doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Frank Malin shotguns

A friend of mine has a lovely 20 ga. Malin shotgun. It's marked with his location as Ontario Canada. Somewhere in my memory bank is the vague recollection of some issue with his guns from the 80's but I'm not sure (believe it dealt with sourcing of parts). Can anyone one out there refresh my memory on him good, bad or indifferent, especially the quality of his guns?

Lots of his work shown in Game Gun by Grozik.
Controversial work, some reported excellent some not so, some with (reported) spurious London Proofs(?)

Malin had some excellent workers, for a time, but he ran into legal trouble. I can't recall the specifics, but there were suspicions of using Spanish parts passed off as English, fruadulent proof marks to cover the above. The uncertainty has hurt the value of his guns

Back 20 plus years ago, the Frank Malin name/guns were owned by a company in Charlotte, NC. I remember handling several new Malin guns that were in stock. I was very interested in ordering a new 20Ga custom boxlock back then. Hurricane Hugo roared through the Charlotte area at that time and destroyed much of the store's guns and for sale high end art work. Hugo basically ended the Frank Malin gun company in Charlotte.

Frank Malin,[deceased March 10 2006] had some of his boxlock guns made by W&C.Scott in their works at Tame Road, Birmingham.This I can attest to because I saw the guns in production.
Malin,s sidelock guns were made exclusively by British trained craftsmen in his Melbourne,Ontario,Canada,shop [and are marked with his name the Melbourne address]. Malin,s material sources were the same as those used by the British trade of the day. Frank I am sorry to say got carried away by personal ambition, and as a result ran into trouble and lost control of his business.
The police investigated Malin,s business dealings.After reviewing the evidence[ie:I was to be called as an expert witness] they did not proceed with any charge of; "missrepresentation in respect of custom built shotguns".Frank was however found guilty of fraud in respect of accepting deposits on guns that were not delivered. The penalty was a fine of $2500.
Today, Purdey and others can engrave their name on imported shotgun actions that they have finished and receive praise in the sporting press. This was not the case for the late Frank Malin!

I think Purdey's and others are a little more forthright and up-front with that information then perhaps Frank was. I suspect that is the difference.
Mr. Malin's guns could be wonderful, but, they didn't have to be. Look 'em over very well...
Best,
Ted

I have a friend who used to stock guns for Malin. He came from Britain, found Franks shop and Frank offered him a job. I'm not sure how long he worked there, but it wasnt that long of a gig , less than a year I think. He left Franks to come to American and to work at a gunshop in Lewisville, Texas with the likes of Kirk Merrington and John Foster. My friend says that all the guns he stocked at Malins were actions, locks and barrels from Spain. He and the rest of the craftsman who built these guns werent too impressed with the quality of the parts from Spain, he even made the comment that for the most part, alot of it was pure rubbish that required many hours, extra hours to get them to function somewhat properly. He did say that most of the other lads working at the shop were indeed from England, alot of them having worked in various English gun factories.
After listening to my friends stories about his time working at Malins, it sounds like Frank was one heck of a story teller, a bit of a miser and at times a crochety boss. Sounds like an interesting fella.

Dustin

I wonder if your friend told you of the Malin Gun made for and accepted by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales on the occasion of his marriage to the late Princess Dianna.The gun was a 16.G; S.L.E;Proof tested in Birmingham & made exactly to the Princes specifications. The gun was wonderfully engraved by Ron Collings.The British magazine, "Shooting Times" of the period, contains an article by the Late Geoffrey Boothroyd describing this gun and Malins business in Canada. By the way I was a frequent visitor to the Malin shop when located in Melborne. The stockers who worked on the early Melborne guns were, David Catchpole[ Ex:Holland & Holland and Gallyons]sadly deceased and Arthur Troth an absolute wizard from the Birmingham trade, who I am pleased to say still practices his trade. A man I might add that I am privileged to call a friend.

Nope, he never mentioned that gun. If you would like to talk to him about his time at Malins...send me a email and I'll give you his number, I'm sure he wouldnt mind talking with you about his experience there.

Dustin
maruquinandsons@juno.com

Arthur did some work for me a few years back and he was just a wonderful guy. Visited him at his shop in SW Ontario. And the work wasn't too shabby either. Roy, do you know if he is still accepting work??