Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Lawson Custom gun maker??

Someone I’m know bought a rifle with H Lawson stamped on the stock at the end of the forearm. Any info would help. Thanks!

I believe that would be Harry Lawson. Built a lot of customs back in the day. Google will turn up a fair bit of info. I used to read about some of his "futuristic" stuff in the early 80's.

Yes, that was back in the early Weatherby days. "Cool" back then were flared grips, exaggerated Monte Carlo stocks, stock inlays, angled forend tips, and stuff like that. I remember the "Cochise" gun stock...garish as all get-out!

Yep. This rifle is all of that!

Cool in the way Karmann Ghia's and Iggy Pop are cool

Those rifles always make me think of "Corvette Summer".

Harry Lawson out of Tucson. I bought a piece of wood from his son about 20 or more years ago, maybe more. I Have no idea if his son is still working.
They certainly aren't classics of today. Fit and finish on the few I've seen were impeccable.

I have one in 8mm-06, great workmanship, but I couldn't handle the '60's look, and got rid of the contrasting forend and grip flare, looks better, still accurate as I could wish. Kept the big Monte Carlo rollover, softening the sharp edges, it helps handling stout loads with the 200 gr partition.

Gangster whitewalls, curb feelers and fuzzy dice! :-)

Isn't that your daily driver?

I have seen some beautiful Lawson rifles done in the "Classic" style.

DOH! Yes, a big ole Deville with a gun rack filled with Lawson rifles :-)

The Cochise had to be one of the ugliest and worst designed stocks I've ever seen

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https://www.gunsinternational.com/g...ll-options-like-new.cfm?gun_id=101112828

From the few Lawson rifles I have seen I would think that he could do about any design stock and make it look great.

i remember seeing a Lawson rifle in the early 90s in Killeen, TX. Great looking rifle, the stock didnt appeal to me, but it was well done. It was a wildcat caliber in 7MM that i had never heard of. it sat for awhile before it sold

Harry passed away 30+ years ago and his son, Randy, took over the biz. Harry fashioned a couple of custom bolt-action rifles for a friend of mine shortly before his death, and Randy subsequently tweaked and restocked my Model 700 in Lawson's "Classic" pattern with a gorgeous stick of French walnut for my safari to Tanzania. Randy also does spectacular bluing, superior to Colt's "Royal Blue" in my opinion.

Harry and Randy's work is second to none and, as far as I know, Randy's still doing business on Richey Blvd., in Tucson.

Regarding the Lawson Thumbhole: it is designed to be fast handling and capable of dealing with heavy recoil. Note: both McMillan Lazzaroni stocks the Thumbhole and the Sporter were made by Randy Lawson for John Lazzaroni. Both help the shooter deal with heavy recoil.

It is not a prone LR rifle design. I must say that most thumbhole stocks just have a hole for the thumb and are poorly designed. There are a few features the Lawson thumbhole that makes it unique. The safety is a crossbolt built into a proprietary trigger guard. (The after market thumbholes require you move your hand from the thumbhole to flick off the safety. ) The stock shape is straight which eats up recoil. The thumbhole area is canted for a more comfortable wrist angle. Recoil pad is flared wider where it meets the shoulder to help mitigate recoil. Many of these rifles used the model 600 actions with regular shaped bolt handle. Some are very light and short, a perfect handling rifle for a hunter who would do walk around hunting.

I knew Harry and also know his son Randy. Randy had to close down last November or so due to health issues. He was recently back in his shop finishing up projects that were begun before the issue. To be honest I don't know if he will be staying open for new work.

I have an older Harry Lawson built on a zastava action with a German pecar scope in .300 win mag. I have yet to run a bolt that’s smoother than my Lawson and the thumbhole stock design is genius. The only way to appreciate one is to shoulder it and shoot it, my .300 win recoil is the same as my .308 win rifles.

I would recommend you hang onto that rifle.

I visited Harry Lawson's shop several times when I was in college in the early seventies. I am left handed and left hand bolt action rifles were non-existant back then. He showed me several Springfield actions he converted to left hand. His bluing was second to none. Very high polish and very dark black. His style sort of imitated the Weatherby style rifles but much more of everything - shine, flair, curves, fore end caps, grip caps, inlays, etc. I did buy a 95% inletted thumbhole stock from him for a 243 Winchester built on a Mauser 3000 action. Still one of my favorite rifles. He told me his thumbhole stocks were designed so the rifle could be shot with one hand. Entirely possible to do with lighter recoiling rifles. I am sure you could shoot a heavier recoiling rifle one handed with one of his stocks - once!

Burn them.

Burn them all.

The Vette too.

Especially the Vette.

Please.