History of "Pioneering" Contemporary Rifle Builders

[bioprof]

I recently bought a beautiful longrifle that was built by Art Holly, but when I did a google search to find out about him, I came up virtually empty handed. This got me to thinking, has anyone ever written a book on early contemporary rifle builders of the 1950's and 1960's such as Royland Southgate? It seems like a lot of history might be lost as these master rifle builders pass away. Would there be any interest in a book on these rifle makers?

I apologize if this is posted in the wrong place, but I thought it was related to rifle building.

 

[Coot]

I suggest that you contact the Contemporary Longrifle Association (CLA) a dedicated group of builders & collectors of modern made longrifles. Their annual convention is this weekend (Aug 19 & 20).

 

I knew Art Holly personally and owned several of his rifles. A real gentleman and good builder. He hung out with Roy Keeler in Eaton Rapids Mi. Bob

 

[aragorn]

I think there would be much scope for a book as you suggest, to show not only 'masters' but also exceptional guns built by amateurs. It would have to be a labour of love and I'm not sure how the author would go about seeing and photographing the guns.

Another possibility would be a website (or even a thread on this forum) showing contemporary guns (as on the longrifles website, though that seems to have been pretty static for a long time). It would depend on contributors submitting photos to an exacting standard, according to an established format. The problem seen on this forum is that many of us don't seem to have the patience to produce high-quality pics, though with digital cameras now we all should have the ability to take and edit high-quality, well-lit images that used to be the domain of 'pros.'

The nearest we have at the moment to this kind of catalogue is ToW's archive, which is a wonderful resource, especially with the standardised high-quality photos. The problem of course is that it only shows what Track sells and the majority are not what I would consider exceptional guns - maybe one in 30 or 50 in their archive fit that bill.

Anyway this would be a challenging and worthwhile retirement project for someone and I'd certainly buy the book!

 

[Treerat]

Although its not a book,American Pioneer Video does have two DVD's showcasing modern builders. I found out yesterday that two more should be out soon. The new ones are supposed to show the builders also so you can put a face with the work.
Hope this helps.
Bill