Trap Shooting Book by Russ Elliott from 1955

I've been buying old books off e-bay for many years and have acquired a lot of old time trap shooters books. I just bought one from Dick Baldwins daughter that was written by Russ Elliott in 1955. I won't give you his history I think the History Buff can do that very well if he would, but I haven't read the book but have just skimmed over it and I was struck by how much what he wrote when I was one year old fell in line with my own philosophy about trap shooting.

I think I'm going to really enjoy this book. I'd recommend for anyone out there that wants to learn about the sport of trap shooting and how the old timers did it to by some old books. I

Most of these books are by shooters that predate the CD days and will help you LEARN how to shoot and entertain you too. Maybe some day I'll put together a list of my favorites.

The Name of the book is *Your Shotgun vs. You* by Russ Elliott 1955

Brad

 

Is this the same Russ Elliott that shot at Allegheny Rifle with Tony Olivito in the late 70's early 80's. If so, he was really a good guy to be around. Learned a great deal from him.

Tom Frazer

 

Not the same Russ Elliott... The author, Shooter, and owner / operator of Elliott`s Shooting Park was from Kansas City, Missouri... He won the Clay Target Championship in 1941. I think he was born in 1900 and died in 1966...

Trap3

 

I too love to read. This one isn't about clay target Trap but is still a great book learn about the history of the greatest shotgun sport and the lives of the people that shot pigeons in Pennsylvania. I was fortunate enough to get a signed copy from Mr. Paul Canfield at Hegins in 1994.

As we talked he told me about a shooter by the name of Reed Middleton. Mr. Canfield had devoted an entire chapter to this man. As I read some of the story and looked at the black and white picture of Reed Middleton I told him that it sure must have been something to see these guys shoot pigeons. I told him I wished I could have been around back then when they shot almost every Sunday somewhere in the central and Eastern parts of PA. Just to talk to some of these characters, and from the stories in the book, they were truly characters would be great.

I asked Mr. Canfield if Reed Middleton was still alive. He laughed and said,

"Hell yeah, he's still alive, ya want to meet him? He's standing right over there. Hey Reed, come on over here and meet this young guy." (I was 42 at the time)

"You too drunk to sign this guys book he just bought? ( It was about 10:00 in the morning)

"Not yet I'm not but I'm working on it" he answered with a grin.

He signed it for me and was kind enough to stay and talk for about fifteen minutes. I asked him If I could buy him a coffee. He laughed out loud at that request and bid me good luck as he went on his way. Mr. Canfield shook his head and smiled.

"Well, that's Reed for ya, some things never change"

Reed's first match was July, 31st, 1938 for $1000.00 a side. Just shy of $17,500 today, and he was backed by one of the biggest bootleggers and gamblers in the area. Most of these guys were coal miners and didn't have any money to put up so the local bootleggers or bar owners and gamblers would put up the money for these matches then give the shooter a small percentage.

Reed won that first match and went on to win 42 of 49 matches he shot and was the second best pigeon shooter to live in that area. From what Mr. Canfield said he made the gamblers a small fortune.

If you are interested in Flyer shooting and the "characters" that came with it I recommend you try to find a copy.

 

This book has been in my collection for many years. I love these old books.
Brad, have you ever sen this one? It's a collection of cartoons with short poems:



"Lost" The Trapshooter's Guide
Charles Edgar Shaw, Jr., copyright 1910

 

No I haven't but I'll be keeping an eye open for it.

I also have a couple hundred old hunting books, all the Gene Hill books and I think all of Patrick F. McManus books.

I took Gene Hill goose hunting one time when I lived on the eastern shore and was kind of afraid of meeting him because I liked his writing so much and so many of the outdoor writers' I'd met were full of crap, but he was just like his writing. We shot Sporting Clays that day to and he wasn't a bad shot.

I think I have all of Jimmy Robinson's books including one he autographed, he penned a little note too, when I was 23 years old and met him in Phoenix at the first or second Spring Grand, I think it was the second.

If you like to read I'd recommend these three as my favorites. Brad

 

RUSSELL W. ELLIOTT
Kansas City, Missouri
09MAR1899, at Washington Park GC, Kansas City, MO – 27NOV1965, Kansas City, MO

Father – Robert “Uncle Bob” Elliott
Uncle – J. A. R. Elliott

1900, Kansas City, Missouri – 28 NOV 1966, Kansas City, Missouri
Owner/Manager of Elliott’s Shooting Park, Raytown, Missouri
Missouri State Doubles Champion (1924) 44x50
Lost Shoot-off for Missouri State Preliminary Singles (1926) 98x100
Missouri State All-Around Champion (1934) 325x350
Founder of Kansas City Trapshooters Association
Secretary-Treasurer of Kansas City Trapshooters Association (at time of death)
Interstate Live Bird Championship 2nd at Kansas City, MO (1931)
Missouri Central Zone High Gun – Not Eligible (1932) 101 straight & 374x400
Winner of Jim Day Cup – (present HAA) (1932)476x500
Grand American Handicap High Over-All 3rd (1932) 965x1000
Missouri State All-Around Champion (1934) 325x350 + 47, 47 so at twins
Missouri State Open High Over-All 2nd to Joe Hiestand (1934)570 to 578x600
Missouri Western Zone Class A Champion (1934) 99x100
Missouri Western Zone High All-Around Champion (1934) 388x400
Grand American Handicap 3rd (1934) 97x100
Missouri State Doubles Champion (1935)88x100
Missouri State All-Around Champion (1935) 366x400
GAH James M. Markham Trophy Winner (1935) 100x100 +50 s/o
Missouri State Singles Runner-Up (1936)195x200 + 23 so
Missouri State All-Around Champion (1936) 366x400
High Singles Average 2nd in Nation (1936) .9840
Missouri State Class AA Winner (1937) 97x100
Missouri State Singles Champion (1937) 197x200 + 25 so
Missouri State Doubles Champion (1937)94x100
High Singles Average 8th in Nation (1938).9823
Missouri State Doubles Champion (1939)91x100
Missouri State Doubles Champion (1941)93x100
North American Clay Target Champion (1941) 199 + 23,25 so
Member of All-America Team (1941)
Author of Your Shotgun vs. You
Missouri Trapshooting Hall of Fame Inductee ( 1979 )

Guns Used :

Winchester Model 12​

Note Mr. Eliott's game of Sporting Clays some 50 years before the widely reported introduction of the new sport in 1980.

Traphunting at the G. A. H.​

Traphunting, a new system of target shooting developed by Russell W. Elliott of Kansas City, was introduced to the shooters for the first time during the week of the Grand American Handicap in a field just across the highway from the A. T. A. grounds, and met with the general approval of the 320 shooters who tried it.

In traphunting, Mr. Elliott has duplicated practically all of the shots which a hunter gets in the field by means of six traps, all of which throw unknown angles and unknown elevations, so that when a shooter calls pull he does not know where his target is coming from or in which direction it is going, except within certain limits. No other scheme of target throwing has ever been developed which offers the large variety of shots that traphunting does and yet it keeps all of its targets within a 30 to 50-yard range and out of the “freak” class.

Three tower traps, one behind the shooter, one to his right and one to his left, furnish the high shots of birds in full flight, while three traps on the ground before him throw targets which approximate bird shooting over a dog with a few incomers for variety. A shooter is allowed 25 shells to shoot 20 targets, which permits the use of a second barrel on five targets, but a target broken by the second shot only scores ½, which makes it necessary to break all 20 targets with the first barrel in order to score a perfect 20.

Only two shooters were able to turn in perfect scores in the nine days of shooting, J. F. Heistand of Hillsboro, Ohio, who won the case of shells offered for the first perfect 20, and I. M. Dodd of Huntington, W. Va., who duplicated the feat just about an hour later on the first 20 he ever shot at. Heistand was a consistent performer all week, winning a number of the optional sweeps which were held each day, and he had scores of 19 ½ and 19 in addition to his perfect 20, while Dodd was not able to do so well in his subsequent attempts. Morgan Davis of Springfield, Ohio, broke a 19 1/2 and O. A. Schulz and L. H. Crampton had 19s. Miss Boutall of Houston made the high score for the women with 14 ½ and Mrs. Topperwein second on 14. Rufus King, jr., the Grand American winner, broke 11 in his one attempt.

Only 46 of the 320 different shooters who tried the sport were able to turn in scores of 16 or better, but the best part of traphunting is that you can miss the targets and still get a lot of un out of it, laughing at someone else make the same mistakes you do.

The scores of 16 or better; 20-bird events :

Fred Ludington, 16 ½-16-17-17 ½; O. A. Schulz, 19-18 ½-16 ½-18 ½-17 ½; Morgan Davis, 17 ½-18-16-19 ½-16 ½-16; Ben Glaser, 16 ½; Hart, 17; Halderman, 16 ½; Brandon, 16 ½; Frank Huseman, 18; Herschel 17; R. Zweiner, 16 ½; L. H. Crampton, 19; D. C. Hayward, 16 ½; B. C. Butts, 16-17; R. W. Elliott, 16 ½; I. M. Dodd, 20; J. F. Heistand, 17 ½-20-16 ½-19 ½-19-17 ½-16-16 ½-18-18-17; E. M. Read, 16 ½; Rush Razee, 17; Major Waller, 16; N. Pillot, 16; C. C. Muir, 16 ½; E. W. Renfro, 16 ½-18-17; J. H. Cunningham, 16-16 ½-17-16 ½; Billy Finch, 16 ½; S. D. Pierce, 16-16 ½-16; C. A. Turner, 17 ½-17-16-16 ½-17-16; M. Arie, 16 ½; E. F. Woodward, 16 ½; C. W. Olney, 18; Wm. Beury, 17; W. M. Wickes, 18 ½; Kindberg, 16; J. O. Feierahand, 18; Ed. O’Brien, 16 ½; Sil Le Compte, 17 ½; W. G. Warren, 17; F. M. Troeh, 16 ½; R. A. King, 16; Geo. Peter, 17-16; A. Feierahend, 16; R. C. Jenkins, 16-18; A. Cuscaden, 16, John Brandt, 17; K. E. Mitchell, 16 ½.
[ SPORTSMEN’S REVIEW, September 6, 1930, page 278 ]

R. W. (Russ) ELLIOTT​

Russell W. Elliott died Nov. 28 of a heart ailment in Research hospital at Kansas City. The former Clay Target Champion, state titleholder, gun club operator and live bird enthusiast was 66 years old.

In 1941 Mr. Elliott missed his 190th target to tie E. V. Ross with 199 for the North American Clay Target Championship at the Grand American. The two knotted again in the first shootoff round with 23s, and Mr. Elliott hit all 25 in the second inning to win by one target. From 1935 to 1941 he earned eight Missouri state titles in singles, doubles and all-around shooting.

Mr. Elliott was born at the old Washington Park Gun Club, operated at the time by his parents. He was the author of “Your Shotgun Vs. You,” which discussed gun safety and marksmanship, and was a founder of the Kansas City Trapshooters Association. He was the association’s secretary-treasurer at the time of his death.

The Elliott family has owned Elliott’s Shooting Park in Raytown, Mo. For 79 years. “Uncle Bob” Elliott, Russ’ father, and Bob’s brother, Jim, founded the club in 1887. It has been located in Raytown since 1934. The club was the scene of the Grand American Tournament in 1903 and hosted the last live bird Grand American, in 1902. Russ Elliott was operator of the club at the time of his death. Its two main shoots each year are the Interstate and MoKan Tournaments.

A graduate of the University of Missouri, Mr. Elliottt was a member of the varsity basketball team and was a founder of Alpha Kappa Psi honorary in the school of business and public administration. He was a former member of the Raytown school board and one of the original directors of the Raytown fire district.

Surviving Mr. Elliott is his widow, Christine, who plans to operate the club this year with the assistance of Jack Thompson.
[ TRAP & FIELD, January 1966, page 16 ]

1941 Clay Target Champion​

Mr. Elliott has been nominated for the Trapshooting Hall of Fame.
I'm hopeful he recieves due recognition.
From all I've read, he was a true sportsman and did much for the sport of trapshooting.

HB

 

Thanks Kenny