the little shop stood open 
and as I took the longed for look into the uncertain 
gloom a sight met my boyish eyes such as the Arabian 
Nights never held. Ere I left the old gentleman we 
had struck a trade for a little muzzle loader as propor¬ 
tionally small and light as myself. Although I have had 
many guns since, the joy of that first possession has 
been wanting in the purchase of each till in recent days 
I bargained for a gun that has brought again as keen 
a joy as the purchase of the little muzzle loader. 
How many of those shooters drawing their beautifully 
designed guns from their cases in the club house ot 
awaiting their target at the score know how their 
guns are made or have ever seen them in the making? 
Such a Knowledge adds greatly to the love of your 
chosen gun and awakens a keener interest in the weap¬ 
ons of your associates. If I can excite sufficient inter¬ 
est to cause one reader of this little story to stop off 
at the home of his favorite gun and look therein it 
will be a pleasure for both of us indeed. 
A few weeks ago I stood before the factory of one 
of the oldest makes of guns in America. A gun of the 
rarest of reputations, gained by years of use in foreign 
climes, in our own great game lands now sadly de¬ 
pleted, and in the hands of the greatest marksmen 
both at live birds and clay targets the world had ever 
known. Even as I stood there a load of steel bars went 
by thus unconsciously giving me a sight of the first 
move in the making of the gun. 
In the office I was greeted by a man wise in gun 
lore. Even though besieged these many years by ques¬ 
tions from gun cranks he still retains a most cordial 
manner and engages you in a charming conversation 
about the guns. Eagerly I followed him to the room 
back of the office where the finished guns were being 
boxed for shipment. They were not being thrown in 
and the lid nailed down in two motions but were being 
carefully wrapped and secured in place before the 
cover was screwed down with a certainty that carried 
a “bon voyage” for their trip to the purchasers. A 
rack on the east wall held a line of guns of all vint¬ 
ages that caused me to pause and ponder. They were 
guns to be altered to the ever changing whims of the 
inveterate gun fancier. At one side a gun was drawn 
from its chamois cover and laid in my hands. It was 
a twenty-eight gauge beautiful beyond all description, 
so elegant in its lines that the eye lingered lovingly 
on the beautiful wood, the deep engraving and the 
perfect proportions. From this highest product of the 
factory was made the photographic reprint that illus¬ 
trates the highest grade in the company’s artistic cata¬ 
logue. Just as I had seen the raw material at the 
factory entrance now I beheld from the other side 
the finished product. What a world of care and labor 
between the two! 
Upstairs I found the stockroom filled with large 
rectangular glass paneled cases, double decked and 
standing not against the walls but through the room 
with paths leading among them. Out from the walls 
around the entire room extended an endless bench, 
cloth covered that the guns may be kept perfect in 
the handling. A gun is handed me to feel. It is of 
a grade that makes my weasel skin bump the bottom 
of my pistol pocket, nevertheless, it is an honor in¬ 
deed to bring to my shoulder Mr. Blanks own gun 
whose family name has stood for perfection in gun 
building for years on end. All three to four hundred 
dollar guns feel good to anyone who lays claim to 
red blood, but a cold world makes me back right up 
to the hundred dollar grade. Like many of you I 
have shot my way through not a few gun club events 
and handled the straight backed affairs of the pro¬ 
fessionals so in a general way I know what measure¬ 
ments I ought to have. It is decided my style of 
shooting or holding will allow of a fifteen inch stock, 
the most full of the several degrees of thickness at the 
comb and I pick out a stock I would like matched 
in grain and color of wood. I am at once told that 
A Corner of the “Grandstand” at a Trap 
Tournament. 
a man who can pick for grain and color in the rough 
wood is a man indeed and one that any factory would 
madly grab for. It is an impossibility to tell ahead 
how a piece of walnut will turn out. However, you 
may be sure the color and grain of a stock on a 
hundred dollar grade gun will not disappoint you, and 
as one writer has said, a few years ago you couldn’t 
buy such a gun as this though you exhausted your 
bank account. Occasionally you will hear a man say, 
"I don’t care how a gun looks if it will shoot.” What 
a sad off-key noise! I wish to say right out in open 
meeting that I want all the beauty of wood and evi¬ 
dence of the cunning hand of the engraver that my 
pocket book will command. Seldom is it that an article 
of such hard use may be fittingly decorated. But let 
the measuring progress, fortune may not lead us this 
way again. .1 throw the straightest gun I can find to 
my shoulder and lean for an imaginary target while the 
gentleman at my side makes a measurement for the 
height of my line of sight over the far end of the top 
lever. J shall try an inch and three quarters at heel 
and one and one-quarter at the comb where all the meas¬ 
uring is really done. The grip shall be straight and 
laige that the “pelt” of the inner hand may not turn 
over and cause the festive water blister. This stock will 
not keep me humped up like a monkey munching 
peanuts neither need I worry about my thumbknuckle 
and the top lever exploring the inside of my nose when 
the referee howls “lost.” The grade allows the beautiful 
skeleton butt plate with its engraved steel rim and the 
wood between nicely checkered but a trap gun calls for 
a Silvers pad and, well, as I have said, this is my trap 
gun. Shall I choose the satin like oil finish or the 
newer finish that brings out the grain as though re¬ 
flected in a mirror? Something in the satin finish ap¬ 
peals and I am not in doubt. 
Since I am a light weight and rarely empty more 
than two or three boxes of trap loads of an afternoon 
I shall use a gun not running far over seven and one- 
half pounds. A certain number of frame is noted from 
the several twelve gauge weights and it will take care 
of the weight through its influence over the rest of the 
gun. Any variation of the engraving would lead to 
unsatisfactory results in the gun trade so I may ex¬ 
pect the regular artistic work of the grade but my mon¬ 
ogram will appear on the name plate. This, you know, 
makes it your gun to your associates as the special 
measurements make it your gun to you. 
I choose thirty inch barrels because I have always 
used them and don’t care to unhorse the little regu¬ 
larity in time I have worked up. Of course they will 
be of special plain steel as they are much easier to take 
care of then the figured and in fact the making of 
Damascus barrels seems well on the road to the lost 
arts of the Egyptians. I had thought sixty-five per 
cent, choke would be strong enough, but no, my tailor 
marks it right up to seventy-five. Choke can’t be put 
in a finished barrel but it can be taken out and no 
doubt you have noticed this scheme of affairs right 
along, in other words I have been so fitted that the 
stock can be modified in all measurements without 
spoiling its lines. Had I been advised otherwise one 
(Continued on page 36). 
