Dennis, thank you for a good story. I like your idea of telling the stories of the man and our relationships with him.
I had seen Mike before, but actually met him and talked at an Anchorage gun show, probably in the mid 1970s. I had a table at the show and so did Sam Welch, the fine engraver from Kodiak, now in the Moab area. Mike had a table nearby, too. As it turned out we all had some interest in the same engraver, Rudolph Kornbrath. I had some Baker guns engraved by him, Mike knew about Hoffman and Griffin and Howe guns engraved by him, and Sam felt that Rudolph Kornbrath was sort of his engraving hero. We had a fine weekend exchanging thoughts, pictures, and holding different guns. From that time forward , I was fortunate to have both men as friends. Living in Alaska [Anchorage] gave myself, Mike , and others a chance to shoot together. For me it was mostly shotguns at the same range that Dennis describes above. Mike introduced me to black powder and also his admiration for Schaefer guns. Maybe this was before the time we all connected Schaefer guns with Lindner, Daly, Jakob, T.Golcher, and others. We learned a lot over the years, probably coming up on 40 years of "looking". Mike had other very major interests in rifles, as you know, rather than shotguns, but he always kept in touch with shotguns, too. Maybe our email conversations frequented once per week or two. One of the latest, when Mike was ailing, was a talk about a Wright shotgun, probably made, or finished, after Wright left Hoffman. His memory and wealth of information was incredible. Like others, I'll miss Mike, and I'll miss the opportunity to ask questions when they come up. Bless Mike and his Family.
Last edited by Daryl Hallquist; 02/20/14 06:58 PM.
