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Posted By: Utah Shotgunner L.E. Wilson -- Gunsmith - 01/30/21 11:12 PM
If you search this name you will turn up thousands of hits for a company of the same name that makes reloading equipment.

Is this the same Wilson?

The Arrow is a wildcat, but kind of a boring one.
Doesn't go any faster than the parent .220 Swift.
Case life should be better.

[Linked Image from images.proxibid.com]

[Linked Image from images.proxibid.com]
Posted By: 375whelenIMP Re: L.E. Wilson -- Gunsmith - 01/31/21 02:08 AM
.220 Wotkyns Wilson Arrow, Yes The reloading company he started is still in business.

https://lewilson.com/about
Posted By: Utah Shotgunner Re: L.E. Wilson -- Gunsmith - 01/31/21 06:38 PM
Originally Posted by 375whelenIMP
.220 Wotkyns Wilson Arrow, Yes The reloading company he started is still in business.

https://lewilson.com/about

Yep.
Trying to find information on the gunsmithing history online is overwhelmed by thousands of hits to the L.E.Wilson company.

Was he a professional gunsmith building rifles for others, or focused on the making of gages and tooling?
Posted By: PhysDoc Re: L.E. Wilson -- Gunsmith - 01/31/21 08:01 PM
I found this in google books, I hope the link works

discussion of L.E. Wilson and the 220 Wilson Arrow
Posted By: Utah Shotgunner Re: L.E. Wilson -- Gunsmith - 01/31/21 09:13 PM
Originally Posted by PhysDoc
I found this in google books, I hope the link works

discussion of L.E. Wilson and the 220 Wilson Arrow

Doc,

Link worked! Thank you.

Interesting read. I even have some of those Sisk bullets. grin

Reading between the lines he was gunsmithing, but it doesn't give enough information to know when or for how long.
That article is from the WWII era so prior to that time??

The rifle appears to have later styling cues and what appears to be a Bishop stock, but it could have been restocked at a later date.

[Linked Image from images.proxibid.com]
Posted By: Tim in PA Re: L.E. Wilson -- Gunsmith - 01/31/21 09:58 PM
Rifle magazine did 2, I believe, articles concerning Wilson. One was a profile of him. The other was an article by Layne Simpson about a rifle chambered for the 220 Arrow he bought, it included some conversation Layne had with Wilson concerning the Arrow. I seem to remember the rifle was an Enfield built by Wilson. If I get a chance, I'll try to dig them out.

Tim
Posted By: Utah Shotgunner Re: L.E. Wilson -- Gunsmith - 02/01/21 12:39 AM
Adding "Layne Simpson" to the searches turns up some reading material.
https://www.amazon.com/Handloader-Magazine-March-Issue-Number/dp/B0087GTXM0
Posted By: Remington40x Re: L.E. Wilson -- Gunsmith - 02/01/21 02:30 PM
I have both the Rifle and the Handloader complete sets. I can pull the relevant issues and copy and scan the articles if someone can tell me which issues I need to find. There are too many of each and no cumulative index and every time I go paging through them looking for something I get sidetracked for hours.
Posted By: Utah Shotgunner Re: L.E. Wilson -- Gunsmith - 02/06/21 06:40 PM
Originally Posted by Utah Shotgunner

Was he a professional gunsmith building rifles for others
, or focused on the making of gages and tooling?

Bumping this question.
From what little I can find that isn't buried in the multitude of links to modern L.E. Wilson reloading supplies, he was also a gunsmith.
Assuming the L.E. Wilson built this rifle, what era is it likely to be from?

Still waiting for the rifle to arrive so can't pull it apart yet looking for any additional information.
Posted By: PhysDoc Re: L.E. Wilson -- Gunsmith - 02/07/21 02:04 AM
Personally, I kind of wonder if he only rebarreled and rechambered rifles and let others do the stocking, which wasn't uncommon.
After reading what Hosea Sarber wrote, it sounds like an interesting improvement on the 220 Swift that increased the barrel life.
Just guessing from the articles, he was active both before and after WWII.
Posted By: xausa Re: L.E. Wilson -- Gunsmith - 02/07/21 03:37 AM
My recollection is that L.E. Wilson was a dedicated bench rest shooter and competitor.I have the impression that his interest in bench rest shooting is what led him into the presicion loading business. I also have the impression that hs was first involved in precision machine tool work and that his interest in the ultimate in rifle accuracy led him to build his own rifles and loading equipment, and the latter became not only his hobby but his livlihood. How whatever gunsmithing he did for others fits in to that equation I am uninformed about, but I would think that it took place largely in the 1950's.
Posted By: xausa Re: L.E. Wilson -- Gunsmith - 02/07/21 12:13 PM
To update the preceding post, I went to my collection of American Rifleman magazines from the 30's and 40's and found an article where the writer described having his Model 70 Winchester .220 Swift rebarreled by Winchester and then sent by them to L.E. Wilson for conversion to the Wilson Arrow. This was in July of 1943, so L.E. was active as a gunsmith much earlier than I realized.
Posted By: Utah Shotgunner Re: L.E. Wilson -- Gunsmith - 02/07/21 07:05 PM
Originally Posted by xausa
To update the preceding post, I went to my collection of American Rifleman magazines from the 30's and 40's and found an article where the writer described having his Model 70 Winchester .220 Swift rebarreled by Winchester and then sent by them to L.E. Wilson for conversion to the Wilson Arrow. This was in July of 1943, so L.E. was active as a gunsmith much earlier than I realized.

Now you've done it....
I have a collection of American Rifleman from the late '20s into the '60s. Many years ago I used to scan and post article here.

Never unpacked them after our last move as my wife and daughters didn't like the strong musty smell. But now may be the time to actually do so.
Did you note the month and year of any others articles?
Posted By: Vall Re: L.E. Wilson -- Gunsmith - 02/07/21 07:57 PM
LE Wilson is pretty well known here in the Pacific NW where he lived. His shop was in Cashmere, Wa. (home of Aplets and Cotlets!) and his shooting, and tool making started before or at the same time as his gunsmithing work. I've always guessed his tool sales alone weren't maybe enough to make a living, so gunsmithing for others was part of his business.

Here's a little history from the company:

https://lewilson.com/about
Posted By: PhysDoc Re: L.E. Wilson -- Gunsmith - 02/07/21 08:52 PM
I wonder if the company could provide any information about the rifle?
Posted By: Utah Shotgunner Re: L.E. Wilson -- Gunsmith - 02/08/21 10:33 PM
Finally showed up today.

Herters stock.
FN action is dated 1950
Barrel is dated(?) 3-52

No other markings, but that is enough information to nail down the timeframe.

I am going try and reach out to the L.E. Wilson company and see if they have any records and if so, if they will share information. (Great idea!)
Posted By: Vall Re: L.E. Wilson -- Gunsmith - 02/11/21 12:28 AM
Since the company is still family owned, I hope there's someone from the family who can assist you in some info.
Posted By: Utah Shotgunner Re: L.E. Wilson -- Gunsmith - 02/15/21 08:28 PM
Originally Posted by Vall
Since the company is still family owned, I hope there's someone from the family who can assist you in some info.
Polite brush off from L.E. Wilson customer service.
Posted By: Vall Re: L.E. Wilson -- Gunsmith - 02/18/21 09:56 PM
Originally Posted by Utah Shotgunner
Originally Posted by Vall
Since the company is still family owned, I hope there's someone from the family who can assist you in some info.
Polite brush off from L.E. Wilson customer service.

Too bad. Another case of "customer no service".
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