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Old 07-17-2008, 04:00 PM
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Barry Lee Hands Barry Lee Hands is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Bigfork, Montana
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Default Jerry Fisher, Gunmaker

Jerry Fisher
One of the nice things about living in Montana’s Flathead valley is the fine talent we have in the area. Monte Mandarino up in Whitefish, Lee Helgeland in Many Lakes, and here in Ferndale, outside of Bigfork is Jerry Fisher.
I stopped by his shop this afternoon to say hello and he showed me a really nice piece of work on his bench.
Jerry described the rifle to me as follows:
“It’s a Mannlicher stocked Mauser in 7x57, with some improvements”.
It has an Island sight, Schnabel forend tip and heel and toe plates”
I asked him about the nicely figured stick of wood.
“That’s a piece of thin shell Walnut, grown in Oregon. I have had it about twenty years, an extremely good piece of wood”.
I asked him what was to be done next.
“Indexing and finishing off the screws”.
He then told me-
“I will have about four hundred hours in it by the time I am done, and I don’t know when that will be. I usually have two or three going at the same time, and today for instance, I was working on scrapers”.
I was curious if the rifle would have any ornamentation before finishing.
“Well, I think its going to Eric Gold, but that’s a ways off yet”.
What a nice project this will be, I told him I hope I can see it when it is completed.







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Barry Lee Hands
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"Critics gather, they discuss aesthetics, Artists gather, they discuss turpentine. . ."- Pablo Picasso
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