My Farrow

[waterman]

Cat Man posted those marvelous old 1904 editions of Shooting & Fishing with Harry Pope's handwritten notes. I posted an addition, saying that the guy Pope was writing about was Willard Milton Farrow. Here are three photos of my personal Farrow, this one a .22 Long Rifle, made in Morgantown, West Virginia about 1893. All Farrows were/are target rifles. All but one (made as a benchrest rifle) were only made for offhand shooting. They all have double set triggers that make them damned dangerous.

[Culpeper]

Look at the wood on that thing. Beautiful. How does it shoot?

[butlersrangers]

How fun! Thanks for posting the photo of your rifle and your content and insights about Milton Farrow.

Jeff made a great find at a garage sale. He recognized and has shared obscure 'margin notes' by Harry Pope.
This content is kind of like 'Dead Sea Scrolls' to old time target-gun buffs!

You spotted Milton Farrow's name and put things in a clearer context.

These old hand-written 'notes' throw an interesting light on the personalities, rivalry and views of Pope and Farrow.

[Culpeper]

They all have double set triggers that make them damned dangerous.

That reminds me of a teletype airman we had in West Germany in the early '80s. He bought a Husky (IIRC) with double set triggers. I swear you could almost breathe on it to trip the hammer. I think it was set for a couple of ounces. Danger city that one.

So how many rifles did Mr. Farrow build?

[waterman]

How many rifles did Farrow build? First, they were expensive, perhaps the most expensive but not engraved rifles made in America in the period 1885-1900. Then there are the range of SNs to consider. There are about 40+ surviving rifles, with a range of SN from 1 to something like 128. But of those 40+ surviving rifles, at least 10 have no SN at all. Early post-WW2 collectors estimates were 200 to 250 total. In 1963, Richard Chamberlin wrote about Farrows in the Gun Digest and clearly knew a lot about them. He had a brass prototype and SN 1 among the few he owned. He didn't live too far from me. When I tracked him down, he was dying of Alzheimer's, so no hope for any sort of discussion. I wrote his obit. The other leading Farrow student & collector was Joe Ruth. IIRC, Joe had 14 Farrows and wrote about them, but Joe died about a month ago. My guess as to how many both numbered and unnumbered is 150, maybe a few more. Joe Ruth published a nice expensive book, lots of color photos, a study of how Farrow modified the design over time. Joe identified 4 different action types (all single shots) with at least 3 different trigger designs. Joe called my rifle Model 4A.

Joe published a list & description of known rifles, both numbered and unnumbered, and listed their owners as of 2022. Mine is #91 on the list and has a 12-groove barrel, 16" twist, and maybe a 1 oz. (or less) trigger pull. On Christmas Eve 2015, I shot it in a 50-shot offhand match. The match was won by a young woman who qualified for the 2016 Olympics. She used her Olympic type Anschutz. After the match, she borrowed the Farrow, shot the match sequence again and bettered her score. She said the stock was ergonomically perfect for offhand shooting, better than her Anschutz.

#92 looks about like mine, but is a .32-40 Ballard & Marlin. #93 was another .22 Long Rifle, but it's original barrel was removed in the 1930s and a Titherington barrel replaced it. #93 has been taken to bits and is presently in a cigar box. There are apparently 2 miniature (2/3 scale) Farrows made for his youngest daughter. One is a .25 Stevens Long rimfire, the other a .22 WRF.

One Farrow was apparently made in .40/70 Sharps Straight, which I think is not too smart. It's not a really strong action. Norman Brockway (National Rifle Club) put one of his big benchrest barrels on an early Farrow and made it a 40-rod rifle.

[Ned Butts]

Very interesting! Thank you for sharing

[RickyG]

Why oh why do you people torment me with new things to search for?


What value should i consider paying on one of those?

[waterman]

Why oh why do you people torment me with new things to search for?


What value should i consider paying on one of those?

To scratch that itch with a good one will cost at least 10K hyper-inflated $. Mine came from an estate sale, $1,950 plus to take it home, then about $5,500 to restore it (mostly mechanical) and keep it working. And that was almost 20 years ago, back when I was working and could afford such toys.

Farrow was a watchmaker by training. The trigger mechanisms work much like old time pocket watches and are about that sensitive. Joe Ruth thought he saw 7 different trigger designs. Back in the early 1920s, Farrow told some gun writer that he made 7 different rifles.

Farrow's final shop was in West Palm Beach, Florida. His home & shop, all the machinery, all the records, and all the spare parts were lost in the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane. It looks almost as if the hurricane came ashore right at Farrow's shop and boat dock. Wind 145 mph, 20 ft storm surge. His wife nearly drowned, never recovered her health. Farrow cared more about his wife than he did about the shop. His youngest daughter and one nephew tried to salvage some things, but mostly everything was lost. Louise did salvage the 2 "miniature" rifles.

Serious collectors have been trying to write the definitive Farrow history since then. It's still a work in progress.

A serious Krag guy should hunt for one of Farrow's .30-40 Krag Auxiliary Cartridge Holders, chambered for .32 S&W and rifled with 12 grooves. Rare but affordable. Then you could shoot your Krag in the basement.