Bliss Titus of Heber, Utah and Sharon Rifle Barrel Co. in Kalispell, Mont are a couple more that could possibly fall into that time frame. Titus might be a bit early but Sharon did make barrels in the sixties if I'm not mistaken.

How could you go so long and not shoot this masterpiece? Stuff like that will get your Rifle Loony card revoked

Mea culpa.

Fellow Campfire Members:
In an effort to get my facts straight, I checked the article by Mr. Ed Nixon.

He stated there that his .338 wildcat on a BSA action was barreled by a gunsmith and barrel maker named Mr. Fred Buhmiller who lived near his northern Montana ranch.

We can apparently add Mr. Fred Buhmiller to the list of ‘50’s and ‘60’s barrel makers and my memory stands corrected.

I wish a Happy Easter to you all.
Regards,
Dwayne

Fred Buhmiller was active in the 40's and 50's. I believe he sold his business to Sharon in the 60's and spent a good deal of time hunting in Africa. I read somewhere that he killed more elephants than any American : 195.
Sharon got involved in importing muzzle loaders and ultimately went bankrupt.
John

BC30cal

Did you mean John (sometimes referred to as J.R.) Buhmiller? I have looked in all my early Gun Digests and can find no Fred Buhmiller listed anywhere as a barrel maker.

John Buhmiller was mentioned above and I am assuming that's who you mean. BTW, John was the one who went to Africa. You can read about some of it here

Don't forget Ackley's shop foreman John Van Patten who moved east to Milford,Pa. with a rifling machine he built while still employed by Parker.

I meant John Buhmiller. I don't where I got Fred from. It was late when I posted that.
John

Mr. Idared:
Thanks for the clarification that you and Mr. John Duarte supplied for the correct first name for the Kalispell area gunsmith and barrel maker, Mr. John Buhmiller.

As mentioned, I based the answer on a story by Mr. Ed Nixon entitled, “Trophies to take With You”, which was published in the May 1987 edition of Peterson’s Hunting.

In the story, it actually does give the first name of Mr. Buhmiller as Fred, however it also stated that Mr. Nixon was supplied by Mr. Buhmiller with, “some super bullets that he’d proved in Africa.”

I suspect that a proofreading error turned a John into a Fred for the Peterson’s Hunting article. I’m satisfied that the mention of the African experience and the location near Kalispell combined with the Gun Digest reference material you’ve mentioned makes him the same man, given an incorrect first name in the 1987 article.

Thanks for the information as well as the link to the article in Smokelore, I really appreciate it.

Regards,
Dwayne

When I was 10 years old my dad ( Bob Blake) purchased Bill Sukalle's barrel makeing equipment in 1967 in Phoenix,Arizona.It was on Washington street about 13th street. The name of Bill's machine shop was Desert State Machine. I remember Bill very well as he taught my dad how to Gundrill, ream and rifle barrels. The sinebar hook cutter machine was an amazing thing to watch in operation.It still had the over head reversing flat belt drive system that was from the line drive of earlier years! My dads buisness was Blake Barrel and Rifle Co. I had learned from my dad and Bill how to use the equipment and make gun barrels and do reboring. We opperated the buisness for a few years,untill we quit making barrels and continued to do only gundrilling that we still do today. Me and my son still run the buisness and have plans to put the rifleing machine back to use. Bill said he bought the machine from "Ole Man Savage" of Savage Arms. It was Savage's personal machine that Savage used for his personal use.