Shooting Stick

[wymberley]

My father picked up something like this:

Victorian Patented Shooting Stick (sellingantiques.co.uk)

some 50 odd years ago but it wasn't quite the same. He had an idea of what it might have been but he didn't have the advantage of the internet. I have looked many times and can't find what he actually got. Consequently I'm beginning to wonder if his idea had some merit. He thought that it might have been a gizzit from Mills to Service folk attending a munitions presentation. End of. But we know that this was a Mills product in its own right. However, could they have been improved/modified (sorry) for the above purpose. I ask because I have yet to find another one the same. The only other option that I can come up with is someone with the know-how bought one and had a go:

https://i.ibb.co/QKBgNDK/Mills-Seat.jpg

Any suggestions welcome.

[Savhmr]

It does look like a patented Sir William Mills shooting stick mechanism and it may or may not have been given to those attending munitions exhibitions as Mills was the same chap who invented (amongst other things) the Mills hand grenade.  The one's I've seen were made of steel with leather wrapped handles, so I've not seen one quite like this.  All I know is it's rare.  The Mills family were originally ship builders from Southwick, Sunderland, but he moved to Birmingham where he founded the S-Land munitions company (WM Mills Munitions) and after success with the "Accurate Times Mills Hand Grenade", he later moved to Manchester and sold aluminium golf clubs.  Interesting piece of shooting history!

Edited August 26, 2024 by Savhmr

[wymberley]

28 minutes ago, Savhmr said:

It does look like a patented Sir William Mills shooting stick mechanism and it may or may not have been given to those attending munitions exhibitions as Mills was the same chap who invented (amongst other things) the Mills hand grenade.  The one's I've seen were made of steel with leather wrapped handles, so I've not seen one quite like this.  All I know is it's rare.  The Mills family were originally ship builders from Southwick, Sunderland, but he moved to Birmingham where he founded the S-Land munitions company (WM Mills Munitions) and after success with the "Accurate Times Mills Hand Grenade", he later moved to Manchester and sold aluminium golf clubs.  Interesting piece of shooting history!

Yep, it's a genuine Mills product. I just don't know whether the wooden fixed length 'stick' was replaced by Mills - except for the floor plate which is duly marked, there is nothing stamped on the revised components - or whether it was done by a previous owner; for whom the stick was too short perhaps.

[ditchman]

please feed that leather before it destoys itself...........

i have one but it was made in Parkistan..........nice but not the same as the real thing

[wymberley]

48 minutes ago, ditchman said:

please feed that leather before it destoys itself...........

i have one but it was made in Parkistan..........nice but not the same as the real thing

Many thanks - good point - will do.