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Very Best Custom Rifle - Westley Richards Farquharson / Griffin & Howe / Leonard Mews

220 SWIFT - WESTLEY RICHARDS FARQUHARSON / GRIFFIN & HOWE / LEONARD MEWS CUSTOM SINGLE SHOT
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...... BROUGHT OVER FROM ... "ASK THE GUNWRITERS".......

I've been writing about Guns for 42 years, since my first published article in 1979,

I'd like to take this opportunity to show-off this latest accusision, and tell about one of the Very Best Custom Rifle Builders.

I've been collecting custom rifles made by Leonard Mews for OVER 45 years and have several in my collection.
I consider this rifle to be one of Very Best Custom Rifles in my collection.

Leonard Mews was a personal friend and a member of 2 of my local gun clubs here in Wisconsin.

For those unfamiliar with Leonard, early in his career he worked for Roy Weatherby. Later he worked on his own, and turned out dozens of Masterpieces. His works were shown in many of the Gun Digest "Custom Guns" sections, from the 1960s - 1980s.

Here's a short introduction to Leonard Mews, - before I show-off my latest treasure.

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And here's my treasure.

"Best Quality" Engraved Westley Richards Farquharson New Model 1897 / Griffin & Howe, built by Leonard Mews.

220 Swift caliber
9 pounds 12 ounces with scope
25-1/2" Medium/Heavy weight barrel w/ accent Engraving
13-3/8" LOP
Presentation California Claro Black Walnut Stock
Shadow Outlined Cheek Piece
Round Rosewood Forend Tip
Signature Scalloped Rosewood Grip Cap with Raised Ivory Diamond inlay
Skip-Line "Rocket" pattern grip checkering
Skip-Line "Lightning" pattern Forearm checkering
Skip-Line "Shield" pattern Cheeks
Koshollek Checkered Steel Widow's Peak curved Butt Plate
Unertl 12x 1-1/2 Target Scope

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Extraordinary. Congratulations on a magnificent rifle.

"A thing of beauty is a joy for ever..." John Keats.

Thanks for some nice moments!
Best & Stay Safe!
John

Beautiful. Congrats !

Hello fshaw,
Hello iskra,
Hello 1911a1,

Thanks for the reply.

Wow, thanks for posting. You done good.

Do you know the year it was put together?

One can really see the Farquharson influence on Bill Ruger's #1.

Are you gonna shoot it?

Always enjoy your posts.

Congrats.

DF

very impressive work.....love it

Hello Dirtfarmer,
Thanks for the reply.

The rifle was built for Dr. Russel C. Smith in about the middle 1950s, And ... I already shot it.


Hello vapodog,
Thanks for the reply.

Continued research has found that the rifle was being built during 1953 for Dr. Russel C. Smith. It is not known when the rifle was finally completed.

Good for you, but from what I know about you, not surprised.

BTW, how did it shoot.

Pretty is as pretty does...?

DF

A quick Google search found this article by van Zwoll, mentioning a Dr. Russell C Smith who seemed to be a gun nut. Could be the same one. He would fit the profile. What do you know about him?

I'd be curious what he had to shell out in 1950 bucks to make this project happen. Couldn't have been cheap, even back then.

http://bugle.rmef.org/publication/?...10&view=articleBrowser&ver=html5

DF

Hello Dirtfarmer,
Thanks for the reply.

Yes, that is the same Dr. Russell C. Smith. He was originally from Wisconsin and later moved to Alaska. He had dozens and dozens of custom rifles made by most all of the classic builders of the 40s & 50s. He had at least 10 made by Leonard Mews. I also have a Model 70 in 264 WM made for Dr. Smith by Leonard Mews.

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If you read the newspaper article at the beginning of my post, it talks about costs of Leonard's Stocks. In many cases the customer supplied the rifle, or action for the project.