Thanks to the staff at AHEIA Calgary Firearms Centre today we had a great first invitational vintage guns venture with 16 of about 22 invitees attending and displaying some absolutely beautiful guns.
The club and staff were extremely accommodating. The staff moved picnic tables, brought out extra folding tables and chairs, dedicated two trap fields to our exclusive use no questions asked and RENT FREE!
We only had to pay for targets and at MEMBERS rates! They continually came over to ask if we needed anything and were very friendly and extremely helpful.
One staff member in particular was really interested in the old guns and was taking pictures and videoing the displays. At one point I looked over and he was narrating while making a video of one of my 4E's. He inquired about the gun when I approached him and after giving him some history of it I told him to feel free to shoot it. He couldn't believe I'd invite him to try out the gun and was excited to accept. He took the gun and shot about 10 rounds from station 3 by himself and when he finished he looked at me with a huge smile and asked "why don't they build them like this any more? That gun is virtually recoilless!" He wanted his pic taken with the 1963 4E Knick and I was happy to oblige.
I'd especially like to give a big shout out to fellow TS member Cowtown Bill for being the driving force behind rallying myself and our friend Brian to get involved in organizing the event as well as a huge shout out to their wives who were there to look after taking in money, help set up and tear down and feed treats to everyone.
I finally got to meet a fellow Gunnutter (Canadiangunnutz) member whose threads I've read and viewed for years and put a face to the username Victory XC. Patrick donated a few very nice printed certificates he designed and made for the event. He made a best new shooter certificate, top gun certificate for the trapshooting portion of the event as well as a 2026 voters choice gun of the year award. A good friend of TS & CGN member Cowtown Bill and his wife Sandra made and donated a beautiful polar bear quilt for a draw prize.
Larry Buzan was the draw winner of the handmade polar bear quilt.
We all did a bit of trapshooting, took lots of pictures, swapped stories of guns on display, shared some treats and shared the histories of our guns with anyone interested. We each shot a full round of trap and the top 5 moved on into a shoot-off for top honours in the Trap Challenge. I was fortunate to come out on top shooting my 1957 4E Knick and was shocked when my 5E Knick was the voters choice award winning 2026 Gun Of The Year...100 years after it was made!
High gun honours presented to yours truly by Brian and below voters choice award winning 2026 Gun Of The Year Award presented by Cowtown Bill.
Here is one probably not seen on a trap field except for maybe the Nostalgia Shoot at The Grand in a number of decades.
A full squad of shooters with 3 of the 5 shooting Ithaca 4E Knicks.
Left to right fellow TS member Cowtown Bill with his 1959 4E Knick, yours truly(Canuck) with my 1957 4E Knick, CGN'r Victory XC shooting his pre-WW2 Heym SxS, our friend Dave who borrowed my 1963 4E Knick and our friend Brian who shot his Winchester Model 21 Trap. Quite a host of vintage guns and vintage shooters!
We are all excited developing plans for next years event already and are hoping to make it bigger and better.
