doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Tulsa Find-Hutton

Just back from the big gun show in Tulsa. Found and interesting rifle. I'll get the camera out later this week and get some better pictures posted, but for now, here is a little teaser.


See Michael's post from a few months ago here

More to come.

John

Michael, I don't remember the thread, but I thought we had determined that Mr. Hutton possibly was the gunsmith who relocated to the Berryville, VA area after leaving Parker Whelen. That person had a shop up the mountain from Ben Toxvard's Shenendoah Guns. He was the owner of my Parker Try Gun that came from PW and ended up with the gunsmith on the mountain and then to his gunsmithing student, Ben Toxvard. I will try to find the thread. Bill Murphy

As promised, here are some additional pictures. I believe the rifle started out as an NRA sporter and still has the original barrel. If anyone here can check the number with the SRS it is 1407349 and it would be much appreciated. The barrel has the remains of the star on the muzzle and the star gage number on the bottom under the forend. The closer I look at this rifle the more little details I find. The super grade swivels are engraved. The feed ramps are polished, and the trigger workings are polished and engine turned. The bead on the cheekpiece terminates in a neat little curl on the front of the comb nose. The tang has been reshaped to a more streamlined shape. The trigger guard has been streamlined. I just can't figure out why they copied this ugly Linden checkering pattern.

Enjoy,
John

Super rifle John, congratulations! Very nice photographs.

1407349 is a NRA Sporter. Is the Niedner mount marked A.O. Niedner or Niedner Rifle Corp?

"I just can't figure out why they copied this ugly Linden checkering pattern."

Because Whelen's rifle was in the same shop and a customer saw it ;-).

Thanks Michael, Mount is marked

Niedner Rifle Corp
Dowagiac, Mich

John

Wow! Great pictures too.

"Ugly Linden Checkering Pattern?" Hey I've got a great idea,why don't you have the checkering recut into one of those nifty German acorn patterns,or better yet a super modern Weatherby Basketweave...Sharp!

�and I agree, the checkering doesn't begin to follow the stock lines.

the engraving might be??? Kornbrath?? Fugger?? depending on era??

Nice rifle, we all want to know if the Tulsa show is a place to find bargains??
Sorry for all the question marks...

I believe this only makes my second engraved gun, so I am not the one to ask about engraving. However, the experts that we did consult, believe it is a Kornbrath moose, possibly with Fugger doing the surrounding scroll work.

No bargains from the bigger dealers who know what they have. My goal at any gun show it to find the sleeper. The gun that the dealer does not really know what it is. The Tom Burgess/R.G. Owen that Nick brought to your shop earlier this year I found sitting on a table with a bunch of hardware store guns at Tulsa a few years ago. It was dirty and unkept at the time and I paid about what you would pay for a used Rem 700. In addition to the Hutton rifle, at this show I also found a very nicely stocked .270 that had D Erhardt engraved on the barrel. I suspect you know who that is. I paid probably about a third of what you would spend just on the stock today. And the checkering on it is a beautifully executed point pattern with border so that kind of makes up for the checkering on the above rifle.

John

Whilst the checkering may not blend smoothly with the lines of the stock, I still wouldn't kick it out of bed for eating crackers! Nice find- congrats.

It's hard for me to tell the early work of Fugger from Kornbrath. Fugger was working with Kornbrath and they did the same things over and over.

I called it a "Kornbrath" Moose but, after talking with a true expert on the subject I think Fugger did the whole thing.

In the overall scope of things it speaks for it's self, fine engraving done by a master.

The Linden-Whelen rifle talked about. Picture supplied by Townsend Whelen Bowling.

Very nice rifle, congratulations!

The TW rifle in the photo above turned up about 50 miles from me a few years back with an individual that didn't know anything about it. I think it had been given to him. Michael knows the story and of course I tried to acquire it. The person that owned it had no real appreciation for it other that the value that it had. The bigger my offer the harder he ran. I believed it ended up at auction and sold for less than I had offered. It had been in a nice photo with TW on the cover of American Rifleman, I cannot remember the year. Win some lose some.

Thanks Michael! I'm guessing he had just gotten it back from G&H (1938)and wanted to try it out.

I really like this rifle. I like that the checkering is not the norm, too.

Another Hutton surfaced, a friend here in Alaska found it.

Pictures in the future.

LOL, they'll be showing up everywhere now that the famous Michael Petrov has written about them. Someone probably went out and had a HUTTON stamp made up. Next thing you know we will find some stamped HUTUN to go along with the Shelhammer guns.

Funny how he was on the cover of AR in 1939, yet never really got the attention of some of the others even though his work is right up there with the best.

John

For most of the men who worked for someone else they never did get into the spotlight.

Hutton worked for G&H but don't recall any stocks from G&H with his stamp in them.

I suspect that many of the "Unknowns" were made in the larger sporting goods stores like VL&D and A&F and others. We may never learn their names.

I have to tell you guys the bad news. Most of the guns that Hutton built after he left Parker Whelen are probably spread around the Virginia countryside and will not be discovered in the near future. Hutton probably did about ninety percent of his post PW work for local customers in the Virginia hunt country.

gasgunner,

Your newly acquired Hutton is a beauty. I like everything about it ... including the checking. The little details, i.e. the front sight ramp, are very nice. You should be tickled as heck to have made it yours. As to the checkering, you know there was a gent named Fred Adolf that did a lot of different things and gained great notoriety. BTW, and not that it would matter, what is the cartridge of choice for this little gem?

Mark

Thanks for the comments. Fred Adolf is on my list.

The above rifle is chambered for 30-06. The rifle started life as an NRA sporter and still has the original Springfield Armory barrel.

John

I have to agree with Mark. While I'm not a big bolt rifle fan, the uniqueness of the Hutton coupled with what appears to be top drawer quality of execution makes definitely interesting.

I still don't like the checkering but as to Why? I'd presume the client requested it.

The checkering appears t have been cut by a "mechanic" rather that an craftsman. Meticulous work but demonstrating no artistic layout skill.
I don't think the engraving was by Kornbrath either. I've looked at a lot of his work over the years including moose and this one doesn't look like other examples I've seen.
However whoever did the engraving did an excellent job IMO.
Jim

Well I suppose one mans neat is another mans poison but I think for what its worth its a great rifle. I like the style, checkering and the engraving.
Damn ugly scope mount though.

Among the things I like about this rifle is the wood. On a lot of these old, fancy sporters, the wood seems to be very understated. No marble cake or intense fiddle or crotch figure. And I like this much better, though I've gone down the fancy wood road a time or two in the past.

So, if one was trying to buy a similar stick of wood from an established dealer of quality gun lumber, what does one call this? And how much is such a blank likely to run. I know this is highly subjective but I don't consider this TripleX fancy grade that would run $1000 or even $500.

Then again, maybe I'm missing something.

And, oh yes, I'm stumbling around looking for a stick of wood. Suddenly the blanks in my basement don't look this nice anymore.

Brent

This is the last place that I know he was. If you find anything I can start tracing it would be most welcome.

1942: address 1720 Barton Street Arlington, VA

Here are a few pictures of Hutton No.3.

I think the owner is out hunting so I'll tell you what I know, it's a Winchester 54 re-barreled in 257 Roberts. Appears a few things have been done to the rifle after it left Hutton's hands.

Hello to all, I am the owner of Hutton #3, and Thank You MP for posting the pictures. Hope you guy's like the checkering?
Dan.

Dan, Yea..you made it. Hope to see more post from you as time goes on.

You could share your Worthen restoration project with us.

Dan,
Nice rifle! Would very much like to see a pic of the forearm and its end treatment.
+1 on Michael's request concerning the Worthen project.

Thank You LRF, I am new to this sight and not to computer Savy but working on that(pictures). The Hutton has some fine workmanship but since it left his hands there have been a few 'Hic-Ups. (Re-barrel & Bolt handle). Can't figure why the bolt handle was altered when the factory orig. would have cleared that Noske scope?
Anyway,I think I sent MP a few pics of the forearm & barrel channel. May-be he can post them until I can figure how to myself.
The Worthen project is coming along just fine but some parts have been hard to find and others need to be hand made. I will post pics in the near future. Dan.

I would love to see the Worthen as well. I really enjoy his slender style of stocking.

Forearm for Hutton #3. Sorry for the long delay. Dan