Rifle Magazine
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Cover...The 1995 American Custom Gunmakers Guild rifle
is a Winchester Model 21 .405 Winchester Double Rifle.
Photo by Mustafa Bilal.
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Dave Scovill
A.C.G.G. #11 American Double Rifle
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This year's #11 American Custom Gunmakers Guild
rifle is an example that ex-emplifies how the work of
the gun builder has evolved.
Metalsmith Tony Fleming stockmaker Paul Dressel
Jr. and engraver Ralph Bone have created a double rifle that is a rarity to the Amer-ican gun making trade. Casemaker Marvin Huey
has constructed a quality French fitted leather case
that merits such a treasure. The interior of the case is
a forest green ultra suede
that shows off the overall
high quality of the total
project.
Some fortunate indivi-
dual will win the .405 Win-chester double rifle for $20.00, the price of a rifle ticket. The raffle will be
held January 29, 1995.
(The ticket holder need
not be present to win.)
Tony Fleming initiated
the project of modifying a Winchester Model 21 to convert it to a .405 Win-chester rifle, beginning by disassembling the 20-
gauge barrels and fitting
them with .411 inserts and chambering them for the
.405 Winchester. Fleming
then reassembled the bar-
rels , fabricated and fit the
loop, quarter rib, barrel wedges, sights, extractors and ribs. He designed and
fit the receiver discs (remov-able with spanner). A larger hinge pin was installed and
barrels fit to achieve a tight-
er fit at breech and water table.
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The barrels and sights were regulated at 100
yards with 56 grains of
IMR-3031 behind a 300-grain Barnes softpoint or 300-grain Barnes X-bullet. The muzzle velocity is
2,150 to 2,200 fps.
Paul Dressel decided upon Bastogne walnut,
which is half black and
half English walnut. The forend was taken out of
the same block as the buttstock. Dressel's basic stock dimensions were borrowed from an exist
-ing double rifle.
A buttplate was made from a block of horn and
is of shotgun dimensions.
It is checkered 22 lpi.
A large, English style Dressel grip cap was
made with no external screws so that Ralph
Bone, the engraver,
could inscribe a grizzly's
head on it. It is attached
blind behind the extended trigger guard tang. The
rear sling swivel is for
English style sling hooks
and is mounted forward
in the same style.
Dressel designed a for-
end that is not a splinter
style nor a beavertail. By incorporating panels at
the junction of the receiver,
it was possible to give a
little more hand-filling dimensions without the bulk of semi or full beavertail.
This lends itself to quicker handling and less bulk.
For the final touches of
the stock, Dressel checker-ed on the main panels a point pattern style with mul-lered borders and is done 26 lpi. The panels are a combination of point and fill-in pattern of 32 lpi.
Ralph Bone was asked
to engrave the American Double Rifle from a paint-
ing by Haydon Lamson, "Unwilling to Share."
Bone chose a moose
and bison for companion scenes that are framed in
24 karat gold line work.
The scenes are done med-ium to deep relief engrav-ing. One scene shows a prairie dog looking up at
the bison and one must
look closely to see the
hawk in the sky. The other scene has a moose walk-
ing through dead timber.
The rest of the engravings
is on open leaf scroll.
Doug Turnbull rust blued the barrels and polished
the muzzle, breech face
and action lugs. Turnbull
also color casehardened
the forend tip and grip cap. The triggers, safety, butt-plated screws, rear slings stud and forend are nitrate blue. The receiver is char-coal blue and Ralph Bone did French gray treatment
to the scenes.
Don Horsfield handcraft-ed and donated a sling and a four-cartrige holder made of English leather pigskin.
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Ralph Bone
718 North Atlanta
Owasso OK 74055
918 272-9745
Paul Dressel, Jr.
5808A Summitview #200
Yakima WA 98908
(509) 966-9233
Tony Fleming
375 Hyacinth Street
Sparks NV 89436
(702) 331-1937
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Marvin Huey, Jr.
PO Box 22456
Kansas City MO 64113
(816) 444-1637
Doug Turnbull
6426 County Road 30
Holcomb NY 14469
(716) 657-6338
PO Box 113
Terrace, B.C.
Canada V1C 4A2
(250) 638-7746
Fax: 638-7963
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All Photographs by Mastafa Bilal,
5429 Russell Avenue, N.W., Seattle WA
98107