Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Frank Wells .375 Model 70 ?

I've heard mention of Frank Wells of Arizona. Don't really know anything about him, but stumbled across this .375 H&H Model 70, supposedly built by him.

Anyone know anything about him or his work? It sure is a good looking rifle. Good enough that I hesitated about a heartbeat and brought it home:













It looked like a mighty fine rifle to me, and if it shoots as good as it looks, then I guess I'm a Frank Wells fan!

I'd appreciate any info on Wells, from those who may know him, or how to contact him.

Regards, Guy

the poor number 1 is gonna be jealous.

Yeah, just what I need, a pair of .375's... Sigh... Actually, I'm kind of liking that!

Had a second set of dies that I wasn't using. Guess I solved that problem.

Guy

Now, that's nice. You can look at it and tell this guy does good work.

Don't know about him, but that's a nice rifle.

What does it weigh?

You done good...

DF

You done good!

Fred not frank. He helped GMA get where they are today. He built his own actions, mausers, to include a .50bmg.

Wells Sporting Goods.

Adam

Fred Wells

Adam

Guy,

Is it Frank or Fred Wells?

DF

Frank and Fred Wells were two completely different Arizona builders

Ohhh man!

I've heard of Fred, not Frank.

Phil, do you know the skinny on Frank?

DF

Guy, great looking rifle!

I think I remember seeing some Frank Wells rifles in Sam Fadala's Rifle Guide book. If I'm not mistaken he was/is out of Tucson.

I met Fred and Rachel at their shop back in the early 80's, both of them were class acts, as down to earth as could be.

My best memory while I was there is a rifle that had been featured on the cover of American Rifleman a total custom that had built for a Mideast Prince or King (I can't recall which). It was a thing of beauty, when Fred handed it to me I was hesitant to even touch it and he said words to the effect of - "you can't hurt it, go ahead and handle it, you are not going to hurt it".

It was a very distinctive rifle, the outer side of action was undercut and the stock was inletted into the sides of the action.

His rifling machine,if I recall correctly, was a surplus from Springfield Armory. And yes, I remember all of the various Mausers hanging in the shop. I also remember the shop as very cluttered but in a good way - a place where there was some serious gunsmithing going on.

Another rifle I recall was a perfectly scaled down Mauser that was built in 22 l.r. What a little beauty it was.

drover

Well heck. The guys at the local gun shop said "Wells, I think Frank."

"And the engraving of the serial number and caliber was done by his daughter who was supposed to be real good at such things."

Darned if I know, it's just a real nice Model 70 to me, chambered in the right cartridge.

Looks like I need to find out if it was built by a fellow named Frank, or a fellow named Fred. I'll work on that, and any help you guys can provide will be much appreciated.

All the best, Guy

That's a beautiful rifle Guy. You can hunt the world over with it..

Thats a nice 375 Guy, time to work up some loads!

Guy that rifle is a nice score.

There is (was?) a "Fred" Wells and a "Frank" Wells. They are not the same person.

I met Frank in Las Vegas at Safari Club in the 80's. He was actively building a lot of custom wood stocked rifles back then on Model 70 and Mauser actions, and from what I could see(I never owned nor shot one)he did a nice job. We had a fun discussion about the 257 Roberts....I remember that much.

Far as I know all his work was in the American Classic style and your rifle looks typical. Frank never gained the notoriety of a Goens or Biesen but he seemed to do a good job, and it seemed he did a lot of business. I think he was out of the Prescott, AZ area IIRC.

I know Frank Wells. He lived in Tucson Az for many decades. He worked in many gunshops and had a couple of his own. I visited his shop on speedway Blvd when he and PO Holehan (now a full blown custom builder also in Tucson) worked together. The two of them were kind enough to do some very mundane work on my factory sporters.

Frank was most noted for his big bore African classics.

Eventually Frank semi retired and did minimal work from his house. Then he and his son with another person acquired West of the Pecos also in Tucson. Frank worked out of that shop for several years.

Frank now lives in the White mountains. There is a tri city community called Show Low, Pinetop and Lakeside. He resides somewhere in the vicinity. I could find out from some of his friends if you want me to pursue it. PM me.

Currently Frank is involved in a part time venture doing gunsmithing for a gentleman near Alpine. I understand he also does some gunsmithing in the local community.

Thank you!

And I figured out what went wrong - walking into that gun shop, wearing my "Certified Rifle Loony" hat pretty well made it impossible for me to resist buying another rifle.

There really ought to be a warning on those hats...

Guy

Very nice rifle. Those scope basis look an awful lot like those made by Michael Scherz that I own a few sets of. Is the builders name marked on the piece as the build looks a lot like Scherz's as well.

http://michaelscherz.com/