Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Custom Barrel Makers of the 1950's and 1960's

Didn't Bellm marry Ackley's daughter? He was at the business the day I went down to visit P.O. in Holiday, Utah in the mid 1960's.
I also thought that Bellm inherited Ackley's business.

Don

Thanks to everyone for the information.

Don't know what Ackley's daughters second husbands name was but I think her first was Pete Ruiz of Trinidad. Flaig used to advertise their barrels as 'Boehler Stahl' I think indicating German steel. I had a couple of their ribbed barrels that were very nice. In 52 I had a 257 Roberts barreled using a Pfieffer which was supposed to be one of the top at that time.

Anyone ever hear of a barrel maker named Hobaugh that made barrels in Montana? They were supposed to be made of a pretty hard alloy

Two of my most accurate rifles were made by Wm Sukalle, one in 257 Roberts and one in 270 Win. He did the stock work on these, too, and while they are nothing exceptional in terms of figure, the rifles are among my most pleasing to use hunting. Both will group subMOA, 5/100.

Mr. 10at6:
Regarding your question on the Montana barrel maker named Hobaugh.

A good friend of mine, now deceased, had a Ruger No. 1 with an octagon barrel in .416 Ribgy. He pronounced the name of the barrel maker �HOE-BAH�, and that could well be the maker you mention. I seem to recall him saying he was one of the few that would do an octagon barrel at that time, which I believe would have been done in the 70�s, but can�t be sure of the exact timeframe.

Most of the rebarreling done for my friend at that time was by a gunsmith in Tonasket, WA, so a Montana barrel maker would make sense. Unfortunately, the gunsmith has now passed on as well, so I can�t verify the information with him either.

As well, and this is a rather large, �IIRC�, I believe Mr. Ed Nixon wrote that the barrel maker of his custom .338, made on a BSA action was a Montana maker named Hobaugh. I�ll try to remember to check through my old magazines to verify that later.

My recollection on custom barrel makers only goes back to the mid �70�s. We mainly heard about Douglas barrels up here then, with the occasional �serious� shooter getting Hart or Shilen.

Thanks to all for the information.
Regards,
Dwayne

10at6, I have a Hobaugh barrel on a Sharps Borchardt, 30" half octagon, 45-120-550, made circa 1965, fitted by Luft Brothers of Spokane, all work done on recommendation of Elmer Keith, block bushed and barrel is for heavy nitro loads. For forty years it has sat unfired in my gun rack.

Another anecdote, I collect classic Krag sporters, and about five years ago Jerry Fisher agreed to build one for me. We wanted to locate a prewar or early postwar .30 barrel, I advertised, haunted the gun shows, wrote a lot of letters, emails, made phone calls, no luck, settled on a modern Krieger. Rifle is a beaut. Then just last year a Buhmiller .30 blank showed up at Amoskeag auction, I bought it, but too late for the Fisher Krag. Have to think of something else.

Bill Hobaugh built good barrels for many years out of Phillipsburg, Montana. He died not all that long ago, if I recall correctly maybe 10 years, give or take.

JB-one of the few that got away from me that I wished I'd of netted was a Sako action custom by Iver Henrickson with a Hobaugh tube on it.
That was a neat lil rifle, it was a 375 and just a delight. I found it up in Ronan Sports and Western and really wished I'd of snagged it!

Dober

The Borchardt I just mentioned was blued by Henrickson.

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.