[GunGeek]

Okay we all know Charlie has this great collection from Kings (hope we can incite him to share a couple of photos).

Who are some of your favorite custom gunmakers?

For me, my two favorite pistolsmiths are:
Jim Hoag
Charlie Kelsey

I think Charlie had the most talent of anyone out there in the '70's & '80's. His S&W's were just absolutely incredible.
Jim Hoag's sense of style, and metalworking proficiency was just second to none.

For bolt action rifles, I really like the English/Scottish styles. So rifles by Daniel Frazier, Westley Richards, and Rigby tend to scratch my itch. But I do love the American styles by Griffin & Howe; just classic.

Kevin

 

[dfariswheel]

Some of mine....

Armand Swenson.
F. Bob Chow.
Austen Behlert.
Al Biesen.
Adalbert Gunther, Don Tedford, and Al DeJohn at Colt Firearms.

There was a pair of men in the 1930's who's names I've forgotten. One did the metal work and the other did the wood. They made some of the finest rifles of all time.

 

[William R. Moore]

One thing you've got to bear in mind is that at some point, "The Name" may not be doing all the work and may/may not be checking everything that goes out the door. There's also the question of changing practices. At one point in time, apparently in some shops, if you bought a target version 1911, the thumb safe was inoperable.

When I was running a shop, any example of Armand's work that came in was outstanding. OTOH, between changing practices and other hands, I've seen some work by some other famous name shops that was mind boggling. Yes, a couple actually had invoices proving the work was done there.