doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Sad Departure Of Another Forum Member

I had a few phone conversations with him early about custom guns and gunsmithing techniques. Then I met him at one of the Gun Makers and Engravers Guild shows, probably around '84 or so.
Always helpful, but never one to pull punches if you asked for an opinion!

He was also one who testified before Congress in 2002(?) in an attempt pushed by the NRA to relieve small output custom makers & gunsmiths from the Fed Excise Tax placed on those guns.
The result of that hearing and Congressional back and forth was that custom makers/gunsmiths that produced fewer than 50 units/yr were not subject to the Fed Excise Tax on the
custom 'mfg'd' firearms.
(Build #50 and you are then on the hook for that one and the other 49 from that calendar yr.)

Manufacturing a Firearm for the purposes of Federal Excise Tax is defined differently than the GCA68 definition of Manufacturing a Firearm
Simple sporterizing an existing firearm, restocking, rebbl'g, engraving, non orig type refinish etc are all considered 'Manufacturing a Firearm when dealing with Fed Excise Tax.

If that original rule has stood, then the FET on a gunsmiths custom build would be due from that 'maker' and it would most certainly
be passed along to the customer when it became time to pay for the job.
FED is 10 or 11% of the value of the completed firearm depending on whether it's a long gun or handgun.
It can add up very fast.
The BATF has been put in charge of the business of FET on Firearms and Ammo by the IRS. So you deal with them,,again.

Rest easy SDH

What a loss. I admired his work and his writing, and in our few emails he was extremely generous with his expertise. What a gentleman. RIP

I think back in the day chemicals and wood dust destroyed one's lungs over the long term. Kind of a silent killer. I knew two fellows who worked in Armory working on military weapons of various types for 40 plus years. Within two years of retirement, both had passed from either lung of cancer issues. In the opinion of most it was related to working with chemicals their entire lifetime in confined spaces. Think of Black Lung in the day. My wifes grandfather worked in the coal mines for 40 years. black lung killed him over time. Was just outside of Scranton Pa.

God speed, SDH.

A few years ago he agreed to tighten up a wobbly hammer on an old Ed Kettner 12 gauge. I drove to Livingston to drop it off and he ended up spending a few hours showing me around his shop area, looking through his photography and he brought out a custom gun to drool over. Very kind of him. We shared a few acquaintances (close friends to him), most of whom I hadn't seen for many years, and he spoke very kindly about them. When I picked the gun up, he went over how he fit the hammer in detail, bade me to take good care of the gun "because this thing's really old!" and I replied "Well, it was made after the turn of the century" and he barked back "yeah, the turn of the LAST century!!" and laughed a bit.

Blessings on his loved ones.