Product Details
FORMERLY THE PROPERTY OF RUSSELL B. AITKEN
WINCHESTER
A CUSTOM 20-BORE 'MODEL 12' TAKE-DOWN PUMP ACTION SKEET GUN, serial no. 849696,
26 1/4in. nitro barrel including cutts compensator, 7mm solid matt top rib with bead fore-sight and intermediate bead sight, 2 3/4in. chamber, plain black action marked on the underside 'SKEET', trigger mounted safety, 14 1/2in. finely chequered maple pistolgrip stock with monte carlo comb, silver mounted pistolgrip-cap engraved 'RUSSELL BARNETT AITKEN. HAWK HILL SHOOT CHAMPION. 1940-41-42', Winchester trade mark buttplate, weight 7lb. 4oz.
Provenance: Russell B. Aitken (1910 - 2002) was an American possessed of a superb marksman's eye and a thirst for competition. He served as Major in the U.S.A.A.F. during the Second World War and was stationed for the most part at Luke Field, Arizona and then Yuma Army Airfield as a gunnery specialist. He personally trained over 32,000 pilots and gunners in the area of marksmanship and was also a member of the Army Air Force skeet team where. for a time, he held the world record of 742 straight rounds.
Following the war he indulged his interests in competitive shooting as well as writing, collecting trophy heads and big game hunting. He was successful in all these activities and shot several world record trophies which are recorded in Rowland Ward's records.
He was also highly accomplished with a game gun and regularly travelled to the north for grouse. He managed to combine his love of shooting and competition in the form of live pigeon shooting, probably the most demanding of shotgun disciplines. In this arena he excelled and travelled to Europe after winning the Miller Memorial at Lebanon in 1955 and the Grand Prix and Pan-America Championships in Havana in 1954 and 1956. His victories with this shotgun are listed below, but the greatest was, without doubt, his winning of the Grand Prix at Vichy in 1958 when, with a full Mistral blowing, he shot 28 straight 'zuritos' to beat Franco Bornaghi, an Italian professional who was widely regarded as the greatest live pigeon shot in Europe.
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Estimate £500-700
S1