doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Robert G. (Bob) Owen

Another evolution step in the Owen, Flat pistol grip, and steel buttplate but still has the schnabel. None of these early rifles are marked with the Owen name.

Beautiful rifles. I really like the lines on the plain rifle with the red colored wood the best. That looks like a lifetime companion type rifle. By the way that little Marlin of SDH's is beautiful and I hope we get to see how the Hagn turns out.

Jerry Liles

Jerry,

I like the plain rifles the best when comparing the work of different makers.

During the depression Bob Owen was in Arizona building houses. He later returned east and went to work for Winchester in their custom shop. It seems he did a little stock work when working for Winchester on the side but I've never seen a rifle that I knew he made when he was out West. When the war broke out he moved to Port Clinton, Ohio to work on the M1-Carbine. After the war he stayed in Port Clinton and made stocks until his death in 1959.

I've been lurking around here for awhile and don't have much in the way of high quality pieces to contribute. Now, that Remington is nothing short of spectacular.

As far as Bob Owen's rifles, the only complaint is they are usually out of my budget.

Welcome texraid, My own collection is very small, fortunately I get to have other folk's guns around to study. We're lucky to get to see these (with excellent photograph) via this forum.

Jerry, thanks for asking, I'll be sure and post some pix of the Hagn in a few months.

SDH..Why wouldn't you think any customer/client could come up with the idea to create the deluxe L/A ? It's a beautiful rifle BTW! I don't think you're giving folks that don't necessarily have the skills to build and create, the credit for knowing what they might want the finished piece to be. I realize there are some, but for the most part they have an idea of what they want.
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I like the metal reshape on the Hagn BTW. What caliber is it in?
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MP.....Did RG Owen buy or import guns from Heym in Germany and then put his name on them to sell with out gunsmithing them ?(restocking, checkering, etc). (You mention the pictures of the rifle stocked in Germany with the Owen name on the barrel.) He bought parts like the bottom metal and butt plates for the '03s IIRC. Do you know if he bought stock blanks from them too.?

Kutter, Don't get me wrong, I've worked with several clients who knew what they wanted and their notions actually coincides with the kind of work that I do. (That's why I mentioned Terry as an exception) But having been in the business of making custom guns for 35 years, I know that what's in my head is the stuff I haven't done yet, and just generally, that's the most creative and original work that I do.
(Hagn .280 metal nearly complete. Nearly every surface of this action has been reshaped. Barrel work by Ralf Martini)

Before view for comparison:


My work is very different from what other fellows are doing and more than once I've had a potential client at the custom guns show say, "I want something completely different, just like that," about a gun I had on display. It's certainly different to him, and different from anything else at the show, but it's not new to me. I'm sure that most of thte partisipants here have plenty of their own ideas, but they are not necissarily potential clients.
Hagn .280 top view:


Of the 5-6 guns I have on order at the moment, only one is completely client inspired, and it's a Krag sporter that hasn't been deposited but the client is a good friend and we have been talking about it on and off for a few years. (No, it's not Mark.) But they are all great jobs and should be great rifles.
I'm not complaining, nor criticizing, just trying to relate one career gunmaker's experience. Early on one fellow here said he was interested in how a craftsman thought and felt about his projects...

Very handsome. What cartridge? What style stock is planned? The Sharps like tulip on the barrel is nicely done. I presume the barrel dovetial is for a scope? Looking forward to seeing the end product and would also be interested in hearing about the Krag. The Krag is another rifle I'd love to have as G&H type sporter. So many rifles so little space in the gunrack.

Jerry Liles

Thanks for the welcome. And we get to see Michael's rifles in color Some I've never seen before.

I'm just not sure, the rifle I saw with his name on it was not a rifle I could take apart. I have no idea where the rifle was made OR who put the name on the barrel. I have never seen Bob Owen advertise a finished rifle only taking orders for custom made rifles. The pictures I have that were sent to me is another rifle I would love to take apart and I have ask the owner to and report back. The forend attachment looks German to me and it has what appears to be a single-set trigger. This rifle also has a Owen marking I have not seen before. So there are at least two rifle that I have doubts about. If and when I know for sure I will write more on the subject. As I said before I have also seen rifles that I am convinced that Bob Owen stocked but have a different makers name on them. There is a lot of this I don't fully understand. Bob Owen used a lot of outworkers, he did not like checkering, may have done some early ones before he was established plus he did no metal work.

I see lots of, for a better word, odd stuff, I know of a nice sporter with Townsend Whelen's name on the barrel in Gold, spelled Whelan. I also have seen a nice 1922 sporter marked Shellhammer.


PS: Welcome texraid good to see you over here.