Alvin Linden Vol.1,2,3

These are books written by the great Al Linden about stock making and rifle sporterizing. LOTS of interesting homemade stuff.

No.1 & 3 were printed in 1952 and no. 2 was printed in 1958. The 1st editions, were printed in the early 40s according to the copyright dates.

Just a little side story. I got these books from the gunsmith (long since pass into the great shooting range in the sky) at Loveland ever so many years ago. Count Masche was originally from Ripon, WI and was acquainted with many of the old time custom gun makers. He had visited with A. Linden many times and had some interesting stories. For example, A. Linden often used a half-axe to remove excess wood from a blank before starting to shape it.

Count was a cousin to the great stock maker, Leonard Mews. Sometime in the very early 60s Mews came out to visit Count, and was just hanging around the gunshop that was located in a drugstore in downtown Loveland. Mews was having his mail forwarded to Count because it was a lengthy stay. I happened, actually I practically lived there, to be in the shop one day when Count gave Mews his mail. Count and I were conversing about who knows what when Mews let out a curse and threw one of the letters in the trash. Naturally both Count and I thought the worst. However, that was not the case. It seems that Winchester had a deal with the Olympic shooters to furnish rifles for the upcoming Olympics and needed someone to custom fit the stocks to the individual shooters. I don't remember the dollars but it was a very lucrative contract. It was for something like 50 stocks. Over and above the money for the work, all expenses would be paid for the duration of the job. I was a poor boy barely making ends meet and to turn down something like that was utterly amazing to me. To this day I remember his explanation word for word: What do they think I am, a *** **** factory?" He wouldn't even send them a refusal letter. Just walked away.

I always wanted to be good enough at something to be able to do that but have spent most of my life just a hair above mediocrity, in other words, got it done but sometimes it wasn't real pretty. Oh well.

I wasn't aware of these. Very nice. I will have to see it a can find them online for a price I can afford.

Check ebay, use the search term 'Firearm Design & Assembly', looks like quite a few are listed.

That’s a great story, Roysha. The books are worth reading, even if you never make a stock. Linden’s writing is very clear and good, and he had a dry, ironic sense of humor besides.

He called himself “The old wood butcher.” People pay a lotta dough nowadays for a Linden-stocked sporter.