John Bergmann

[Shreckmeister]

Does anyone know John Bergmann, a TN maker?

[iloco]

He built a Fullstock Hawken rifle for me.  Lots of people like his work.
A link to his web site. 
https://www.flickr.com/photos/flntlok/page1/

[Shreckmeister]

Do you have his contact info?  My friend just picked up a beautiful fullstock carved KY rifle he made.  Some very elaborate work in it.

[iloco]

Do you have his contact info?  My friend just picked up a beautiful fullstock carved KY rifle he made.  Some very elaborate work in it.

PM sent to you.

[Mike Brooks]

He's a prolific and well known long time maker. Does pretty good stuff. You can find his stuff for sale on TOTW from time to time.

[D. Buck Stopshere]

That's good to know. I am in the process of buying a trio of "Hawken" rifles from a good friend of mine in Bladen County. I gave him a cash deposit to clinch the purchase, we're just trying to figure out how many Randall knives I have to part with to consummate the deal.

One is a custom-made .50 caliber Hawken by the late Ted Fellows of Spokane, WA. Another is an unsigned custom-made .54 caliber with Joe Corley's name stamped on the underside of the barrel, and the other is an unsigned .50 caliber made attributed to John Bergmann. The owner has written correspondence from the makers of all three guns to the original owner, who lived near Winston-Salem NC.

Ted was an avid Buckskinner back in the '70's, and "The BeaverLodge" comes to my mind when I remember seeing his trademark.

The maker of the .54 caliber is a mystery, since there is no name stamp or engraved signature on the barrel. It is the most beautiful "Hawken" I have ever seen. According to Bob, it's possible that it or the parts may have come out of Art's shop in St. Louis. All of the "furniture" is color-cased.

I have never seen in all my years of dealing with custom-made firearms seen matching serial numbers(?) on the bottom of the breech plug and the barrel. I have sent photos of this rifle to Bob, who is a close friend of Joe Corley, and he gave me some insights to the rifle.

If you go back to the thread, "Hawken Rifle from Art Ressel's Hawken Shop in St. Louis" and look at the photo of the six Hawken Rifles on the rack (2nd photo), the third rifle down was made by Joe Corley as identified in reply#21 by Phil Meek. That rifle is a twin to mine. The figure in the wood is the only apparent difference.

I will post the photos I already of the Corley rifle on either a new thread or add it on to the Art Ressel thread started by Phil Meek.

[iloco]

 the other is an unsigned .50 caliber made attributed to John Bergmann.

All the Bergmann rifles I have seen has his name on the top of the barrel.  Will you post a picture of this rifle when you get it.  Is it half stock or full stock.

[D. Buck Stopshere]

It is a half-stock Hawken.

[iloco]

I talked with John today and he said he did make a few early riflles with out a signature. These were made in the early 80's.

[D. Buck Stopshere]

The mystery continues. Letters from Mr Bergmann to the original owner were written between July 1996 and March 1997. In the last letter, he was lamenting about the stock designs of kits from TOTW and DGW and others being confined to WYSIWYG. Stocks did not allow enough "meat" for cast-off and the cheek-rest was minimal.

I can't figure out if the original owner sent the parts or the parts came from Mr Bergmann. There's no evidence of a bill of sale, other than a letter accompanying the rifle when it was delivered in April 1997. The letter does make reference to follow the design of the Medina Rifle, and in particular, the engraved lock. This rifle has an engraved lock.

Guess I need give Mr Bergmann a call to ask a few questions. My only thought might be that if Mr Bergmann was not happy with resulting rifle, he may left his name off the barrel. It's been about 18 years since the dates of the letter.

The only (far-fetched) other solution is that another Hawken rifle actually was built by Mr Bergmann and signed, but sold sometime in the past, and I have the correspondence but not the rifle, and the rifle I have is by unknown maker.

And the mystery continues......

[iloco]

Post a picture of the Bergmann rifle.   Seems you do have a mystery.  John could proably solve it for you. 

[D. Buck Stopshere]

I sent John Bergmann a couple dozen photos for him to study and report back to confirm crafting the rifle.
If I hear back from him in the affirmative, I'll post the photos here on this thread or a new thread showing all three Hawkens, including the exquisite one by Joe Corley, associated with Art Ressel's Hawken Shop, and one by the late Ted Fellows of Washington State.

The only explanation I can figure is Mr Bergmann built the rifle, but shipped it to the customer "in the white", wood & metal unfinished. If that were the case, I can understand the maker leaving off the signature. After all, the signature is the gunmaker's "business card".

I expect to hear back from him in a few days or so.

[D. Buck Stopshere]

Got a note yesterday from Mr Bergmann regarding my Hawken he built back in '97.

He affirmed that it is his work, and the reason for the absence of the barrel signature? 

It was a "kit gun", probably provided by the owner.  In my second to last post, he, in his correspondence to the original owner, lamented about being confined on "kit guns". They offered little room for creativity.

So, the mystery is solved. The rifle is his work, and I will run a copy of my correspondence with Mr Bergmann to add to the existing provenance.

I'll post some photos as soon as I can get them transferred to Photobucket and lined up for your viewing pleasure. Even though it's a "kit gun", the execution of this piece is still with subtle finesse, athough some compare the plain design of the Hawken rifle with the ordinary wood fence post.

I still chuckle every time I remember my good friend over in Alamance County NC, John Braxton, one of our State's "treasures". He use to say, "there are two things that are highly over-rated, political promises and Hawken Rifles". 

[Plumloco]

Hello,
   I would like to get John's contact info. I really like his Trapdoor sporters.
Plumloco