Rolling Block Gunsmiths

[Niederlander]

Hello!
     With the tragic demise of Dave Higginbotham, I'm still in need of a good gunsmith that knows rolling blocks.  Does anyone know of any good ones?  Did Mr. Higginbotham have an apprentice or someone he worked with so all that knowledge wouldn't be totally gone?  Beyond the loss of a good man, this is a huge loss for the single shot rifle world, too.

[Otter]

Niederlander,

I have  a couple of friends who have done work on my RB in the past. One is, for the lack of a better term, a "hobbyist" gunsmith, the other has done a lot of work on a lot of guns for a lot of area residents, and built a custom Roller for my BIL about 12-13 years ago. I do not believe either are "professionally trained" but both are anal to a fault, very precise and do fantasic work. I haven't had much contact with either for about 9 years as we moved about 9 hours away from them. As far as I know they both still do work on rifles, and both do have pretty extensive hands on experience with BPCR guns, both in the shop and in competition. I can put you in contact with them if you might be interested. I know not where you are located but they are both located in the Sgt Floyd gravesite area of the upper plains states. Another RB gunsmith would be Lee Shaver in Lamar, MO. Google him and contact from there.

I would call Lone Star, after a respectfully reasonable time period, and inquire about what you need. I would think Dave either had an apprentice or another "expert" in the shop who can help you out.

[WaddWatsonEllis]

I had this same thought in a thread ... perhaps this might help:

http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,37972.0.html

[Niederlander]

Thank you, Gentlemen!
       I was excited because I'd been e-mailing Mr. Higginbotham the last couple of weeks about fixing my Rolling Block (which another gunsmith had messed up.)  He said he could fix it and I realized I probably should have sent it to him in the first place.  I was dismayed, to say the least, when I got the e-mail about him being killed.  I hope he taught someone else some of his skills, as I hate to see that sort of knowledge lost.

[Skyrider]

I got my Pedersoli Sharps (45/120) back from Lee Shaver last week, we talked for 45 minutes on the phone and he did a good job on my rifle. I would not blink an eye about sending him another one of my rifles, if it needed worked on understand. He is also now the  coach of the US team in those black powder matches etc.

[Kent Shootwell]

A fine craftsman on rolling blocks: http://www.schuetzenguncompany.com/