doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Buck Hamlin

Good to see you posting again, Walton. Been a while. Hope you are well.

My condolences to the Hamlin family.

This weekend I'll be shooting the 8 bore whose barrels he re-browned just last year. He was a pleasure to deal with and did a beautiful job for a very modest cost.

never did bidness wid buck...

but know udders who have,,,

he will be missed...

may he now be in a better place...

Always enjoyed his turkey hunting stories in the LC Smith and Lefever journals. I never used him but almost did once.

What a wonderful guy. He was helpful when asked for assistance, outstanding in his professional capacity. His passing is a terrible loss May he rest in peace.

Buck Hamlin was the "GO-TO-GUY" for repair or refurbishing classic American SxS's. He operated in a small cabin behind his home in Pevely, MO. (St. Louis suburb.) Over the years he had built a huge knowledge base concerning original finish, coloring, checkering, etc of the classic American SxS's. He especially liked: LC Smith's, Foxes, and Lefevers.

Un fortunately, most of this knowledge passed with him; I don't think he ever had an assistant or helper. Visiting his shop was a treat, and he loved to talk about projects he was working on at the time. Collectors all over the USA shipped special projects to him. He custom-made any missing or broken parts.

In addition to shotguns, Buck often had a muscle car rebuild underway in his garage. He liked to redo big block cars from the 60's and 70's. He informally raced them on back roads near his home.

We will all miss Mr. Hamlin.

Way back when I was editor of the L.C. Smith Journal I was collecting information on the Syracuse line of L.C. Smith's, taking serial numbers and pictures when available. I had talked with Tom Archer who in my opinion knows more about these guns than anyone. Tom was a good friend to Buck and I told him what information I was looking for and he said give Buck a call. My questions to him were that in the catalogs of Syracuse they gave the grades of 12 gauge and 10 gauge and the barrel lengths of 30" or 32", then written was they were offered in 3 difference weight classes Medium, Heavy, and Extra Heavy so I asked Buck if he had any knowledge of that and anything written. He knew of the weights and had seen many but the only thing he told me was that the difference would be in the barrel weights and the difference between the firing pin holes. Since that conversation whenever I had the chance to get the information I did and recorded it. When Lyman sold the company to John Hunter Sr. the early Fulton line looked like the Syracuse guns but in my records the serial numbers started at 30000, whereas 25000-29999 were all hammer guns.

From 1888 Catalog
Gauge: Weight: Length:
10 8 ½ to 9 ¾ 30
10 9 ½ to 11 32
12 7 ½ to 9 ¼ 30
12 9 to 9 ½ 32


Yes he will be missed and a tremendous amount of information and knowledge will be lost. RIP Buck.

Big blocks and doubleguns are a winning combination. Godspeed Buck!

A double gunsmith who informally restored and raced muscle cars in his spare time?

Mores the pity.

Best,
Ted

This Saddens me greatly as Buck is one hell of a guy and he refinished and or repaired over 30 damascus barrels for me. The double gun community has great reason to mourn. My heart goes out to the family. He will be greatly missed.