Here is a close up of the action.

runningiron wrote on Dec 21^st, 2009 at 9:49am:


Runningiron,

It's a close look alike for the DeHaas/Miller, perhaps with personal touches added by the maker. I'd suggest you check with the dealer to see if he can put you in touch with whoever sold him the rifle.

There are not thousands of Scheutzen competitors in the USA these days so you may be able to trace C.B.McGee through some of the remaining clubs. Heck someone on this board may even know him. Anyone who went to the trouble of making this rifle surely did it with the intention of competing.

Building a rifle action is not difficult for a trained machinist, even a capable amateur can make one. It's probably much easier for those who are capable of using and have access to a CNC Lathe and Milling machine.

Harry

Runningiron,

Allowing that the original builder is dead did the dealer give you a town or a state where he lived? 

Regarding all the odds and ends that came with the rifle, lets have pictures please, the chances are that you may, or may not have paid too much, but in a couple of years or so you will probably be into profit.

Over the years I bought many weapons and eventually sold them off at three to ten times what I paid for them. That sounds good, but, if I'd hung onto them for another 10 - 20 years they would have been worth thirty times what I paid for them. We learn by our mistakes. 

I think it would be worth trying to trace more info about Mr McGee, it would all add provinence to your rifle.

Harry 

i also saw it on gun broker, Im  pretty sure its a miller and it was a lyman scope. you did well from what I saw was with it.

That Rifle looks very much like a Hauck. he was a single shot enthusiast from Vermont, or at least lived there at one time. He built Rifles primarily in modern calibers. Woodchuck calibers and the like. I say it looks like a Hauck. I am not even sure at this point that I have the spelling right. The last one I saw here in Massachusetts was a .25 Niedner Krag. That was at least 15 years ago, maybe longer. His actions were quite strong and were popular. I hope this will give you another route to look down. I will look thru my literature for any further information and if I find some will post it here. HTH, Regards. FITZ.

Sure looks like an early DeHaas-Miller to me. That upper pin that the extractor rides on looks like brass in the picture. (?) That cut on the front of the lever is not like mine; mine is same thickness all through. If it's a DeHaas you should be able to push that lower pin out easily, with the action cocked, and drop the breachblock out the bottom. 
They made small changes to them over the years. 
I don't think it is a Hoch or a Hauck.

The patent number you want is 3,735,517 and the searches aren't fun. Google patents are easiest. Anyway, that number will get you to the drawings submitted by Frank de Haas and Dean E. Miller.

and I spent a lot of time looking for Cecil Bede McGee. So far I have failed miserably.

A beautiful rifle. Well done.