Bill Large article in MB

[snapper]

My wife when on a cleaning spree over the weekend, and came up with a few MB that she must of hid from me when company was coming.

April 2021 has a nice article on Bill Large that is a reprint from March of 1963.  58 years ago.

The article states that he has done over 30,000 barrels.   That is a lot of barrels.   Never would of guessed it would be that many.

The article also states that Bill was coming out soon with a flintlock lock.   Does anyone own one and can post pictures?

Bob Roller, step on in and provide us some first hand history!

Thanks

Fleener

[Bob Roller]

Once Bill got the big shop up and running in 1958 he started adding machinery that was compatible with what he was making and I helped install some and he was able to make machines as well and I also was involved with that.The deep hole drills could run 4 barrels at a time if need be and I reamed a lot of them as well.He had 2 planers working and more than once I came into the shop and one was off the cut and I'd reset it after indexing the barrel.I don't doubt Bill's claims as to the number of barrels and they were all types from long slim ones to heavy bench barrels and frequently I would bring my portable horizontal band saw and a spare blade and cut the heavy barrel blanks to whatever length needed.
    Getting on to locks,Bill owned the moulds for the Maslin lock and used an antique for the masters of all the parts internal and external. Bill paid $112 for the moulds and never got but a few parts and the foundry agent who was less than an upstanding man sold all the parts from subsequent runs to Russ Hamm and others
 along with some triggers Bill had cast.He would sometimes make a caplock but it was NOT a sophisticated type and was made only to bust a cap.I commented on them and he would only grin.Bill was NOT interested very much in lock making and was glad when I offered marketable types.
    I sold a number of locks and triggers thru Bill's shop and when the Hawken took off that was even more work.I made some of the bolstered breech plugs and installed them in barrels.They are not marked so I can't claim any specific one nor can I deny it either.Les Barber also worked with  Bill and may still be with Larry Zornes at the Mould & Gun Shop.He is good at a lot of jobs and made fine moulds for whatever.
     After Bill passed away in September of 1985 one of his grandsons who was not really interested tried making barrels but that went nowhere in a hurry and the shop sat dormant for about 20 years until I convinced his daughter that the next buyer would be a big scrap dealer in Ashland Kentucky so she finally agreed to sell all of it to Jim McLemore.I was in it several times after Bill's death and got depressed quickly when I thought about what really happened in that building and looking back as I write this at age 85 I am very glad to be able to recall all of this and am proud to have been a part of it from 1958 to 1985 with time out fir the U.S.Army in 1961.
     Art Fleener,thanks for the request about this era and I hope it helps and you may post this in other venues if you want or feel the need to.
* I don't think Russ Hamm realized WHO owned these moulds and Bill really didn't care and I do know Hamm had other locks beside the Maslin line.
Bob Roller

[smokinbuck]

Bob,
Thank you for the update on you and Bill. It's always nice to hear the real stories about the icons of our sport and you are included in that group.

[Jim Kibler]

When did Bill start making barrels?

[Bob Roller]

When did Bill start making barrels?

Before he actually made barrels he bought round  and rifled barrels from a man whose name
I think was Buehmiller.He would recontour the lands by concaving them and then he would plane
them octagon on a G.A.Gray planer and then thread them and make a breech plug.
He started actually MAKING barrels from solid bars when he got his new shop going in 1958
and he had a 2 spindle deep hole drill ready to use but no room in the little building that was then
his shop. he was able to buy machines at a good price from government sales of surplus and he
accumulated quite a few.Another planer,deep hole drill,new Bridgeport milling machine,twin spindle
Pratt&Whitney rifling machine and an 1898 Builders Foundry rifling machine wiith a Sine bar and mitre gear
drive that howled when in use.It was dedicated to 58 caliber barrels only. The first one he made was a
one inch octagon by 33 inches long and threaded for a plug and he gave it to me and I built a simple walnut,
silver trimmed offhand gun that was a match winner I used until 1961.
   I hope this answers your your question about Bill.
Bob Roller

[Jim Kibler]

The 30,000 barrel number seems pretty high for a 1963 count.  Maybe there was some confusion?  I'd guess that a 1-2 man shop (which I assume is representative) would be hard-pressed to make 1000 barrels a year.  This is probably too high of a number.  It would take a lot of years to get to 30000 barrels.  Maybe the count was done like the Manton serial numbers...

Jim

[Bob Roller]

The 30,000 barrel number seems pretty high for a 1963 count.  Maybe there was some confusion?  I'd guess that a 1-2 man shop (which I assume is representative) would be hard-pressed to make 1000 barrels a year.  This is probably too high of a number.  It would take a lot of years to get to 30000 barrels.  Maybe the count was done like the Manton serial numbers...

Jim

The count was Bill's and it began in 1958 and long hours were involved.,The number may not be accurate and even if it isn't,Bill Large made his mark on this odd avocation we still enjoy.
Jeanette McKenzie  may still have all the records  or they  may have went to Jim McLemore when the machinery was finally sold the shop equipment to him. I no longer have contact with her but know she no longer lives on the shop property.
I DO know a lot of barrels went out of that shop and I am proud of the fact that I had such a man to mentor me when I knew next to nothing about machine shops and precise work.One of Bill's daughters married a man,Bob Dailey who was interested in the shop work and built several nice long rifles and was a good engraver but the marriage fell apart and I do not know if Bob Dailey is still alive.I am not sure about the daughter Jeanine either.She is about 90 if still living.

Bob Roller

[Jim Kibler]

The 30,000 barrel number seems pretty high for a 1963 count.  Maybe there was some confusion?  I'd guess that a 1-2 man shop (which I assume is representative) would be hard-pressed to make 1000 barrels a year.  This is probably too high of a number.  It would take a lot of years to get to 30000 barrels.  Maybe the count was done like the Manton serial numbers...

Jim

The count was Bill's and it began in 1958 and long hours were involved.,The number may not be accurate and even if it isn't,Bill Large made his mark on this odd avocation we still enjoy.
Jeanette McKenzie  may still have all the records  or they  may have went to Jim McLemore when the machinery was finally sold the shop equipment to him. I no longer have contact with her but know she no longer lives on the shop property.
I DO know a lot of barrels went out of that shop and I am proud of the fact that I had such a man to mentor me when I knew next to nothing about machine shops and precise work.One of Bill's daughters married a man,Bob Dailey who was interested in the shop work and built several nice long rifles and was a good engraver but the marriage fell apart and I do not know if Bob Dailey is still alive.I am not sure about the daughter Jeanine either.She is about 90 if still living.

Bob Roller

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disparage Bill at all.  He certainly was a giant in our little world .

Jim

[Ross Dillion]

Mr Roller should write a book. I could listen to his story telling all day. 😁

[runastav]

Mr Roller should write a book. I could listen to his story telling all day. 😁Yes Ross Dillion and with plenty photos!
Runar

[Bob Roller]

The 30,000 barrel number seems pretty high for a 1963 count.  Maybe there was some confusion?  I'd guess that a 1-2 man shop (which I assume is representative) would be hard-pressed to make 1000 barrels a year.  This is probably too high of a number.  It would take a lot of years to get to 30000 barrels.  Maybe the count was done like the Manton serial numbers...

Jim

The count was Bill's and it began in 1958 and long hours were involved.,The number may not be accurate and even if it isn't,Bill Large made his mark on this odd avocation we still enjoy.
Jeanette McKenzie  may still have all the records  or they  may have went to Jim McLemore when the machinery was finally sold the shop equipment to him. I no longer have contact with her but know she no longer lives on the shop property.
I DO know a lot of barrels went out of that shop and I am proud of the fact that I had such a man to mentor me when I knew next to nothing about machine shops and precise work.One of Bill's daughters married a man,Bob Dailey who was interested in the shop work and built several nice long rifles and was a good engraver but the marriage fell apart and I do not know if Bob Dailey is still alive.I am not sure about the daughter Jeanine either.She is about 90 if still living.

Bob Roller

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disparage Bill at all.  He certainly was a giant in our little world .

Jim

Jim,
No need to apologize at all.I do know Bill worked more than the normal "normal"8 hour work day and did it for years.
If I can locate his daughter Jeanette McKenzie I will see if she has the shop records and will try to call Jim McLemore
to see if he had them.Bill neither drank alcohol in any form and thought tobacco was a blight on humanity and almost until the end of his working life he kept on trying.The last thing he did in the shop was to cut a dovetail in a barrel for a front sight.
I never was a drinker but usually have ONE beer a year at Friendship and smoked for 20 years and quit right before our wedding 52 years ago.I make a joke about the money we did NOT spend on tobacco by saying we spent the money on 3 Lincoln Continentals and 3 Town Cars .We did own them over a period of years but bought them from savings and wages.
Will you be at Friendship in a couple of weeks? I plan to be there on Friday the 10th and will be at the Hawken booth probably as an irritant to all who are there.
Bob Roller