The team of Guild members who created the ACGG -DSC President's rifle. The rifle is a 375 H&H Magnum built on a Mauser action and carrying a Zeiss scope. The team members are left to right; Duane Wiebe, Mike Ullman, Roger Ferrell, Jim Bisio, Steve Nelson, Jeff Tapp, Chuck Grace, Doug Turnbull, Lee Helgeland, Glenn Fewless. The rifle is built by the ACGG and DSC auctioned the rifle at the formal DSC banquet on Saturday night. This year the rifle went for $19,000.00.



This year the Best of Show Award went to Glenn Fewless and Doug Mann for their custom rifle built on an original Gibb's Farquharson action and in .500 caliber. ACGG Executive Director Brett Schwenke presented the award. Left to right Glenn Fewless, Doug Mann, Brett Schwenke.

Some real superstars there. Congratulations to the winners for that Farquharson!

Thanks for the update.

The talent and guns on display in Dallas this year were over the top! From Duane's take-down .404 to Tommy Kaye's engraving, all were well worth the 4 hour drive to take it in! Well done ladies and gentlemen and we look forward to a long association with the DSC Show!

Anyone get any pics of the Farquharson?

Tim, Do a search in the single shot area. Mr Fewless has posted about it some time ago. IIRC it's a 500 NE.

EDIT; Tim I had some extra time on my hands and looked it up for you.

http://forums.accuratereloadin...231046621#7231046621

Apparently photos o;f the rifles are forthcoming later this week...sorry about that. I "sponsored" the posting ..hope it gets sorted out.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike Brooks:
Tim, Do a search in the single shot area. Mr Fewless has posted about it some time ago. IIRC it's a 500 NE.

EDIT; Tim I had some extra time on my hands and looked it up for you.

http://forums.accuratereloadin...231046621#7231046621

Thanks a bunch, Mike. Very nice rifle and interesting as a 500 Express - BPE not NE, I assume.

Gentlemen:

Thanks for the kind words. It is humbling to win an award voted on by the people in that room. They have the bar set pretty high. Doug Mann(stockmaker), Bob Strosin(engraver) and I are greatly honored to be so recognized.

Thanks to Mr. Brooks for finding those pictures. I will attach a couple more that were taken after engraving and finishing. The old girl looks pretty good in her new party frock.

Best to all, and thanks to all of you who came to our show!

Glenn Fewless

That is a beautiful rifle. Can someone post some pics of the 375?!!!

quote:

Originally posted by ColoradoMatt:
That is a beautiful rifle. Can someone post some pics of the 375?!!!

YES PLEASE...

quote:

Originally posted by ColoradoMatt:
That is a beautiful rifle. Can someone post some pics of the 375?!!!

I am told there will be pictures of the .375 available later in the week. I will post them when I get them.

Best,

Glenn

Glenn, is my assumption correct; this is a 500 BPE, not a 500NE?

Damn, there is a lot of talent in that first picture. Makes you wonder, where is the next generation of gun making genius coming from? What a group of craftsmen.

quote:

Originally posted by Antlers:
Glenn, is my assumption correct; this is a 500 BPE, not a 500NE?

Mr. Antlers:

It is indeed, by today's designation, a .500-3" BPE. When it was new it was just a .500-3" Express, as they had not invented imitation gunpowder yet.

The action is from about 1878, and the chambering was chosen because it was the only one that Gibbs was using at the time for which brass was still available. The other choices were the .461 Gibbs #1 and #2.

The rifle weighs just over 9 pounds and while the .500 BPE loads are formidable, .500 NE loads would be brutal.

Best,

Glenn

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
Damn, there is a lot of talent in that first picture. Makes you wonder, where is the next generation of gun making genius coming from? What a group of craftsmen.

Mike:

There is indeed an incredible amount of talent in that picture, and it is humbling for me to be in it. There are some truly impressive craftsmen there.

So you noticed all the gray hair, did you? The only only one in the picture without gray hair is Jeff Tapp, the gentleman holding the rifle. I think he may be an impostor...

As for the next generation, that is a concern of the ACGG as well. We are making efforts to reach out to the future generations of gunmakers. The ACGG was able to invite, thanks to the generosity of the Dallas Safari Club and Frank Brownell, over 100 gunsmithing students to our show. In addition to being able to study Guild craftmanship up close and personal, the students were able to bring in their work to be critiqued by the Guild members. Hopefully a few of them will eventually find their way into the custom gunmaking field.

We are working on plans to find and mentor potential new custom gunmakers. I expect that the average custom gunmaker will always be follicularly challenged, as we all had to get old enough to appreciate the art of fine gunmaking. And find the patience to practice it. None the less, the talent has not gone away, it is just our job to find and nurture it.


Best to all,


Glenn

Glenn, thanks for the thoughtful response, particularly regarding the need to nurture the next generation of gunmakers. Sometimes you wonder, not just about gunmakers, but about skilled artisans of all types how many folks will follow in the path of those that have gone before them. I know that in our business, the operation of power plants, we are concerned about the aging work force and what we can do to recruit to the next group of operators, mechanics, etc. As you noted, we too are doing a lot of partnering with local junior colleges and technical colleges.

Don't overlook that you have an up and coming and very talented gunmaker here in Aaron Little.

Now that hunting season is over all I need is a little break in the weather to take some decent pics of the work he did for me (along with Bailey Bradshaw).

Better than the original ACGG work. He will be a huge asset to the community.

quote:

Originally posted by FMC:
Don't overlook that you have an up and coming and very talented gunmaker here in Aaron Little.

Mr. FMC:

I am not familiar with Mr. Little or his work, but if he is a high quality custom gunmaker we would welcome him into our organization. If he is interested in becoming a member of the ACGG he can find out about us at ACGG.org. If there are any questions I can help with he is welcome to contact me directly at vp@acgg.org

Best to all,

Glenn

Aaron's work is indeed very nice and I am proud to say he was one of my students and he has certainly flourished in his association with Bailey. He is an up and commer.

quote:

Originally posted by hst:

quote:

Originally posted by Antlers:
Glenn, is my assumption correct; this is a 500 BPE, not a 500NE?

It is indeed, by today's designation, a .500-3" BPE. When it was new it was just a .500-3" Express, as they had not invented imitation gunpowder yet.

Imitation gunpowder thanks for the info and the chuckle!

more pics of the 375 would be appreciated.

Still no pics of the 375? Well, I guess we'll have to wait until the convention is over.

So was the move to DSC woth it? More traffic/more orders?

quote:

Originally posted by clowdis:
So was the move to DSC worth it? More traffic/more orders?

It was clearly a success. I don't think I am amiss in saying there were more people through our show on the first day in Dallas than there were through all three days of last year's Sparks show.

There was some business done, more than I saw at any of the Reno/ Sparks shows. Howsomever, there is still plenty of room for improvement. We learned a lot this year and will use those lessons to improve next years show.

Come by next year and see!


Glenn

Glenn that is an absolute beauty. Well done and congratulations to the team.

Chris

Good job Glenn. I might have to try and get down there next year. Might bring one for critique.

quote:

Originally posted by clowdis:
Good job Glenn. I might have to try and get down there next year. Might bring one for critique.

clowdis:

In the past the ACGG has invited gunsmithing students to bring their work to the show for critique. We were able to continue that practice this year in Dallas.

The Guild is currently looking at the idea of changing that practice, opening it up to Associate Members of the ACGG. One of the reasons people join as Associates is that they aspire to do Guild quality work. The critiquing would be a benefit of membership, and available to more people than just the students.


Best,

Glenn

http://www.acgg.org/

quote:

Originally posted by

clowdis:

In the past the ACGG has invited gunsmithing students to bring their work to the show for critique. We were able to continue that practice this year in Dallas.

The Guild is currently looking at the idea of changing that practice, opening it up to Associate Members of the ACGG. One of the reasons people join as Associates is that they aspire to do Guild quality work. The critiquing would be a benefit of membership, and available to more people than just the students.


Best,

Glenn

http://www.acgg.org/

This would be a great addition! When I attended CST Mr.Tulowitski organized the first group which unfortunately attended after I graduated. I hope to attend next year and would love to be able to bring some work to get opinions.

I'm new to the ACGG membership committee starting this year. If you need anything, critique on your work etc, just let me know.
Steve Bertram
303-938-1996

quote:

Originally posted by bluefish:
more pics of the 375 would be appreciated.

Yup, still begin ya about the 375 pics!

Matt:

Alas, it seems that no further images of the .375 are forthcoming. The rifle was not finished in time to have professional pictures taken. I was led to believe that there were some other pictures available, but apparently that is not the case.

Sorry about that, Chief.

Glenn

No problem. Thanks for letting us know. Would love to have seen it up close. Do you happen to know any of the build details? Thanks,
Matt

Photos and details are in the latest issue of Gunmaker.