doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com New England Arms Corp

Yeah - I think he's Paul's bigger brother.

Hahaha

It's McCarthy. Stephen McCarthy.

OWD

Jim Austin and I go back to the mid-70's, when we were both grad students at Northern Iowa, me in French, Jim in English. Believe he was teaching English at Coe College in Cedar Rapids at the time. Hunted grouse and quail with him one day. Started in NE Iowa, moved a few grouse, didn't kill any. Jim was using a Remington 12ga of some sort, me my first classic sxs, a pre-war Sauer 16. We then chased some quail down around Cedar Rapids, and for that occasion, Jim dug out a Diana Grade Superposed 28ga. I was suitably impressed. Back then, he was living in the 2nd floor apartment of a big, old house in Cedar Rapids with an arthritic shorthair and a serious collection of Lugers.

Fast forward 20+ years, I visited NE Arms while on vacation with the wife in New England. That was when Jim was a guest of Uncle Sam and McCarthy was running the place. I mentioned to McCarthy that I knew Jim from long ago in Iowa. "Would you like to talk to him?" he asked me. Trying to be very diplomatic, I said: "I understood that Jim isn't . . . here, just now." "Oh no," says McCarthy, "but he calls in every day about this time." And a few minutes later, sure enough, he did--and we talked.

They were importing FAIR OU's when they went out of business. Cabela's bought up most of those, as well as several SIACE hammerguns. Quite a bit of the really high dollar stuff ended up at a place called Dewing's in FL, which eventually went out of business as well.

NE Arms was quite a place. Just the property, on the water in Kittery Point, had to be worth a bundle.

That Kittery Point property was stunning. Steve was a bit reserved with me at first, but after we started talking about guns a bit he warmed up quickly. I was still in the big learning curve you start out at in fine guns and he was most helpful. I learned a lot on that day. It's a darn shame that store isn't still around, but I do have a Arrieta because of him.

I first met Jim in 72 or 73 when he was substitute teaching at the high school in my town. We hit it off real well and I even lived in his one room apartment for awhile when I was separated from my wife.He offered me a job working for him at the same time I was hired at Deere's. He said that I knew a lot about doubles and he could teach me the rest. Given his knowledge I took that as a compliment.In retrospect I'm glad I went to Deere's but it would have been fun working for Jim.I'll never forget doing the Rochester,Minnesota gunshow with him and he had a CHE 24" 28 guage in the original A&F case that he sold to Bill Sisney and a bunch of other high end stuff. Some guy came over to Jim and said that he needed money to pay on his Lincoln and would Jim please buy his Midas grade Broadway trap gun. Jim did just that,for 1500,and put it on his table.I have a lot of Jim stories and I was sorry to hear he screwed up. My wife absolutely hated him as he was pulling me over to the "dark" side.

The first time I went out to that beautiful cherry paneled old barn on Kittery Point was when my Wife and I were touring New England in May 1985. Jim liberated some of my money, and I liberated a great little Ithaca NID No. 2, 28-gauge. I remember stopping by there another time we were in the area, and the only person there was David Trevellion. All I bought that ime was some 2 1/2 inch English shells. Last time I was there was September 1991, and I got a No. 30 Expert Grade Tobin 16-gauge, and have always wished I'd have had enough money to get the heavy 32-inch barrel straight gripped Tobin Pigeon Gun that was also there. Have never seen another Tobin like it. Dangerous place for me to visit!!

I think Jim had a real gift for telling stories about his life and family.I still laugh when I remember of him telling me of his arrest for assault and his grandmother's reaction.

Anyone want to venture a guess as to how much a gun like mine might be presently worth?

A standard Arrieta 578 currently lists for around $7200-$7400 last time I checked and word has it that the prices of Basque doubles are expected to jump substantially once again...

I wonder what the addition of bulino engraving would cost in the current market. Any idea?