Anyone coming to the MVACA show here in KC this weekend?

Dan brought his display of Griffin, Griffin and Howe, and Howe sporters, it was great.

I picked this up at the show, Dan and I have a pretty good idea of the maker, can you identify him?






dished shadowline cheekpiece


stipling instead of checkering and small circular punch marks
interesting contoured rear sight base



view from the other side



bottom of forend



top view of rear sight base



front sight



Horn forend tip, note white circular insert

The rifle has a horn grip cap and butt plate. The tang is contoured
and there is a slight bevel on the front receiver ring

J.V. Howe

Based on the ivory plug and the cheekpiece.

Thaine

Any marking in barrel channel or underside of the barrel. What's the buttplate look like. I would guess Howe aswell.

When I have a display at a show I very seldom get to walk the show so I depend on my friends to scout out things I may be interested in. Unfortunately at this show the only thing I would have bought is this rifle Fred bought and I only saw it when he ask me to verify his opinion as to the maker. No one else seemed to have seen it and it proves there are still bargains out there.

Dan

The rifle was tucked back into a rack, the seller had it on
consignment and didn't know anything about it. I was pretty
excited, I nearly ran back to Dan's table, and said something like "I think a guy has a J.V. Howe".

In the near future, I will put a folding rear sight on it,
remove the scope and add a cocking piece sight. The cheekpiece
is really set up to support a shooter using iron sights. It is
a slim rifle, and the big scope looks out-of-place on it.

I imagine you will or have disassembled the metal from the stock, are there any interior markings?

Is this treatment on the stock grip and forearm typical of Howe rifles? Or was this added later by some owner?

The only stock makers I was aware of who used that dished cheekpiece are Robert Milhoan and Paul Jaeger, but I don't think either of them made that stock:

Milhoan



Jaeger





The photos in Volume II of Petrov's "Custom Gunmakers of the 20th Century" are dark enough that I had never noticed the same kind of cheekpiece on James V. Howe's rifles. I will add my voice to the chorus of "Howe" opinions.

I took the stock off, but didn't see any markings in the barrel channel. I need to take it off again to make some measurements to figure out how high a replacement rear sight needs to be. I will take some pictures of the inletting. I will let Dan answer Vall's question. It was great having him there at the show.

Speaking of which, Dan's exhibit was fantastic. I really liked
his G&H in 400 Whelen which was stocked by John Wright, the little touches like displaying it on top of its travel case along with a box of G&H 400 ammo, were great. I am so glad that in 2012, Michael Petrov e-mailed "Dan talked with me today and let me know that he will have a Sedgley
display this weekend at the Kansas City gun show and wanted to let you know.
He said for you to stop by and say hello."

Vall, if you mean the use of stippling instead of checkering, this is the first one I have seen that is all stippling but nearly all I have seen have some stippling incorporated into the checkering patterns and he sure seemed to like to use the little circles that look like they may have been done with a nail set. Michael said he liked to do lots of weird things to his stocks. Michael also said that Howe very seldom marked his rifles with his name.
Dan

Are there any pictures out on the web or from forum members showing similar treatments of the grip panels with stippling and the circles?

Can't help but wonder what the stippling looked like when it was new? It's pretty flat and worn down now, and probably it was nicer looking when new?

The stippling was not a popular treatment, and it looks rather amateurish IMO. Since Howe's real fame was metal working it may be another indication that the stock may be by JVH.

I have to agree with you, if I was having a custom rifle made, I would not want stippling.

I had some time to play around today. I took the scope off and put a rear sight on. The rifle looks a lot nicer with the scope off, the stock is really set up for iron sights. I took more pictures, and played around some with the pictures I took. I think these are much nicer than the ones that I originally posted.





The tang has been modified



Here is what the inletting looks like



and some pictures of the horn grip cap and butt plate





there is a small post dovetailed into the barrel, the post is threaded for the sling swivel

Maybe I missed it, but what caliber? .30-06?

Will you shoot it?

I am told it is 30-06, but it isn't marked. I do intend
to shoot it. But, there is a long list of rifles ahead of it.
I need to get to the range more.

LRF, When I finally get all the guns out of the bags I will take some photos for Fred to post. All I got done Mon was to unload the car and get stuff in the house. Today I got all but the guns put away.
Dan

I sent Fred some photos but got an automatic message back that he is gone until the 4th.

If you wish, I'll stand in for Dan and post them for you. You can email them to the address in my profile, and I'll post in the morning.

Brent,
Thanks for the offer but since I already sent them to Fred and he will be back this weekend, I'll just wait for him to post them.

I thought rather then add Dan's pictures to this thread, I thought I would start a new one, with a better title

J.V. Howe stock embellishments