Surprised nothing in the Journal about this?? I had to find it another Mag.

Warren Greatbatch collection is being sold at Amoskeag

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Check the back pages of the current Journal ...
AMOSKEAG Ad for Sale No 100, March 29th 2014

Here Tom;

Thanks Bob I will get the issue someday. The entire catalogue is posted on line for free viewing but as with Ray Day I will get the catalogue also.

I'm a little more philosophical about it, Harry.   Not having great wealth means I can never be tempted to collect rifles like that, which I would be required by my peers to leave in an expensive air-conditioned safe room and never shoot, or even take apart.  Being limited to old junkers, nobody cares whether I replace a pin or a screw or an extractor or even a barrel with something not fully documented in triplicate as being original to the gun.  (Oh, the horror!)   

How about a lottery/raffle? Every member the ASSRA 
is required to kick in $15.00. The money is used to buy a rifle from the Greatbatch auction, and then we have a drawning and a member gets the rifle. The only caveat is, since I thought of it. I automatically get the first rifle. Sounds fair to me. 

Kurt

I have a couple of thoughts to those whingeing about the Journal and the misinterpretation of what we said when we moved the Journal back to regular mail. We found that for the vast majority of members the Journal comes exactly as fast either way it’s just more expensive sending it first class. The first class designation gets you no special treatment at the post office. The printer delivers the mags to the post office and they process as many as they decide they have time for. They grab a mail bin and process it and if it doesn’t cut into their break time they do another one. If your bin is on top its get sent out first if not maybe they’ll get to it tomorrow. Given our government’s attitude that is the best we can do. I hope that Keith will chime in about the mags that get returned addressed to members who have been getting the Journal for years now marked NO SUCH ADDRESS. Either way as there is no time advantage we felt it was wasting money to continue to pay for services that were perceived but not delivered. 

John Merz

Wow !!!  Nice to know there are other's in the same boat (as I) that would have had to develop their Firearm "collection" by time and patience while raising a family in these wonderful year's...

Now as my clock tick's down, I can only enjoy the tinkering and occasional chatter that interest's me and wonder if I would have changed anything had I had the resource's to do so ...

God-Speed to all...

Ed....

I think Ed Mason, as quoted by Jay Kimmel in his Stevens/Savage book, put it rather well.  When asked why he collected Stevens by a noted Colt/Sharps/Winchester collector, (to paraphrase):  "All the real collectors already possess all the best firearms, so rather than searching for needles in haystacks, I've made a collection of the hay."

uscra112 wrote on Mar 10^th, 2014 at 9:13am:


Hello uscra112,

If I was ever wealthy enough to be able to purchase such fine firearms, the last place they would be is permanently resting in a safe. I'd shoot them. I can't imagine that some of the past owners never shot them, that's too much of a stretch of the imagination. remember the rifle users of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries used powders and primers that were very corrosive. They couldn't afford to leave cleaning their rifles until they got home, or the following day, not unless they wanted a rusted and or pitted barrel chamber and/or rifling. 

I'd definitely use them but at the same time I would take great care of them. Nearly 60 years ago when in the ATC (RAF Cadets) we came off the range having shot the old SMLE rifle in .303 British, and before we left the range the rifle had to be boiled out because the ammo was still corrosive. The Duty Armourer was present and he checked every rifle to see it had been cleaned correctly. If he wasn't happy you did it again and again, that meant he didn't have to do it later himself.   

Harry

During a range discussion and good-natured ribbing on the subject of Winchester over Stevens one of our more sage shooter / collectors stated that he was always amazed at how sloppy Stevens actions were. When asked why Stevens won so many matches he replied, “I never said they didn’t make great barrels” So endth the lesson.

40 Rod

Bent_Ramrod wrote on Mar 12^th, 2014 at 4:55pm:


They didn't, at least, until a juicy enough contract fell into their laps--the Westinghouse deal, I mean.  "They" were Stevens' top management & chief share-holders, so there's no reason to think this deal--which, though it didn't kill the company outright, seriously wounded it--was forced down their throats by the machinations of others.  What happened to the profits from that deal?  Sure didn't do back into the company.

How Mr Greatbatch came to have the resources to be able to amass this amazing collection has no meaning to me. I am in awe that he had the interest, drive, imagination, and good taste to do it. I'd like to say  "well done" to him.

Something that no one has mentioned about Warren is his generosity. There have been many envious mentions about his monetary standing but not one mention of his generosity to the ASSRA and shooters. Yes he has the wealth to indulge his passions but he has also given generously back. A couple of examples:
  I remember one year that he showed up at Etna Green with a beautiful Colt Gatling gun, complete with ground mount and the camel mount it came with. He set it up and let anyone with ten dollars crank off a magazine; all the money went to the ASSRA. 
  I also remember the first year that I joined the Western New York Schuetzen Society I attended their July picnic. Among others Leo Cook was there he always brought a few items from his extensive collection for the rest of us to slobber over. He would teach any one who wanted to learn about what he brought. As Leo told me about a Pope he had and explained the fine points Warren came over. After Leo was finished Warren asked if I had ever shot a Pope rifle. No I said this is the first time I had ever seen a real Pope in person. Warren asked would you like to shoot mine? I jumped at the chance simultaneously terrified that I would somehow screw up a valuable Pope. Warren took me step-by-step how to use the false muzzle, how to use the hickory loading-rod, how to load the shell with the Pope measure and place a card wad on top. When we were done he pointed me at the target and told me to aim and shoot. I still remember how great the triggers were on that rifle. I will always remember Warren’s generosity to a glassy-eyed guy who was just getting started. 

40 Rod

I think Mr. Greatbatch also made his complete collection of Shooting and Fishing available to Tom Rowe to copy and publish.  I never would have been able to read that material if he hadn't allowed its publication and distribution.  For that alone he deserves my gratitude.

A friend and I were talking a few years back about the plethora of copies of the old single shots that were now available.  When we started, we could only afford relic condition originals, and couldn't afford the fees even an incompetent gunsmith charged for fixing them up.  We had to learn to do that ourselves or go without.  We agreed that if the copies were around then, we would never have bothered with the original junkers.  We also agreed we wouldn't have had half the fun or learned a quarter of what we did if they had been available.

A museum grade original is very nice, but I get an extra kick out of shooting something I had to exert myself to get shooting again.  So I don't envy the owners of the fine originals.  Each to his own.

I imagine that even the collectors of fine original specimens also have plenty of "clunkers" laying around.

I've been fortunate to be around both in my life, and there's much to be said for both the fine originals and our projects. At my age and in my mind buying an old gun original or not is like putting money in my 401k. I don't think values will ever really go down......

John

uscra112 wrote on Mar 14^th, 2014 at 12:00am:


All right, I just gotta know, what year is the BSA?

Maybe the answer ought to go in a new Stevens History thread so it can more readily be found in the future. 
But what was this "Westinghouse deal' and why would the government take an interest in it?  


And just an added comment: Warren has been very generous and supportive of ASSRA over the years in ways great and small.

uscra112 wrote on Mar 16^th, 2014 at 4:50am:


Quite a number of "how-to" pieces were published while the "Russian Sporter" craze lasted, which was as long as the supply of rifles & ammo available at give-away prices held out.  Jim Foral wrote an excellent review of this strange fad in the '99 Gun Digest.

But back to the Westinghouse take-over.  May I ask what your source is for 1914 as the date of the dirty deal?  May be correct, but conflicts with other sources, such as Cope's book on Stevens pistols. 

Large "local" (an hour form here) has bought containers of ex-mil etc bolt guns, crates of old Mausers in many flavors, Nagants, even some 7mm mil 'rollers.  They also have hundreds of really nice Schultz and Larsen bolt 22 single shot target rifles in all sorts of variations

Mr. Greatbatch also had a nice selection of fine single shots in the December 2005 premier firearms auction at Rock Island auctions. More testing of the waters?

Mr  Greatbatch spends part of his time in northwestern NY and part in FL. Storage and security became an issue.He spent years financing various writers in an attempt to get a really good book written about Harry Pope. After much money spent, and many abortive starts, he finally found Tom Rowe. As I'm sure most of you know, Tom has gotten a 2 volume set done on the Hartford years. It is a spectacular set, but wheels should be attached to the box in which they are delivered. By the time Tom is done, it will probably take 3 more huge books. We all owe Warren a large debt of gratitude for sticking with the project for as long as he has.