doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Pachmayr custom rifle

Ken, is the Hornet one offered by a MD seller we both know? If so, that is one nice little gun. Maybe you would post a picture. Bill Murphy

They are hard to find but show up now and then. Both these are owned by forum members.

30-06


7X57

This is the last Hornet I remember for sale.

These are made on the "Herold" action and made by F. Jager in Suhl.

Started a new thread w/question on "Herold" actions.

I really like the pictures of the rifles that you've posted,
if you have pictures of the other sides of these rifles, I would love to see them. I am curious as to how the cheekpieces were done.

I pulled the stock on the gun this evening. In terms of proof marks and a date stamp, everything was in line with my expectations for a mid-30's German gun. . .






That said, I could not find any marks indicating who might have done the metal work in customizing the gun. I did note that the patent date on the trigger was in 1951. So my initial guess that this was a post-WWII custom job using a pre-WWII German action/barrel seemed correct.

Then I checked the stock. Marked clearly in the barrel channel was an inscription in the wood. I was quickly encouraged until I tried to read it. The first two words are clear as day - "STOCK BY". It is the name that follows those words that I cannot make out (see below). The name looks something like "M SANTCHNI". I'm pretty sure I am off by several letters as a google search on variations of that name turned up nothing. I'm really hoping a board member might recognize it. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Wow...Jules La Bantchni is what that means. Superb stockmaker from the 60's and 70's. Not sure when he stopped. Gun Digests of the 70's often featured his work. When I was a kid, his rifles were the ones that caught my eyes.

That's really nice.

Here's a stunner on Willoughby and McCabe:
http://www.willoughbymccabe.com/d.php?gid=53

Ryan,

Excellent! You nailed it! Thank you.

Now the follow-on questions . . . Did La Bantchni do both stock work and metal work or only stock work? Any idea if he was in anyway associated with Pachmayr? (I am just trying to figure out why the catalog listed this as a Pachmayr custom gun. Other than the Pachmayr rubber butt, I haven't found the linkage, if there is one.)

Again, thanks for insight on the stock inscription.

Ken

MP - you beat me too it. I googled Jules La Bantchni's name and this was the first link. I should have googled first and asked held off on my questions.

Since La Bantchni worked in the Pachmayr shop for some time, it looks like there is a good chance this rifle did come out out the Pachmayr shop. Very interesting.

Ken