doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Another LA Gunsmith!

A member here has a Krag sporter with the following marking.



When looking for information on LA sporting good stores I ran across a 1937 reference to Walls-Rice Sporting Goods Emporium. I did a little digging on Mr. Hiatt and found one reference to a C. R. Hiatt, Albuquerque, in the 1st Jan, 1940 American Rifleman magazine as a shooter.

Once I have permission from the owner of the Krag I'll post pictures of it here, or he can. I am also trying to get a hold of an owner of another Hiatt marked rifle to see if I can get some pictures.

Anyone know anything about this shop or Hiatt?

Nice work- Krag-Jorgensen BA rifles are not the easiest to restock or sporterize--let us know if you find out more about this LA area custom gunshop- who knows- maybe the Griffin and Howe of Tinseltown-- ???

From an email,

"Claude Hiatt grew up in Arizona and worked for Clyde Baker for 5 years. He moved to New Mexico in the 1930's to Hot Springs (T or C), then to Albuquerque in the late 30's where he had his own gun/machine shop. In about 1941 he moved to the LA area and worked for an Aircraft Co. as a machinist/inspector and did gun work as well. Around 1945 he moved back to Albuquerque where he ran Albuquerque Tool & Die shop and he also did some gun work. Claude died about 1990."

"If you find his name on a gun look for a 4 to 6 digit number which would be the date he did the work."

1930 United States Federal Census about Claude Hiatt
Name: Claude Hiatt
Birth Year: abt 1905
Birthplace: Kansas
Home in 1930: North Kansas, Clay, Missouri
Relation to Head of House: Head
Spouse's Name: Mildred Hiatt
Occupation: Gunsmith gun Club
Household Members:
Name Age
Claude Hiatt 25
Mildred Hiatt 24
Roy Hiatt 3
Pearl Walton 32


Social Security Death Index about Claude R. Hiatt
Name: Claude R. Hiatt
SSN: 554-24-1800
Last Residence: 87110 Albuquerque, Bernalillo, New Mexico, United States of America
Born: 24 Dec 1904
Died: 31 Jul 1992
State (Year) SSN issued: California (Before 1951)

Niedner barrel, Hiatt marked front sight, unknown stockmaker.