Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing What does a stock like this run these days?

Jim62,
thanks for the memories!!! I made up a number of rifles in the 70 and 80's I would have Fajen inlet them and do the rough exterior and I would finish them from there, with Mark X actions and Douglas barrels. I would page through the catalogs for weeks till I had the money saved for an order. How did Brownells do them in exactly? What happen to Bishop? Oh the days of long ago, fine wood and blued metal!!

B,

I think you misread what I posted. Brownells had absolutley NOTHING to due with Reighart Fajen doing bust as far as I know . Larry Potterfeild, the founder of Miday-USA did.

Bascially here is a rough timeline of EC Bishop and Fajen.

Early 1930s- EC Bishop founded in Warsaw
1945 Reinhart Fajen(a former Bishop employee) founds Reinhart Fajen,Inc on the other side of town.
By the 1960s Fajen is larger than Bishop.
Bishop goes into a steady decline until the mid 1980s, when it is bought out by Fajen.
1993- Larry Potterfeild of Midway USA buys out Fajen/Bishop.
1996- Potterfeild moves the ENITRE stockmaking enterprise to a new Concrete "factory" in Lincoln, MO 30 north of Warsaw.
1997- Long time Fajen manager Fred Wenig quits and starts his own firm, Wenig Gunstocks, in Lincoln. Takes most of the high end fitted stock customers with him..
Fall 1998 Fajen goes into recivership and liguidates.

THe above is a CLASSIC example of the "Peter Principle" at work. In buying Fajen, Larry Potterfield rose to the level of his own incompentance.

The ENTIRE IDEA of a custom wood gunstock is a HIGHER level of fit and finish than the machine made factory products. Potterefield thought he could "Automate" the whole process and eliminate the hand labor that went into building the stocks. Bascially make machine made stocks like the injection molded plastic crap he sells under his various house brands at Midway. He tried to change too much too fast and nver had enough key people with the tlant and knowlege to make it happen.

The company got to the point in 1998 where it could not even BUILD simple stocks they had formally shipped by the thousands just a few years ago. He bascially destroyed the economy of Warsaw, MO.

It took them about 15 years to do it, but Boyds gunstocks is actually doing right now what Fajen could have been able to do if Potterfeild had not had his head so far up his own arse.

Potterfield is a great guy!!

ive got a boyds on my 22-250,i have not one complaint its comfortable a little heavy for my hands but fits great

Yes, I agree that Fred Wenig is one of the nicest guys in the world. A few years ago, I visited for a day to have stocks fitted to a couple of Beretta over and unders and also had a Winchester Model 70 restocked. He and his main partner, Elbert (Can't remember last name right now -- could be Smith), could not have been more pleasant to me throughout my day there, including taking me to lunch. Your post has brought back pleasant memories of a fine day!

If Fajen was destined to become what Boyds is today.....they deserved to fail.

Used to love cruising the Fajen's catalog and "dream" about the fine walnut stocks I would someday own. Later when I opened a shop and began building rifles I bought many great stocks from Fajen.

Today, when I look at the offerings from Boyds, I almost cry remembering the day when truely great stock wood was available. Most of their "stocks" are made of PLYWOOD.....and the ones that aren't are so poor in quailty I think I could do better by cutting blanks from a fense post.

That takes me back to my late, late teens. I used to call and "order" the catalogs. I probably still have some of them, fun to look at and bring make many memories.

Always wanted a Bishop Model 10 rifle with all the doodads in the classic style. Never could swing it and have never laid eyes on one.