Handmade guns, as I construe the term, hold the allure, for me, of the skill and effort put forth by the men (and women) who, painstakingly, made and fitted certain parts with no small amount of labor. If, when, I pay a princely sum for a gun that was, to a large degree handmade I will count my funds as having been well spent not completely because of the quality of the gun itself, but in a large part in appreciation of the lifetimes of work that the artisans put in the trade, paying their dues, and acquiring skills few can imagine today.
Having done a bit myself, in the building of m/l rifles, I appreciate filing more than a little. Men like Wallace Gusler, John Bivins and the House brothers, Herschel and Frank, whetted my appreciation for this almost lost art many years ago.
SRH
