buck.conner
32 Cal
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2022
- Messages
- 9
- Reaction score
- 13
SUBJECT: GRRW Collectors Association 2017 - present ..
INVOLVEMENT WITH GRRW MUZZLE LOADERS
A friend Dwain Thompson & yours truly decided to start a mountain man club in the spring of 1973 as I had over 200 acres to use for our activities (family farm with 60 arces under plow) and 150 acres of hill side (for us to use). We both knew guys that would be interested, a meeting was held & our club was started - referred to as “The Buckhorn Skinners” (named for the canyon we lived in, the Buckhorn Canyon) which was used by a few famous mountain men and a trader Mario Medina who lived near-bye & hunted in this area (carrying a Hawken rifle).
Having read & knew about the rifles built by the Hawken brothers & begin raised in the Chester & Lancaster counties in PA. I also knew about the Leman guns. There were always articles in my father’s collector magazines about these early eastern gun builders.
I purchased my first GRRW rifle after shooting a friend's, little did I know what I was getting into? This relation with the GRRW brand started in 1973 after reading an article in a muzzle loading magazine the “Buckskin Report”. At the time I was a blanket trader carrying the usual items found in the magazines like the “Report”; TC’s Hawken rifles, CVA’s different models were the hot guns to have along with H&B hawks (nothing really special).
“The Camp Blanket” was no different than 1000’s of others, but we did get mentioned by Richard House “Beau Jock” in an issue of the “Buckskin Report” for having quality goods. Neat but I needed to have something others weren’t carrying, something like the GRRW rifle was the answer.
I had picked up a GRRW Leman Trade Rifle #1xx ?, Thomson had a GRRW Hawken #H04, Dwain knew Greg Roberts of GRRW living in Nederland & we both knew Doc White from rendezvous. Another friend that owned a shop in Ft. Collins CO & myself contacted Greg Roberts for the first of many GRRW firearms that passed through our hands. In those early years we bought, sold or traded GRRW firearms all the time, a little higher in price over others mentioned, but sold twice as fast.
The rifles of GRRW had a large following and continued with every mountain man or fur trade movie released. This period was very successful for all involved with the rendezvous circuit and the magazines that wrote about the hay days of the fur trade in North America.
UPDATE
In Dec 2016 Ron Paull and myself were emailing each other and i mentioned it would be fun to get as many of the old group together and start building again. Ron had been having the same thoughts, I contacted Doc White and ran the idea pass him. He wasn't interested at the time because of past history. I contacted my nephew who's an attorney, within a day we had a Mission Statement, and a Disclaimer. Jan 2017, we opened the door of GRRW.CA with Carl Walker building the first rifle; a Leman Trade Rifle like done 40 years before with the original firm's first gun. Same custom muzzleloading gunsmith same model rifle.
Since the first rifle built in 2017 GRRW.CA has produced (87) rifles and a few pistols. That's surprisingly good for (4) custom muzzleloading rifle smiths all near or over the age of 80 years of age. Their skill sets are just as sharp as ever, and the best part was most were living on Soc. Sec. and now have supplemented their income with the old trade. And they are having fun building. Ony time will tell how much longer the business will continue? Thank you for your time.
INVOLVEMENT WITH GRRW MUZZLE LOADERS
A friend Dwain Thompson & yours truly decided to start a mountain man club in the spring of 1973 as I had over 200 acres to use for our activities (family farm with 60 arces under plow) and 150 acres of hill side (for us to use). We both knew guys that would be interested, a meeting was held & our club was started - referred to as “The Buckhorn Skinners” (named for the canyon we lived in, the Buckhorn Canyon) which was used by a few famous mountain men and a trader Mario Medina who lived near-bye & hunted in this area (carrying a Hawken rifle).
Having read & knew about the rifles built by the Hawken brothers & begin raised in the Chester & Lancaster counties in PA. I also knew about the Leman guns. There were always articles in my father’s collector magazines about these early eastern gun builders.
I purchased my first GRRW rifle after shooting a friend's, little did I know what I was getting into? This relation with the GRRW brand started in 1973 after reading an article in a muzzle loading magazine the “Buckskin Report”. At the time I was a blanket trader carrying the usual items found in the magazines like the “Report”; TC’s Hawken rifles, CVA’s different models were the hot guns to have along with H&B hawks (nothing really special).
“The Camp Blanket” was no different than 1000’s of others, but we did get mentioned by Richard House “Beau Jock” in an issue of the “Buckskin Report” for having quality goods. Neat but I needed to have something others weren’t carrying, something like the GRRW rifle was the answer.
I had picked up a GRRW Leman Trade Rifle #1xx ?, Thomson had a GRRW Hawken #H04, Dwain knew Greg Roberts of GRRW living in Nederland & we both knew Doc White from rendezvous. Another friend that owned a shop in Ft. Collins CO & myself contacted Greg Roberts for the first of many GRRW firearms that passed through our hands. In those early years we bought, sold or traded GRRW firearms all the time, a little higher in price over others mentioned, but sold twice as fast.
The rifles of GRRW had a large following and continued with every mountain man or fur trade movie released. This period was very successful for all involved with the rendezvous circuit and the magazines that wrote about the hay days of the fur trade in North America.
UPDATE
In Dec 2016 Ron Paull and myself were emailing each other and i mentioned it would be fun to get as many of the old group together and start building again. Ron had been having the same thoughts, I contacted Doc White and ran the idea pass him. He wasn't interested at the time because of past history. I contacted my nephew who's an attorney, within a day we had a Mission Statement, and a Disclaimer. Jan 2017, we opened the door of GRRW.CA with Carl Walker building the first rifle; a Leman Trade Rifle like done 40 years before with the original firm's first gun. Same custom muzzleloading gunsmith same model rifle.
Since the first rifle built in 2017 GRRW.CA has produced (87) rifles and a few pistols. That's surprisingly good for (4) custom muzzleloading rifle smiths all near or over the age of 80 years of age. Their skill sets are just as sharp as ever, and the best part was most were living on Soc. Sec. and now have supplemented their income with the old trade. And they are having fun building. Ony time will tell how much longer the business will continue? Thank you for your time.
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