Anyone familar with the work of John Saunders? He's been affiliated with Century Arms and The Farquharson Rifle Company both in Victoria.

The rifle I'm examining looks top notch, but I've not heard much about Mr. Saunders' work. Any comments would greatly be appreciated!

FFg

FFg
As far as I know john Saunders did not do any gunsmithing work himself. He is/was more of an arms wheeler and dealer and along with a couple of other individuals he imported many Pommy doubles, singles and bolt rifles mainly from India over the years. This was back in the days when all the old nitro rounds were not being made so these guys bought up thousands of rifles and would have probably kept the cream for themselves and restored and sold off the rest.
Saunders owned London Guns in Victoria and much of the restoration work was done by a German gunsmith by the name of Rolf Bachnic who now has his own business.
They also made custom rifles based on the English style and designed and made a couple of big Farquarson actioned rifles in .700.
Thats about all I know on the subject - perhaps some of the other Aussies might know more.
Cheers
GG

FFg,
GG375's answer is basically correct. John Saunders was the proprietor of Century Arms/London Guns/Imperial Cartridge Company, and brought together people that allowed him to build the custom rifles they produced. The .600 Nitro Farquharsons were built using the combined talents of Ross Waghorn (stock), Jeff Brown (engraving) and Phil Vinnicombe I think (don't quote me this is all hazy memory!). Rolf Bachnick also worked at Century Arms for over a decade and is doing his own work now. If you want to fax him its : 03-9739 5792, in Australia obviously. I saw John a fortnight ago at the Big Game Rifle Club, so he's still around and I believe he may now be the importer for Merkel double rifles in Australia. Certainly an interesting man with a vision!!
Hope this helps...
Con

Thanks Gents! I do appreciate your comments and prompt reply. I am looking at one of his takedown Farquharsons in .577NE. It was built under the Farquharsons Rifle Company name. It looks like a lovely piece. My only hesistation now is the 'take-down" feature on a gun this large. Judging by his other work, I'm sure he knows what he is doing. I did see photos of his 4 bore. Wow! Thank you once again.

FFg

John Saunders actually did some of the gunsmithing himself. Century Arms rebarrelled a few rifles for me many years ago and I watched John cutting the threads on one of my barrels. All the work that I saw come out of the shop was first class.