A Pat Sweeney Question

[pisgahrifle]

I'm sure someone else has wondered this at some point as well. Why are they called Pepper Poppers? Why not popsicles, swollen fenceposts or something? I figure since Pat probably helped Moses make the first couple he might know!

[AzShooter]

The man that designed them originally was named Pepper and they became the Pepper Popper.

[Patrick Sweeney]

I believe his name was John Pepper, and he lived in Virginia, Maryland or some such place. For some reason, his name and "Quantico" are linked in my memory. And they rank among the most important advances in competition invention.

[pisgahrifle]

I'll sleep much better now!

[AGYoung]

I had the honor of learning my combat shotgun craft from John Pepper in the early '90's. Every Wednesday we would all meet at one of the ranges at Ft Meade, MD and learn from one of the best. The thing I remember the most was shooting a series of wooden 4x4x4 blocks off stands.

I had a discussion with John once about the “Poppers” name and the answer is not quite as above. He called them lollypops because that’s what they looked like and the popped when you hit them. I guess the term got shortened to pops then poppers but John’s name was always associated with them as their inventor.

Does anyone know if John is still around? As I remember, he was “older than dirt” and “deaf as a post” (his words).