I believe Mr. Hartley passed in the early 80's as he did a stock on a friends M2 Springfield sometime before that. My friend went to school with Mr. Hartleys daughter and knew him well. I sold him the M2 and he had Mr. Hartley stock it in world record time as I recall,in fiddleback maple and it was very nice ,if a bit heavy.He was a very tough and resourceful guy from what my friend told me and wasn't afraid of some hard and /or tedious work.