Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/575593
hotgunners in breeks swing Purdey and Parker side-by-sides at last year's Vintagers Cup. S J ohn Chudzik was a Winchester man, addicted to its famed cornshuckers—Model 97s and Model 12s—but the Belchertown, Massachusetts, resident began to think they were a little on the heavy side and too cumbersome on a clays course. In time, lust crept into his shotgunner's soul. He was wooed by lightweight side-by-sides, perhaps a lithe 20 gauge. Friend Mike Orlen, a double-gun specialist from nearby Amherst, found him a hammergun made in the early 1900s by the Midland Gun Co. of Birmingham, England. Chudzik fell in love. So much is a work of art. Consider the sidelock D-grade Lefever that Grandpop left me. I can picture the engraver at his bench gently tapping his chisels just so, scribing the pointer on the left plate and the setter on the right. Though the Lefever closes crisply with a tight snick and the bores are perfect, I don't shoot it. The barrels appear to be Damascus, though I've been told their twist pattern was derived by etching with litmus paper. Why risk ruining a family heirloom? If I do my part, both dogs will hold their points forever. The Vintagers help keep Edwardian shotgunning— and dress—alive. S P O R T I N G C L A S S I C S 9 3 so that he's now the national president of the Vintagers Order of Edwardian Gunners. Gentility reigned while Edward was king of England during the first decade of the 20th century, when the epitome of classic side-by-side shotguns were making their debut. Slim of wrist, slender of forearm, lively to mount, these doubles were crafted by the greatest English gunmakers—Holland and Holland, Purdey, W. C. Scott, and a host of others. Not to be slighted are American guns by Fox, L.C. Smith, and of course, Parker. "Members of the order," Chudzik says "shoot for the love of the gun." That I can appreciate. Vintage doubles appeal to me because each John Ross ravel T