doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com L G Thomas/Griffin & Howe

The engraving very much has the look of Fugger, to me at least. That would fit with the G&H connection.

Thanks we can start up again when you get the rifle and have a better chance to look it over.

I believe Mr. Thomas was a machinist by trade and may have worked on the first atomic bomb.

My notes show a book title "The Life and Times of Leon Grappe Thomas" I have not found a copy.

Leon G. Thomas 1905-1963 for others who want to research him.

I have two Thomas numbers 343 and 348, I would be very surprised if there were 40 much less 348 rifles with the Thomas name on them.

The old days of the Caddo Rifle and Pistol Club were very active. Shreveport had many prosperous, traveling individuals (oil and gas) I remember reading of several couples from Shreveport hunting with EK and several on the 30+ old days of African Safaris. The Caddo Rifle and Pistol Club was the hub of most of the activity. My Dad used to shoot the NRA 6400 Prone (or metric) matches there years ago. Don't forget this is Jim Clark's home range (the first and maybe still the only civilian trained Nationa Bullseye Champion). Bill Jordan lived there for many years after he retired from the US Border Patrol, I got to know him very well. I believe one of the first clean 6400 matches ever fired was shot there. So it does not surprise me that a cottage trigger maker was on the scene. It would not surprise me if we found him connected to other guns, knowing a little about that landscape. I was about 17 shooting with Bill Jordan and Bud Price, on Mr. Prices, Garland, AR cotton farm and I asked them how they could possibly shoot without ear protection and Mr. Jordan told me he couldn't hear anything anyway!!! He was shooting a .338/.378 KT at a gong at 300 yards. I'll be on the lookout for Mr. Thomas, may run an add in Shreveport Times.
Gary

The old address show previously is from the Allendale neighborhood. Even in the 50's-60's period this is not the typical address of a retail G&H customer. You'll want more magazine capacity to live there now. I'll bet we find this was a gift to him from another Shreveport friend. Where LA 173 crosses Hwy. 1 used to be nothing but oil field machine & pump shops, all the way to the old Downtown Airport. I'll bet these were his stomping grounds.

Gary

i think the floor plate is Griebal

http://www.fega.com/prodserv/CastsSC.asp?recidparam=59

FEGA sells a casting of this (same?) floorplate as Griebels engraving work.
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Also another casting of Griebel's work using the same scene.
Not uncommon for engravers to take an embossed lift of a favorite and use it over again a number of times.
Sometimes changing small details,,sometimes not. It saves alot of layout time.
http://www.fega.com/prodserv/CastsSC.asp?recidparam=50

I thought it might be, as I said I had seen it before. I think it may be in Meek's book on engraving, at least that is where I think I saw it. Could be wrong.
Kornbrath, Fugger, and Griebel were all of the same schooling. All worked for G & H.

With the FEGA having a casting one has to start wondering where they got it. Is the rifle in question something very special or was the floorplate one of a number of the same engraving. Just speculating.

There is a photograph of the same pattern unfinished on what appears to be a Winchester Model 70 florplate on page 18 of E. C. Prudhomme"s "Gun Engraving Review" in the Griebel section - The plate unfinished as it was done in reverse (upside down the way one usually looks at a floorplate engraved scene).

Jerry Liles mentioned before that E.C. Prudhomme was from Shreveport. I think that detail, possibly significant was missed.

Gary

From Kutter's links and WJW's reference.......I don't think there's much doubt it's Griebel's work.

The subject rifle and FEGA's Griebel castings: