On another thread savage99 posted a picture of a classic highwall varmint rifle. Why is it that such rifles are so hard to find today? In the early days of high velocity cartridges there was a gunsmith on everyblock turning out such rifles, yet they seem to never show up at the gun shows. You see a few butcher jobs, but the good examples as savage99 posted are very hard to find. Were there just not that many of them done, or have they all been converted back to black powder rifles?

John

The black powder cartridge and schuetzen game has grown by leaps and bounds over the last thirty years. Many of these varmint rifles have been bought for the actions, seems the more expensive ones have been spared. No one is going to dismantle a Griffin & Howe or Niedner-Shelhamer for the action. Some folks not recognizing quality work have taken apart some nice rifles. I guess its all about how you look at it, at one time you could not give away single-shot rifles, now folks are hunting them down regardless of the condition. I have a .25 Krag made by Niedner from a Sharps-Borchardt Long Range Creedmoor rifle that would make a Sharps collector cry. Today no one would even consider that sort of conversion.

That is about what I figured. I seen a C.C. Johnson high wall in .22 lovell at a gun show a few weeks ago. You could sure tell he didn't like stock work. The $2400 price seemed a bit high for the quality of workmanship. I also didn't care for the birdseye maple.

John