Is there any collector interest in Ranger rifles that were made in Gainsville, Texas? Gun shop/drug store in DeLeon has three of them.

Texas magnum. Had one in 300WM. Cool rifle. Bought it b4 the internet. Found it in GunList. Pa dealers store looked like an English safari den. Sold it.

I wish I had taken pictures of the rifles.

I barreled the first action made by Homer Koons in 1966 at Knights Gun Shop, Ft Worth. I questioned Homer as to what metal was used and who heat treated the 4140. I wanted to know more about this project before I would agree to barrel the action. Homer offered me a job to come to Gainesville, Tx and help get the project in operation. I was the first gunsmith hired for Ranger Arms Co.

I know only one other person that worked for Ranger Arms that is still alive. I will try to contact this person and see if we can put a little history of what happened at Ranger Arms. After 6 months at the Plant I tried to show Homer what was wrong with feeding of small caliber shells into the chamber *(25 06). The first actions made didn't have a ramp at the bottom location in the action. This did not have any way to lift the cartridge up to feed into the chamber without hanging up. I spent a week trying to form a magazine box that would load properly. Homer didn't want change the action and I left the company for him to make his mistakes. The first actions made were sent to a Heat Treating Co in Dallas. Most actions were warped so bad that they were scraped. My job was to see that the parts worked as designed. We went to the Sports Show in Dallas with a few rifles for the public to see and they were impressed. I had carved a pattern for one of the rifles and it appeared on the internet a few years ago. I have a picture of this rifle it I can find it. After I left Homer he did change the action as I told him it would feed OK.
If you can find a rifle without the bottom ramp you have a rare find. I believe Joe DeBiel was my replacement in 1968.

This has been so many years ago and I wish I had written down all that happened at the Plant.

Les Brooks, retired gunsmith

Les Brooks, you are the real deal.

This is the first production and it was at the Sports Show in Dallas 1968. I inlayed the butt stock and carved the patterns. I had to make final inspections on the rifles before they left the Plant.

Very cool story AND nice work.

Thanks for the information.