Fred Miller Manufactures Custom Rifles

If you have never seen the work I do with my rifles there is one listed on Gunbroker.com that I made several years ago for a person who never completely paid for it--- just thought you may like to see what I do---

There is nothing unique about my guns except that when you hold one of my rifles, everything you are holding is made by me in my shops--- I make the barrels from scratch, Starting with a bar of barrel steel. I drill and ream ( smooth out) then I cut the rifling in the bore, then turn and thread it to fit the frame.

I have moulds for all my parts and get the parts from the foundry as a rough blanks, then I machine them to match the drawings. I make every screw, pins. springs, everything, then I make the stocks and forends and finish them and cut the diamond checkering on the pistol grip and forend-. I make the sights and all of it's parts exactly like the originals were made-- After they are fully assembled and work I take them apart and finish each part and then heat treat them in a furnace to give the outer surface of each part a glass hard surface so they do not wear. some I engrave before I heat treat like this one is engraved.

My rifles can be converted to other calibers by unscrewing the barrels and screwing in another caliber barrel and changing the extractors. These rifles are called Schubert Rifles. Schuetzen rifle shooting was brought to the US by German Austrian Swiss immigrants before and after the War of Aggression against the South. This style of target shooting was very popular with the various enclaves of Germans Swiss, Austrians and they made a formal affair of it on Sunday after church they all wore suits and a derby hat and made it fun for the whole family-- the serious matches were held all over the US and it was not uncommon for shooters to travel from the east coast to the west coast. the prise money was big and sometimes was $50.000 for the winner $40.000 for second and on down to a $50.00 prise

When the Anti German sentiment grew before and after WW 1 this type of shooting died out but came back and WWII killed it again--- then in the 1970's and 80's it started to become very popular and that is when I got into making parts for the old rifles then decided to make a complete rifle. I stay about 30 rifles behind all the time and never seem to ever catch up-- every time I get someone taught to do what I need done they bail out on me and go to work for the Army at Rock Island Arsenal which is near by. google this