Info on "L. Camilla" rifle

[kelvinator]

Was at a local gun show today and saw really unique rifle.
It was marked on the top flat "L. Camilla".
.62 cal......wowsers!
Had a realy fancy curly maple halfstock, somehow, stained in a green color.
Inlayed ivory wegde plates, cheeck peice, ivory cap on the ramrod and an ivory blade front sight.
Pewter nose cap.
Iron hardware all browned.
The owner said it was custom built in the early 70's.

Anyone out there know anything about these?

 

[Zonie]

Sounds like L. Camilla used the wrong stuff to stain the stock to me.

Probably "Magic Maple".

The .62's can be kinda hard to find suitable sized roundballs to shoot unless a person wants to buy a bullet mold and make his own.

 

[kelvinator]

Ya....I dunno.
The owner said it was intentional by the builder. Kinda his trademark. Didn't look all that bad really, just diffrent......in a funky 70's way HA.
A very well made and well fit gun though.
Then guy also said he thought L. was for Lou as best he could remember, and he was in New Mexico.

 

[bigboom]

you from dfw area? I just traded for that rifle. It is a custom built made in the states mountain/plains, or hawkin rifle. Beautiful!! .62 is not rare, it is the same as a 20 gauge. Throws up and points better than any rifle I have ever seen. I would like to get more info on the builder.

 

[bigboom]

pics...

 

[Bill Hall]

I don't think Magic Maple existed back then (alot of gun building supplies didn't exist back then). The story I heard was that Lou was experimenting with aqua fortis, way back when few knew what it was, or how to use it. He made his own formula, and I believe he built a few rifles before he learned about applying heat to blush the wood. He tried to compensate for the really green wood by adjusting the formula, which did help. I saw another one of his early rifles that was really really green, but still very beautiful. He learned this stuff as he went along, as many early (1960's) builders did.

By the late 70's he had his rifle building down to an art, many of which were going for $4000 to $5000. Nothing to sneeze at back then. Bill

 

[LaBonte]

Magic Maple Stain has been around since the mid-1950's and it's the chromic acid that as it "dissipates" over time the residue of the chomic acid usually (there have been exceptions) turns green and can get very green. Lots of guys used MM back in the 1960's and 70's. Unfotunately some folks made and still make a chromic acid based stain and call it AF when it's not.

While AF (ferric nitrate) may turn green upon application it seldom if ever stays that way even if not blushed the same way ferric acetate(vinegar/iron mix) will color without blushing - in fact I've had AF darken with just sunlight and it's warmth. Green with AF usually means too hot a mix i.e. too much residual nitric and not enough iron.

 

[Bill Hall]

Well, maybe it was Magic Maple then. :thumbsup: Bill