David gave me a call this evening. I haven't been in contact for a couple of years and that was my fault. His voice was healthy and intelligent (at age 86) but he said he's had some health problems. He's selling his Custer massacre .45 revolver at Poulin auction in early June (can't find it on the Poulin site) and is starting to winnow down his collectables (as all of us should be doing after 80).
He said RIA had asked him to refurbish some damage to the Reilly 4 bore shotgun sold last December that I've posted a couple of times. He refused. He is finishing up a Purdey which he will donate to the Worshipfull Company of Gunmakers in London.. .and that will be his last gun. He has a new young apprentice 23 yoa who is impressing him and that is something to rejoice in.
What a character and what a repository of the history of gun making both here and in UK. There is an old adage in the intelligence world - "If it's not written, it didn't exist." I asked him if his experiences have ever been written up. There was an article but he didn't much like it. He likes the picture of him with President 43 George H.W. Bush - he was his gunsmith. But there is a project underway apparently to write a better definitive work on what he saw and did. He commented that "Shotgun Technica" is in its 3rd printing and selling very well.
Last edited by Argo44; 05/25/24 10:01 PM.
