Steven Mace
05-26-2005, 03:38 PM
Gunsmith hits bull's-eye replicating old firearms
By Ruth Lepper
UNION-TRIBUNE
May 26, 2005
RAMONA – Dave Kelly knows just about everything there is to know about rifles and shotguns.
A licensed gunsmith since 1968, he has honed his craft of replicating firearms.
"What I like to work on are British and American firearms from the 1740s to the 1840s," he said. "Those are my favorites. All those firearms were all handmade by gun makers."
Kelly makes complete guns or missing parts for antique guns by looking at old photographs. He said he has "an endless library" of books that he uses for research.
Before he retired, Kelly, 66, worked as an industrial artist and staff photographer for Hewlett-Packard.
"I know that I can clone anything," he said. "I was famous for that at Hewlett-Packard."
One of the guns in his collection is an 1895 Winchester rifle that he found at an antique shop in Ramona. When he saw it, he wasn't sure if he wanted it because it was in such poor condition.
"It was hand-packed in grease, but there wasn't much left of the works," he said. The wooden stock had deteriorated.
After making a telephone call to the Connecticut headquarters of Winchester Rifles & Shotguns, Kelly decided the gun was genuine and a rare find.
"Only a handful of them were made," he said.
But when he went back to the antique shop, the gun had been sold. He didn't know it at the time, but his wife had purchased it for a surprise Father's Day gift.
"It was caked with grease," he said. "I put it in a barrel of kerosene for a month, then scraped all the mud off of it with a soft toothbrush. The inside is all the original finish. It was so well-preserved with grease."
He made a new stock for the gun, using photographs and other information he obtained from the Winchester company. He carved the grain in the black walnut wood with a piece of broken glass. It took three years to fully restore the rifle.
"This is one of my best pieces," he said. "It turned out to be worth $1,800."
Another gun in Kelly's collection is one he made for match shooting. He wanted a lighter gun than the ones normally used in competitions. It is a reproduction of a muzzle loader that was popular from the 1840s to the 1860s. Its length is 50 inches, and it weighs about 7 pounds.
"This is one of the smaller ones I've made," he said. "The rifles I typically used (for match shooting) were very heavy, around 10 pounds."
Word of Kelly's craftsmanship and skills spread when he was active with Mountain Men rendezvous gatherings. By 1989, he had turned his craft into a business.
"Before that, it was just word of mouth, and that was all I wanted," he said. "But when we started going to rendezvous and you could actually fix someone's gun right on site, that's when I started the Dragoon Gun Co."
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20050526-9999-m1m26tfram.html
Steve Mace
By Ruth Lepper
UNION-TRIBUNE
May 26, 2005
RAMONA – Dave Kelly knows just about everything there is to know about rifles and shotguns.
A licensed gunsmith since 1968, he has honed his craft of replicating firearms.
"What I like to work on are British and American firearms from the 1740s to the 1840s," he said. "Those are my favorites. All those firearms were all handmade by gun makers."
Kelly makes complete guns or missing parts for antique guns by looking at old photographs. He said he has "an endless library" of books that he uses for research.
Before he retired, Kelly, 66, worked as an industrial artist and staff photographer for Hewlett-Packard.
"I know that I can clone anything," he said. "I was famous for that at Hewlett-Packard."
One of the guns in his collection is an 1895 Winchester rifle that he found at an antique shop in Ramona. When he saw it, he wasn't sure if he wanted it because it was in such poor condition.
"It was hand-packed in grease, but there wasn't much left of the works," he said. The wooden stock had deteriorated.
After making a telephone call to the Connecticut headquarters of Winchester Rifles & Shotguns, Kelly decided the gun was genuine and a rare find.
"Only a handful of them were made," he said.
But when he went back to the antique shop, the gun had been sold. He didn't know it at the time, but his wife had purchased it for a surprise Father's Day gift.
"It was caked with grease," he said. "I put it in a barrel of kerosene for a month, then scraped all the mud off of it with a soft toothbrush. The inside is all the original finish. It was so well-preserved with grease."
He made a new stock for the gun, using photographs and other information he obtained from the Winchester company. He carved the grain in the black walnut wood with a piece of broken glass. It took three years to fully restore the rifle.
"This is one of my best pieces," he said. "It turned out to be worth $1,800."
Another gun in Kelly's collection is one he made for match shooting. He wanted a lighter gun than the ones normally used in competitions. It is a reproduction of a muzzle loader that was popular from the 1840s to the 1860s. Its length is 50 inches, and it weighs about 7 pounds.
"This is one of the smaller ones I've made," he said. "The rifles I typically used (for match shooting) were very heavy, around 10 pounds."
Word of Kelly's craftsmanship and skills spread when he was active with Mountain Men rendezvous gatherings. By 1989, he had turned his craft into a business.
"Before that, it was just word of mouth, and that was all I wanted," he said. "But when we started going to rendezvous and you could actually fix someone's gun right on site, that's when I started the Dragoon Gun Co."
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20050526-9999-m1m26tfram.html
Steve Mace