Does anyone have any experience with rifles built by Ike Ellis. I have been thinking about trading my Heym double rifle for a .505 Gibbs or .500 Jeffery and saw Cabela's had a nice custom .505 on a Granite Mountain action. After looking further I found the same rifle they have for sale listed on Pinterest as being built by Ike Ellis. After more research I discovered Mr. Ellis is now deceased. I know that you take a chance on resale values of custom guns unless they are built by a well recognized builder.

Thanks lindy2,

I wouldn't be concerned if the rifle had been built by someone like Ryan Breeding or Duane Wiebe because I see what their rifle bring on the used market. It just seems like a big chance to take, trading a named rifle like the Heym that is optioned out like my rifle is for a rifle built by a maker I know nothing about.

I don't know Mr. Ellis, but the gun does seem a little overpriced for not being built by a well-known maker. Of course just because I don't know of him doesn't mean that he's not well-known.

It looks well made. Smithson mounts, integral quarter rib, some nice engraving on the bottom metal. Just my personal preference but I'm not in love with the stock design.

Thanks MNR,

I wasn't in love with the stock design or the checkering pattern. I like the English style stock design better with the shorter forearm and more classic English style checkering. I think you are spot on with the pricing being too high. With all those factors I think I will wait for something else to come on the market.

Ike Ellis was from Idaho Falls, ID. IIRC he had a gunshop there. I have seen a few of his rifles and they were very nice, but I was under the impression that gunmaking was a side line, and his rifles must be fairly rare. There is an old Gun Digest with a picture of him with a nice grizzly he shot in the Yukon with a 7x57 of his making.

I met Ike a couple times while visiting a friend in Idaho Falls. He had a gunshop, but was always building a custom, either for someone, or to be put up for sale.
I thought he did very nice work, but, this is coming from a novice in the custom stock making world.

Thanks squeezenhope and the back40

From what I gather from everyone's posts as well as the PM messages I have received, Ike Ellis' rifles were not well know, but were excellent. He seems to have been a private man and for that reason I guess would explain why he was not as well know as many other builders. I appreciate all your responses to my question.

Do you by a gun for it's resale value? If not buy the gun, not the name.

Dave

Thanks nopride2
I always consider the resale value so the name is an important factor. With that being a consideration I have decided to go with a Johannsen in .416 Rigby. I think there will always be a good market for that maker and caliber and I have really liked the .416 Rigby's I have had in the past. Maybe some day I'll find a 505 or 500 Jeffery when I'm in the mood to trade, but this isn't going to be the time.

Hallowell and Co. have had a few of Ike Ellis' rifles over the years. They always seem to be well executed.

Thanks nyrifleman

If Hallowell and Co. sold a few of Mr. Ellis' rifles I think that speaks highly of their quality. I bought my first double rifle from Hallowell about 30 years ago. They have always dealt in high quality firearms.

I have a friend who is lurking and who has a very nice Ike Ellis rifle he got from Hallowell's. It has absolutely great wood. Come on, Ed... show us the gun.

Ike was a great guy - quite the gun trader - and built some might fine custom projects. He was quite well known in the Idaho-Montana region.

I was friends with Ike before his passing. He built a nice rifle, rivaling those of guys that did it full time. In the mid-mountain region, and then spilling into middle America, he's more popular. If you had one of his guns somewhere between Billings, Cody, Lewiston and Spokane, you'd find a devoted follower.

Later in life, he preferred the GMA action, and did good work with them. His stock work seemed very nice in the guns I handled. One of my biggest regrets was not doing a trade with him one time when he wanted an old S&W wheel gun of mine, and he had a 416Rigby GMA based gun in a synthetic stock. I turned him down because I just didn't have the appreciation for that stock that I probably should have. In retrospect, he was trying to give me a gift.

Stokes,

Ike Ellis must have been a really good guy from what everyone has said.

I knew Ike very well, we had lunch together or coffee, at gun shows or when I was up his way or he was down my way. We traded guns about every time we ran across each other, then traded the same guns back sometimes.

.His skill as a gun maker was excellent and as good as the best, He was a good guy and in fact he built quite a few guns for some other gun makers..I reshaped and refinished quite a few used guns for him over the years. He sold some guns for me out of his shop. He was well known in Idaho and the Pacific NW..