doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com The little things that make it interesting.

This is G&H No. 119, late 1923 early 1924, my first major restoration job. Terry found this at a SF Auction house. It was a mess, the metal had been buffed with a wire wheel that rounded off all the square edges and dished out the holes. Then it was hot blued, after about forty hours of hand polishing I threw out the paper I was writing the hours down on. The stock had several layers of dirt and something like truoil on it that was horrid. I did all the work except the rust blue which was done by Charles Danner.

The bore is perfect, half round with rib, caliber 30-06, the interesting thing about this rifle is it has a “Pike” self setting set trigger. This is complicated enough that I had to both make a drawing and take pictures before I removed it from the rifle. The trigger can be set to ounces and cocks when you open the bolt. Ralph Pike was from Kalispell, MT.

One of the best triggers I have seen on a 1903 Springfield is by Paul Jaeger when he was in Philadelphia. This is a SST you push forward to set and the regular pull without it being set is great.
Please notice the scope base with the teeth, I still need a mount.

Michael, Have always enjoyed your photos

Was wondering if you have heard of Little Johns Auctions or been to any.

I stopped by their shop in Orange Calif. day after christmas since I was in the area for holidays.

R2D2, I mean GSP7
Thanks for the nice words about my photos. I've had a few dealing with John Gangel and could not be happier. He has gone out of his way to be helpful. I bought a historical rifle from his auction and with no listing as to the provenance in the catalog. I talked with John about it and was told that the consignee did not want his fathers name in the auction catalog. When I got the rifle his name was clearly engraved on it. I would have no reservations bidding in his auctions.

Did you do a mail in bid or fly down?

Ive been to one auction long ago, but visit his store/shop once in awhile when im in Orange. He gets an incredible amount of real neat collectable guns and fun to look through and examine the guns in person. Its an amazing place and the stuff he gets. I need to pursue that place and hit the auction.

Rick Bowerman

(by the way the GSP is German Shorthair Pointer )

Rick,

I've used mail in ballots on a number of the Little John's auctions. I visited their shop once, and left a series of bids. Otherwise, it has just been from the catalogs and on line listings. In their most recent auction, I won a Tobin shotgun at less than half my maximum bid, so the house plays fair with the absentee bids. I'll be going over to my local FFL holder's shop on Tuesday to pick it up - looks like a very nice gun!

I mail in bids, the only big auction I attended was the John T. Amber auction, a once in a lifetime experience. The "Woodstock" of gun auctions.

Unfortunately this is not true with a few of the Eastern auction houses. Most are on the square but a few crooks are still in business according to Clarence the Collector. Clarence likes expensive Winchesters and Colts and single shot rifles, and is a big patron of one or two auction houses in the East & Midwest. He knows most of the crooks and a few of the honest ones too, which speaks volumes about his own (?) character (G).

Of course since I'm his close friend I take great interest in pointing this out to him as frequently and embarrassingly as possible. After all, what are friends for? (VBG)
Caveat emptor, regards, Joe

The 1903 Springfield does not work well for DST because of the small triggerguard. The typical German solution was to use a shotgun triggerguard to accommodate them. Occasionally you will see a triggerguard that has been lengthen. I don’t remember who sent me these photos, if this is your rifle let me know.

I’ve seen a few 1903’s converted to a trigger-block safety, in this case because a new bolt sleeve was made with a rear sight. I have also seen a G&H with a triggerguard safety that still had the 1903 safety, not sure why, maybe a stalking safety.