Another question for the gun quiz.  Watched "The Day of the Jackal" on TV a couple of days ago.  The assassin definitely uses a single shot rifle, "custom made by the evil gunsmith".  Does anyone have any idea what sort of action was used?  And what kind of cartridges are those?  I first thought Velo Dogs, but they look too large.  25 Hornet?

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Thuer, I believe you are confused between the name of his range (which I have failed to note reading the book) and the "Shooting Gibraltar", the 100yd shooting contraption he built at his homestead farm in Norfolk, MA ... on a concrete bed & pier with V angle rests and the whole thing covered with canvas in the secluded part of the property surrounded by pine trees .  He built it to exclude any external elements impact when he was doing his various tests 

And it was his buddy, Dr Skinner who christened the contraption the "Shooting Gibraltar"

Are you thinking of the place where Mann and Skinner went to shoot and hunt woodchucks? They called Skinner's place The Medics Woodchuck Preserve. I know for a fact that Dr. Mann, Skinner, Niedner, and it was said Pope went to Shushan, New York. It is also believed that they kept a room there in a boarding house and had a shooting house just outside of town.
Recently I went to Shushan, NY to take a look around. It is a very small , and quaint place with many old buildings, and a covered bridge. The residents there that I talked with haven't a clue of who Dr Mann, Skinner or the rest were. I'm going to contact the local historian and see what I can find. I'm sure that many of you have seen this old photo that I'm posting. It has sparked my interest in the area of Shushan. Have made a few trips there to hunt woodchucks now. Plan to give it a try next year with my old Stevens 44 rifles.

                   Sendaro

Sendaro,

You can probably identify the Medicus Woodchuck Preserve by looking at old land ownership records at the county court house.  It won't be called that, but it was probably owned by one of the woodchuck shooters.

Unless Michael Petrov can tell us.

Waterman

I have a friend that is a county historian for Fulton County New York. I plan to enlist his help with this quest. Funny thing is that even though I'm retired it seem that there is never enough time to do all that I want to do. I guess that some of this is getting older and slowing down a bit more that I had though. 
Killed a nice buck back on the 31st of October. Went to drag him out and found that it wasn't as easy as it once was. Thank God for ATVs!
  At any rate the venture into locating Skinner's place in Hoosick Falls NY was done via PC and Google Earth. Looks like that has all been built over. 
  Would love to find the place at Shushan with their shooting house was. I'll bet that if it was located it wouldn't be to hard to locate where the targets were. That may lead to the recovery of some of the bullets that they shot. I'd just love to have one from that!
It may sound a little silly but I feel a connection to those shooter of yesteryear, as I have also been a woodchuck hunter and on a quest for all the accuracy I can squeeze out of my rifles. 
Shooting the old single shot rifle and using the old equipment is a way of bridging to that past, and having the experience.

The normal group  at Shushan, New York were Dr. Mann, Niedner,  Leopold and Dr. Baker. They had a shooting house they called "The Gun Room".  The last time Mann was there the place had burned down.


Most of the Woodchuck hunting was on the local farmers land.

I'll check into the Skinner stuff and post if I find anything worth while.

Before I say the next thing please understand I am not upset or mad. 

Years ago I  when I saw my pictures hijacked and posted and published without my consent it would upset me so I put my name on them which was then erased or cropped.   I have Mr. Niedner's scrapbook and photo album and I seldom post any historical pictures because of this.  

That is a swell picture of the guys with their gear however I would look at it very close  before I published it. 

Thank you, very much, Michael.

Frank