Beautiful rifle, not to offend anyone but if they don't think it is beautiful then they have no appreciation for fine work. Frank

Beautiful rifle. Is it perfect? No, has a number of small faults. Most can be corrected.

      Joe. 

RE: the tin plated rifle, I'm confused.  The description says "vibrant case hardening"  What are they referring to?  to me "vibrant' is usually an adjective used with colors.  I don't see any color-caseing except on maybe the hammer and the front sight.

I sorta like the FW/Earle midranges. That first example is really really nice. Every time Steve shows up at EG with one of those actions I start dreaming again. But I'm too gun-poor to act on it.   I'd  really LOVE to see one in gun-grade bronze.

Quote:

I agree, nicely made rifle; but the nickel plate is blinding.
Can't appreciate the graceful curves of the action.
Maybe a satin nickel would have worked better; but still not as nice as CC or rust blued.
But to each his own !
I remember Sharps & Hankins rifles had leather covered barrels to protect them from salt air??
I wonder how well that worked if they actually got wet ??

High dollar rifle buyers want pimped up. Look at that stock wood, pretty but not the same at the factory rifle While Nickel is traditional on a Wesson when new it does not strike me right either.

Like to have one of Steve's mid ranges, if ordering from scratch I think I would look at as many originals as possible & order period correct.  May have to be Nickel, did they make them blue or cased ? Other question was .30 WCF a factory Wesson Caliber ? I don't think so.

No link between money and taste.

Boats

Well to each it's own, Personally If I had a Wesson I would want original caliber.  Like you I prefer the 30/40 over the 30/30 in that case High Wall Winchester would be appropriate. Never made any sense to me to chamber old rifles in new calibers when original calibers are adequate.

Most of these boutique rifles never get shot and are sold to people who don't know much about them anyway

Boats

The work is of the highest order, resembles Glenn Flewless's work or possibly Steve Durren's. Glenn's Wesson BP competition rifle is all of that if not more and not a safe queen. Nickle actions were not that unusual for the period so I fail to see the issue. Sure would hate to see you fellows ragging on a rifle that was possibly built by one of or own on this site, not very gentlemanly like. I find it to be an absolutely beautiful rifle and the work is perfection at its finest.

JLouis

old style nickel is MUCH different than modern It has a softer look, with a deeper, just slightly goldish sheen.  Modern nickel has more chrome in it, so its harder and brighter Like an early 60's Cadillac bumper and grill.  there are still a couple places that do old style nickel, SteveD and Glen have both used them. 
I have a cast Ballard actioned 22 rf rifle (rebarrelled/modern wood) with original factory nickel on the action; and my 1870's chicago-made perc. schuetzen has nickel on the buttplate and lever. they're not bad looking at all.  not what you'd want for a hunting gun, but for target use---who knows it might blind and distract the other shooters.

Since I can't do work that nice, I sure wont judge anyone else's workmanship! But as for the choice of a nickel receiver; I've never cared for them, regardless of who did the work, or what gun it was done on.

The prettiest Wesson Mid-Range that I ever saw was a 40-70. It was silver plated and fully engraved. It came from Wesson’s shop so everything was top notch.
I have to agree it looks pretty shiny now but once the nickel softens it will look better.

40 Rod

.22-5-40 wrote on Feb 12^th, 2014 at 10:27pm:


That's what he says in More SS Rifles...but in SS Rifles, he called them drop-forged--presume at that point, he was guessing, as he said he'd seen only 4 of them.

You guys get all hung up on the bright finish.  Bet you could find a dead cat under that forestock.  I can see the side of the lower tang in one picture.   The borders on the checkering look like the checkerer was drunk and didn't give a damn. The points are stubbed off also. No, not top notch craftsmanship on this rifle.   



      Joe. 

Joe went back and took a closer look at the checkering and it surely does not look like Gleen or Steve's work nor that of a guild member.

JLouis

2nd that, rifle built on a Ruger # 1 may be useful but it's not worth high money to me.

Boy we are critical, but that's the way it is. Nothing at all against Steve Earls fine action, Finished Rifle was just not well planned or executed.

Boats

"Theres an 11 pound 50-140 borchardt set up for long range listed for 18k as well as a 9 lb 40-90 with a swiss buttplate for 19k, the work is impeccable but today they would amount to what custom sharps owners call a "mistake rifle".  They look nice but they're nearly unshootable"
I don't understand the "logic" of the above. In the case of the Wesson, the maker built the rifle according to the instructions of the first owner. This is the way the owner wanted it to be made. I understand that the gun was sold to the dealer who is now offering it for sale. So you're blaming someone for having a rifle built to specs you don't like and blaming a dealer for selling it? In the real world, a Ferrari ain't a Hyundai. As  far as tastes changing, I suggest you look at the Dutcher Ballard book or Marcot's book on Rollers, or some of the books on Colts and Winchesters. Since firearms first started being manufactured there have been fancy guns made and lots of them made to be safe queens. Sam Colt made a slew of fancy cased guns, many of which were never intended to be fired. People with the means can always have the guns of their dreams built and in the process keep gunsmiths employed.

That "mistake rifle" term is a good one. See a lot of Shiloh Sharps that way.  I guess the well heeled guy who watched Quigley ordered it. 

I almost made a mistake with my first CPA 20 years ago. Paul Shuttleworth steered me gently to the right choice.

Boats

40_Rod

"The prettiest Wesson Mid-Range that I ever saw was a 40-70. It was silver plated and fully engraved. It came from Wesson’s shop so everything was top notch.
I have to agree it looks pretty shiny now but once the nickel softens it will look better."

May I ask where you say this engraved 40-70 ??  Was it a Wesson or Maynard 1882 chamber and barrel specs??  Do you remember the S/N??

Pretty rifle

I couldn't disagree more. There are millions of smokeless guns out there. Why would anyone want to ruin a beautiful original by making it into just another smokeless caliber? That's pure sacrilege. The real beauty is in bringing these old masterpieces back and shooting them with black powder in their original caliber.

Were it an original Wesson, Fogman, I might concede the point, but this is a modern production. It's a fine design, worthy of joining the times.

I saw an original Frank Wesson No 1 Long Range target rifle with both tang sights in immaculate condition at the Colorado Gun Collectors Show in Denver in 2016. It was truly magnificent. If anyone wanted to do a reproduction of a Wesson rifle that's the one to go for.

Just an aside, when Hallowell was in Greenwich Connecticut, he was located across from the Ferrari dealer, (maybe it was Lambo or Maserati) and called himself Maurice.(not Morris)
He had some great items in that shop. I bought an outstanding alligator take-down case.
Aaron