couple of well known old timers stopped in

Gary Reeder
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Friday, November 15, 2019, 12:16 (2476 days ago)

this morning to say hi. Bill Berlatt and Frank Wells stopped by and spent an hour or so catching up on who is doing what in the industry. Bill is in his mid 80s and has been in the industry forever. Frank Wells, a gun maker from Tucson, who, with his brother Fred Wells made some of the finest rifles known to man. We talked about the friends we have in common, some of whom are gone now. Good friends like Hamilton Bowen, Lee Jurras, Paco Kelly, Jeff and Boge Quinn, John Linebaugh, John Taffin, Fred Wells, Joe Benner, and a lot of others. It is always a privilege for me to spend time with legends in the gun industry. So many of the giants in the gun world are now gone and so few still remain. Some may not be well known to the younger shooters but to me they are history makers in this industry. We also had a laugh at some of those that think they are legends in the industry like Craig Boddington, Art Alphin, and a few others.
It was a good morning.

Craig Boddington,, legend in his own mind

steve todd
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Friday, November 15, 2019, 13:17 (2476 days ago) @ Gary Reeder

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Sorry for the negative, should probably be removed

steve todd
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Friday, November 15, 2019, 13:22 (2476 days ago) @ steve todd

Or i’d want Dick Metcalf in there too.

it's not really negative when it's true.

Gary Reeder
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Friday, November 15, 2019, 14:13 (2476 days ago) @ steve todd

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reply to famous

joepjs
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Friday, November 15, 2019, 15:14 (2476 days ago) @ Gary Reeder

I met Craig at NRA Atlanta and asked his advice on some things which was helpful. I then asked about some articles he wrote pushing this new item or that, and his answer was that he is in the business of selling guns, I should not rush out and buy what writers say is hot and new and wonderful just because they said it. pretty much told me to use my head and read between the lines. good advice!

Art A. started the monolithic solid bullet trend and

Woody
[subject]
Friday, November 15, 2019, 15:39 (2476 days ago) @ joepjs

as we all know many manufacturers followed it, including big names like Federal and he also brought about the chambering of, and manufacturing of ammo of many of the African cartridges that were DEAD..which brought about a refreshed resurgence in those cartridges and the rifles that used them, including a refreshing of the building of both double rifles and bolt rifles in those African cartridges. Without Art A of A-Square, this would have never happened. Maybe not a legend per se, but instrumental in a big way in what I just covered. He made the best DG bullets going at the time with the monolithic solids, the dead tough and the lion load. Sure, he made some mistakes along the way, but did the gun and ammo industry some good too. I still have 4 bags of the monolithic solids and dead tough bullets for my 505 Gibbs and have used his loaded ammo in my 7STW when he was the only one loading it when Layne wrote it up in Shooting Times magazine. Boddington, well he is ok, but no legend either...but everyone is entitled to earn a living. Sorry if I raise any hackles on Art A, but I have used his stuff and it was good, especially when nobody else had a like product. I know he burned a lot of bridges in the industry, but that's not my business.

also proper headstamped brass/ammo for 338-06

Woody
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Friday, November 15, 2019, 15:44 (2476 days ago) @ Woody

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and....? Anyone can have proper headstamped brass made

Gary Reeder
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Friday, November 15, 2019, 15:50 (2476 days ago) @ Woody

I have had over 200,000 rounds of proper headstamped brass made and I sure am nobody special.

Frank Well

james
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Friday, November 15, 2019, 20:07 (2476 days ago) @ Gary Reeder

Had a chance to handle a Frank Wells rifle.... a true artist...

THe Martini Cadet in .25-35 I got from Mike Orr

WB
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Friday, November 15, 2019, 20:19 (2476 days ago) @ james

was built by Frank Wells. It is too nice! I did have a corrosion issue on the lever though, something to do with the bluing salts. It was not totally stopped. I'm going to have to talk to GNR about it.

his products were good but he was such a crook, he owed

Gary Reeder
[subject]
Friday, November 15, 2019, 15:48 (2476 days ago) @ Woody

every supplier in the country, did some stuff that got the ATF and IRS after him. He skipped the country and went to Mexico. Dave Manson, good friend and reamer maker told me some really amazing stories of some of the things Alphin did. If that is your kind of "legend" then we will just have to agree to disagree.

ATF charged, but he was found not guilty..and

Woody
[subject]
Saturday, November 16, 2019, 09:01 (2476 days ago) @ Gary Reeder

I said he wasn't a legend, just instrumental in the resurgence of the African cartridges and the guns that shoot them. Until that time, if you wanted an African cartridge you had to make it yourself and a bolt rifle built was 10K or more and double rifles were sitting on shelves and in gun cabinets left for dead and basically worthless without ammo to shoot or even brass available. He changed that. While he didn't invent the monolithic solids he did start the modern day trend in using them by demonstrating their effectiveness and with the dead tough and lion load pushed other bullet manufacturers into bonded bullet trends. Yes, he was shifty on the business side of things.

A-Square was just the first to really push the solids

charlie A.
[subject]
Friday, November 15, 2019, 16:14 (2476 days ago) @ Woody

They were made for over 100 years and used by most dangerous game hunters in Africa. John Pondoro Taylor wrote about them in his 2 books and they were from the 1940s or early 1950s. So Alphin just took an existing product and promoted it. Give him credit for that but he wasn't the man that started the solids at all. A smart man but a full fledged shyster.

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