An Australian gun builder

[Colonial Boy]

This seems the only apptopriate place to show a photo I only just found on the net.
It’s a nice shot of Lyn Caldwell taken in 1954 at his workshop in Lithgow NSW, Australia.
This was the year before I first met him, which was the start of a long friendship.
He was originally from New Zealand, and as I mentioned elsewhere, made the first firearm built entirely in thar country, it was a .38 flintlock and although the barrel was from a long Le-Enfield because he bored it out and rifled it it was considered to be a new barrel.

 

[Notchy Bob]

Cool! One of the real old-timers!

The word that comes to mind is bricolage, "construction or creation from a diverse range of available things." Old-time backwoods gunsmiths were masters of the art, or bricoleurs.

Is the rifle in the photo the one with the Lee-Enfield barrel?

Notchy Bob

 

[broadarrow]

Hi Colonial Boy, my shooting buddy has a DesLyn made by Lyn Caldwell and Des Batcheldor (SIC) in Lithgow that looks a lot like the rifle in that picture, a real lot like it. It was all made onsite in Lithgow and purchased from a dealer in that area a long time after both Lyn and Lester had both passed away, are there any better pics of the rifle in that pic you posted?

 

[Colonial Boy]

Notchy Bob.
Here are better copies, The rifle in the background, resting against the bench, could be the one he built in NZ.

broadarrow,
That’s interesting and no ‘sic’ you got the spelling right; Des was a great bloke and he died relatively young, only in his early 60s.

 

[Colonial Boy]

Here’s a closer one.

 

[broadarrow]

Hi Colonial Boy, almost certain it might be it, we call it the "ugly stick" shoots extremely well and for a home made lock it sparks so well you nearly do not have to prime the pan just wipe the frizzen with your thumb and snap it shut. The barrel is a SAF .50cal barrel, the lock appears to be a more modern shotgun lock with the forged hammer, pan and frizzen attached and the back half of the stock is very Lee-Enfield in its lines. I had a Ruger old army that Des and Lester had tweaked and it shot really well too. Am I remembering correctly in saying they both worked at the Lithgow Small Arms factory as gunsmiths or something of the like?

 

[Colonial Boy]

broadarrow,,
Sorry to take so long to reply; don’t know what they did at the factory but Lyn was a filer on Lee- Enfields, there was a lot of hand work on the bodies.
Those .50 cals made at the SAF are super accurate and I still have one of the first batch that hasn’t been fired.
You’re right about the speed of their locks, not.good lookers mostly but fast as all but the very top English locks
Des and Les in their spare time were successful miners of alluvial gold in the gold carrying rivers, they used to SCUBA dive in the deep holes and clean up the bottom with a powerful suction hose.

 

[broadarrow]

Hi Colonial Boy, on the subject of the SAF I have heard of and seen several "lunchbox" projects that were created at the factory some these being things like a scratch built Ferguson rifles (1 x complete rifle and one un-finished action) and a swivel barrel flintlock and other rifles as well as very good repair work to other originals with broken parts. Would have been an interesting place to work when the factory was in full swing.