Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Anthony Guymon Custom Rifle - Info Wanted - ever hear of him?

Hello All,

I acquired this rifle on the weekend ... Its a Custom Rifle from a maker I never heard of until now. Apparently they were in business from approx. 1948 - 1963.

Custom Rifles back then, were very flashy, so everyone could see instantly that it was a "Custom", like this one.

I'd be asking if anyone has any rifles from this maker, or any info about them.

The original owner, now 78 years old, had this rifle built for him in 1960 while he was stationed in Seattle, Washington, while he was serving in the Navy as part of a Submarine crew. He was originally from Clintonville, Wisconsin, where he returned after his service. He hunted with the rifle every year for the next 53 years, right up until last year, 2013. He said he never took the rifle into the field on days when it rained. It is in MINT condition. He even had the original Guymon Leather sling, the original Guymon Gun Case w/ Hand Tooled Leather Trim, and the original 29 page Anthony Guymon catalog from his 1960 order. Inside the catalog he wrote the prices for all the options he wanted - the total price he paid was $335.90, which was quite a lot back in 1960.

Here are the particulars:

1960 Anthony Guymon Custom Rifle, Bremerton, Washington
"Custom Streamliner Featherweight" model w/ blind mag - 4-shot (3+1)
280 Remington Caliber
22" Douglas Barrel - 1:10 twist
FN Mauser Action
Buehler safety
Dayton Traiser Trigger
"Kings Quality" Fiddleback Maple Stock
Ebony Grip Cap & Forend Tip
Pachmayr Butt Plate w/ Lightning-Bolt Spacer
Redfield 1-3/4-5x Scope
Guymon Leather sling
13-3/8" LOP - 8 1/4 lbs w/ scope & sling

Check back in the old Gun Digests from the period. He is listed in the pictures of the Custom rifles. I think they called that "California Style"; pretty radical for it's time- and even now!
But interesting!

I own the gun that is pictured on the catalog cover. Made for my grandmother by Tony in the 60s Muzzle break and all. Was given to me in the 60s as a birthday gift. Also has the Tony hand tooled sling.

What a rifle. Completely not my style but I would cherish that one and even want to have a pair of cowboy boots made to match. Very much like a Winslow Rifle, sort of how unique can you get and still be functional? It has the Herters Lighting Bolt recoil pad on it and that may be the Herters "French Red" Stain not sure never seen it on Maple before.

That belongs in a Museum, Harry Lawson had a thumbhole stocked rifle in the Smithsonian Modern Museum at least for a while. Better to just shoot it and enjoy it.

First thing I thought of too when I saw it. It's a Herter's stock for sure...

Wow that's pretty cool!

Herters was not the originator of the style, just sold products to help people produce the look. Back in the day they were sort of common. I think I have a couple of his catalogs somewhere around here.

Red stained Maple still looks better than if left white. Note that full custom and all he chose Weaver bases and Weaver rings. Neat gun from a style and period most would rather forget, but still a lot better than the gay sh*t we are exposed to every day now days.

Please remember gentlemen that this gun was designed by Tony for a woman.(my grandmother) And is now owned by a woman. So it's okay if it's "pretty" Short stock, muzzle break. All made for a woman. LOL! Even if she could fly circles around most men and shoot anything as could my Mother. And both my sister and I were raised the same. Now we are just two tough old broads.
This gun goes to my son and his wife who are both cops and love guns and love to shoot. The Presentation Rem. went to my oldest for his hunting.
Thanks for the comment. My purpose was to just explain an correct a few things I saw posted when searching for some info on Tony. Hopefully these pictures of Les will show up. Thanks for all the comments
http://s231.photobucket.com/user/5azsisters/library/BOWMANS

Jacie,
Thank you for your input, and for sharing the pictures.

Really...you deliberately purchased that?

That was mean!

What an interesting example of a custom gun of the period. The fact that you have the full provenance of the rifle and the sling and case made by the same maker also really adds to it.

I'm not sure why, but it reminds me of the over the top styling of the early 70's muscle cars.

Thanks for taking and loading all the photos, not a little amount of time expended to do that.

This is wonderful that Jacie chimed in on this. To me it is part of history and as Jacie pointed out it was designed for a woman, a woman who would wing walk on planes. Compare this to the Weatherby Camille which I think is a wonderful piece of functionality but an esthetic nightmare.

Are , were, you related to Les Bowman. Met him in 1968, when on my honeymoon, and we went through Cody. Nice person. He had written some articles for a gun magazine I was working for till just before getting married.


And mothing to bad about the rifle. Far better than a lot of the plastic stocked stuff today. A bit extreme, but back in the 60s almost bought one like it myself.

I couldn't agree more.


Absolutely, Jacie lovely to hear from you.

Wild looking rifle

Just one corection. The gun was made for my grandmother Martie who was a pilot who raced. My Mother Larnie was the one who soloed at 12 and wing walked at 8 and was a damn good shot also. Loved to bird hunt.

A funny thought just hit me... how likely is it that an aesthetic from California, especially southern CA, would be accepted so readily today... even if it were designed by Jerry Fisher or Alvin Linden or other great classic stockmaker?

More than one Mujere formidable. Thanks.