Mrock rifle at Dixie

[EC121]

I notice that DGW has a Mrock rifle from 1975 that is part of the Early American Society series.  I'm assuming that is something they did for the bicentennial.  Looks like a nice rifle.  Any thoughts or history on the rifle?  Any of us oldtimers(me included) remember that far back?  

[T*O*F]

Any of us oldtimers(me included) remember that far back?

Hey, it wasn't that long ago.   We dressed in our period garb for the parade and they let us fire blanks into the air.  The thing I remember most is that if you had a fire hydrant in front of your house the village let you adopt it and paint it as a soldier.  We had a whole army of continental soldiers watching our curbs.

[smokinbuck]

A friend of mine has one of Larry Mrock's rifles from that series, he bought it at least 20 years ago. As I recall it is a pretty nice rifle with relief carving, wire work and some inlays.
Mark

[rich pierce]

Larry did some masterful work.

[Don Getz]

I knew Larry real well, built some excellent guns.   He was at the time one of the elite
gunbuilders, along with Bivins, Jack Haugh, Jerry Kirklin, Hil Pearce, and others....Don

[EC121]

Some years back I bought a rifle from Hill Pearce at the Birmingham gun show.  Nice Germanic early style .50cal.

[D. Buck Stopshere]

Don Getz? THE Don Getz?

You might remember me if I told you a story about the Teddy Bear

Buck Buchanan
Cumberland Knife & Gun Works
The Late Lewis B. Sanchez, founder

[Don Getz]

Hill Pierce came out of the blue for me.  My first trip to Friendship came in 1977, our
first year in the barrel business.  We were set up right inside the front gate, and Hill
had a booth in one of the sheepsheds near us.  The second year we delivered a new
barrel to Hill, it was an "ultra lite", a beautiful lightweight swamped barrel, 38" long.
The barrel got shown a lot and we went home with a bnch or orders for them.   These
were fun years at Friendship, many of the booths were open at night.   I rememer
when John Bivins had Bobby Denton working for him, and can recall Bobby singing
some of his songs in Jerry Kirklins booth.  Can recall Judge Ressly and a tall cowboy
stopping by the booth and telling tales of Odessa.  He said an SOB from anywhere else
was a gentleman in Odessa.  Fun times..............Don

[Don Getz]

Hi Buck........been a long time.  Had a lot of laughs.  Also miss Lou, a great guy.  I
can't remember whether or not Lou ever learned how to play that squeeze box.  Look
me up sometime............Don

[D. Buck Stopshere]

Somewhere in my "archives" in a very, very(?) safe place is the EAS magazine from 1975 that shows the ad for the Bicentennial Rifle. I'm thinking that a limited number, 300?, 1,775?, were to be crafted and delivered over a number of years. There may have been a number of "Kentucky" pistols in the offering. I'll have to look and see if I can find the magazine advertisement. I think the magazine bottomed out in the '80's.

The building was split between Larry, and the late John Bivins. A companion hunting bag & horn were to accompany each rifle, maybe? I'm thinking maybe Larry "stepped out" for awhile, and Jack Haugh took his place.

This project got John Bivins in trouble with the IRS, because in its mind, John and Larry were "manufacturers" and were required to pay taxes, including excise taxes(?) The battle with the IRS was expensive, so the late John Baird of Montana, who published "The Buckskin Report" (later, the Black Powder Report), set up a "Defense Fund" for John Bivins. It was fairly successful, but the "up against City Hall" took its toll on John Bivins.

There's a customer of mine here in NC that is considering selling his set.

[EC121]

I remember that Bivins built the rifles and got in trouble, but I didn't know Mrock was involved in the project.  I subscribed to the Buckskin Report in that time.  I remember Baird fundraising and giving updates on the proceedings.
      I had a chance to buy a rifle/bag/horn set years ago in Ohio, but I was on vacation and didn't have the time or money to get the deal together.   
     

[Don Getz]

When we bought the Paris barrel business, I received a call from John Bivins, wanting
to know or be reassured that we would continue to supply barrels for those rifles.  We
supplied them only to John and Jack Haugh.  I don't think there was a connection for
Larry Mrock in the "Bicentennial Rifle" business.  I never saw one built by Larry.

I can't remember the name of the guy who commissioned the making of the Bicentennial rifle, from Everett, Pa.  I think Tom White did a powder horn for each gun
and someone did a hunting pouch.  I recall the time when this gentleman brought some brand new Bicentennial rifles to Dixon's to sell.  I remember one of the guys that
bought one of the guns, had a difficult time sleeping that night, but finally broke down
and bought one.  These were fun times...............Don

[D. Buck Stopshere]

Don,

I can still remember the magazine article/advertisement in my mind. Larry Mrock's photo was in the article, dressed in 18th century shirt, holding a bow saw over a stock blank. So, I believe he and John were initially going to produce the rifles, and yes, Tom White did the horns.

In my previous post, I was trying to go easy on Larry.  John Bivins and I were discussing my rifle order for a left-hand flint, John's first left-handed order. John indicated that Larry was having some medical difficulties and that's when Jack Haugh "stepped in".

I'm going to find that magazine soon. I put it with the magazines that went out of print. There was a Rendezvous magazine that came out in the late '70's/early '80's that lasted only a couple of years, and the EAS magazine is in that stack.

[EC121]

    I have Bivin's catalog/flyer with the prices from the 70's.  A friend had several original sets and gave me one.
   

[D. Buck Stopshere]

I see this in Dixie's description of the Larry Mrock rifle:

"Custom Golden Age Lancaster Longrifle by Larry Mrock. This rifle features a 42” swamped barrel in 45 caliber which is engraved by the maker “ L. Mrock” on the top flat and is also lightly engraved “Early American Society 1975 No 10” ahead of the rear sight."

Since its serial number 10, its possible that he finished the rifle in a timely manner and then he encountered difficulties, and the workload transferred to Jack Haugh for the rest of the orders.

The magazine of the Early American Society was started as "Early American Life in 1970 by Jim Betts, who guided it through the first two years.

"The magazine really matured when Robert Miner took over as editor and publisher with the July/August 1971 issue, moving the magazine and society headquarters to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In mid-1979, the magazine joined several others as an affiliate of the National Historical Society, which became Historical Times, Inc., in 1981, with Miner remaining as editor. When he retired with the April 1982 issue, Frances Carnahan became editor."

It might be Robert Miner that Don Getz was thinking about who conceived the idea for the offering of the Bicentennial longrifles. I'm inclined to think the offering was for 300 long rifles; half for John and initially, half for Larry, then subsequently, for Jack Haugh.

Buck

[Don Getz]

Buck......very interesting.   I do recall that Larry was buiding guns for some other organization.   John Bivins and Jack Haugh were doing the guns for the Bicentenial
Committee.   Their commission was to build 200 guns.  I know the guy that was heading it up was from Everett, Pa., and was not the name you have shown above.
The William Penn museum in Harrisburg had a gun made by Bivins, and one by Haugh.
Wait till you hear this part.....they used these two to show to the groups of children
that were touring the museum.  Here were two beautiful guns getting beat up by a
bunch of kids who knew nothing of their value........Don

[EC121]

The Bicentennial Committee guns are what I am familiar with.  The rifles from the EAS are something new.  With any luck by the end of the week I will have one of the Mrock rifles(not from Dixie), and the deal includes the EAS magazine article. 

[Don Getz]

Have been racking my brain for a name of the guy that commissioned those bicentennial rifles, and I think I have found it.........Don Hartnett, and I think he lived
in Everett, Pa.  I recall when he brought some new Bicentennial rifles to Dixons, these
were guns that he didn't get sold.  When these were originally offered, gun, bag and horn, they sold for around $2100.  More as I remember it.........Don

[white smoke]

Just last week one of those rifles closed on Gunbroker for about $2200. It was very complete with bag and horn etc. It had full documentation including a test target signed and dated by Mr. Mrock. Last year one of the rifles in question sold on Track of the Wolf for $4700. It too was signed by Mr. Mrock.

[Mick C]

Just took a trip over to Dixie's site, that is one beautiful rifle.  Someone needs to snatch that up.  Wish I could.....Mick

[EC121]

The bag wasn't mentioned in the deal, but it should get here Friday.  I'll see what shows up in the box.

[EC121]

Christmas got here early.  Got my Mrock rifle today.  It came with a letter from Mrock to the customer apologizing for the delay and that he had his cast off.  Also had instuction for care and loading of the rifle. This was rifle #5 of the EAS series. 

[JCKelly]

Larry Mrock used the stock architecture and patchbox of Number  45, John Haga, in Kindig. He used the carving & cheek inlay from this John Haga attributed, with 46" .45 caliber barrel. From the late H.A.K. collection.



It was for the Early American Society, somewhere in Pennsylvania.