doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Interesting 1903 on Gunbroker Pics ADDED PHOTOS

First my apologies, I meant to have these up a long time ago, but life dealt me some problems that had priority. Anyway here are pictures of the 1903 we discussed in this link Interesting 1903 . It was from this Gunbroker Auction GB 1903 . I apologize for the pictures, I am capable of better, but just couldn't seem to "git er dun" this time. I am going to post these in groups and at the end will list my thoughts on what I may have. Everyone please throw your .02 in.

First the stock:


Cast off 1/8 at heel and 9/16 toe as best I could determine.

Fitting of comb to user, top is dead straight, only visible from above or as a shadow viewed from the side.

Palmswells, chip at rear of tang shows.

Rear inletting, gouge marks clearly visible. Note the magazine well is nothing but continuous gouge cuts.

Another view of action inletting.

Swivel inletting

Trigger guard inletting

Part two, the metal:

Tang reshaped

Radius

Other side of radius

Scope mounting, quality of work leads me to believe someone else may have done it at a later date

Sling swivels, I suspect one might be a replacement

Bottom of smooth plain steel buttplate

Typical Sheard front sight

Rear of scope base. "Germany" similar to one on another 03 on GB right now. The base was clear of the receiver and screws were loose, took them out and was able to remove it without undue pressure.

NRA trigger guard markings.

Now the bad news:

The bolt, follower and 150 slide Lyman were all plated. Seller stated he didn't have the sight, but a followup email turned out he did and he let it go cheap. The nut is broken off the bottom of the elevation stem. I have replaced the follower with a used blued one and the bolt with a blued one from a serial number appropriate steel code lot. I picked up a 150 slide Lyman on eBay that will go on to replace the plated one.

And finally, the overview:

Rifle with plated lyman



Forend checkering
All I have done at this time is spend several hours cleaning (rubbing) the stock with raw linseed oil and cleaning the metal in the ultrasonic and rubbing down with steel wool and Hoppes. It needs several more sessions as the wood is dry and the grime is slowly coming off.

Here are my thoughts as to Maker:
1. California gun.
2. 1915 NRA sales gun
3. Cast and palm swells
4. The gouge inletting.
5. reshaped tang
6. barrel profile and radius
7. Lyman 150 and Sheard front sight combination.
8. Overall feel, I am a lefty, but ambidextrous, so with a bit of practice I found it to "come up" right well. My RH friends find it to be very well fitting.

So I ask you gentlemen who have been lucky enough to own or handle a Wundhammer; would you say this is one? All indications lead me to believe so and I sure would appreciate hearing from those in the know. When I look at the inletting that Newton 1131 posted, I feel like I am looking at this stock. Same for the pictures Michael posted and in his book. What puzzles me is I can't find a picture of the "unique radius" he used. Is that the secret handshake that only the chosen know? LOL.

I can supply pictures of different areas on request and will gladly entertain thoughts and questions. This is already picture heavy so enough for now. Lets hear your thoughts.

Wundhammer. Circa 1913

The best copies of I have of Newton 1131's pictures and one of the tang chip. It looks like I might have hit the GB jackpot.

Does it look like a cheekpiece might have been removed? Likely when the comb was altered?
The comb nose fluting doesn't look right, or even professional?
If you look at the comb of Newton's Wundhammer it is much narrower and the fluting almost delicate.

Anyone who knows me knows I'm very skeptical about attribution although I just finished a story about a Seymour Griffin rifle that Monte M. identified across the aisle at the Bozeman Gun Show.

Steven, I don't blame you for your skepticism. I too am not 100% convinced. The bolt checkering is missing, perhaps covered in plating, as is the Ross barrel band. Two features that if present would help. I hope to make it to one of this years Tulsa shows and let those more familiar with his work look at it. Until then, all we have are my pictures and SWAGs. Here are some of the area of discussion.

�and I don't mean to criticize or bad mouth your rifle. I do appreciate your methodology in identifying specific characteristics and seeing how they add up. Wundhammer was a consummate professional and what might have been done to his work later could surely be grounds for misidentification.

I can't tell from your photos if a cheekpiece was removed but I'll bet the cheek divot was later work. The only Wundhammer I've seen and handled was Newton Dan's rifle above, and of course it wasn't signed or identified, except by Michael's ownership.

I've studied American made muzzleloaders and still laugh when I see Pennsylvania longrifles and Hawken cap locks in books that were later proven to be misidentified, but still go on misinforming readers.

Your hesitation is appreciated.

Years ago when I sent photos of my rifle (that I had for 30 years) to Michael to help identify, he called back and ask me to look at some details and these items don't show up on your rifle. He ask, is the safety and cut-off lined (like checkering cuts but only cut one way), is the front of the receiver beveled and is the bolt knob checkered? Newton's photo shows the beveling on the front of the receiver and I can send you some photos but I don't know how to post them. Your tang modification is also different than the Wundhammer.

Comparing your stock to mine, not much matches. The schnabel is different, as SDH mentioned the comb is quite different and in fact the front comes almost to a knife edge. His checkering on the forend does not have a line down the center on the bottom but is checkered all the way around the stock. They don't typically have a stock bolt and the PG shape is a bit longer. His front swivel screws into a barrel band. Other than the inletting style, I don't believe this is a Wundhammer rifle.

Let me know if you want some photos to post and give me your email address.

Dan