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13 years ago I apprenticed under Master Gunsmith Steve Zihn for 2 years. I built custom bolt action sporting rifles(mostly Mauser based) for about 4 years part time while I was working a full time job in industrial construction. Then 7 years ago we moved to my Families farm in Kansas(for family reasons) at which time I decided to go into Custom Rifle building full time.

After a few conversations with Steve I decided to find a niche in the market that had very little competition. There are lots of good builders out there making Kentucky/Pennsylvania/American Long rifles and Plains rifles and even a few guys who are making very good Jaeger rifles but the number of guys building Big Bores, Double Rifles and English Stalking rifles is fairly small, so that's what decided my niche in the market. The other thing is that there aren't very many guys building the obscure actions from the 1860's-1870's, like the Wesson Style Boxlocks. The Small Boxlock castings by Pete Allan are a very classy action based on the E. Wesson actions of the 1860's and they just make such a nice hunting rifle for a very reasonable price.

These days I'm kind of well known for the 2 Bores I build because I am the only guy in the world building a true(1.326") 2 Bore Cartridge rifle. There are a few other guys building muzzleloading 2 Bores but the Boxlock design is proprietary to my shop.

I get to be in that 1% of people who do what they love for a couple reasons, one after we moved to Kansas we paid off all our debts, so I have a very low overhead on my business and no other personal debts to worry about. Two, by being the first to do something I've managed to get my name and my work published in a handful of magazines and even included in Cal Pappas' British Bore Rifle book, so the publicity in the magazines helped establish my business early on. Three, I fill a niche in the market that is kind of empty for the time being. I'm sure someone out there is already looking at the work I do and is contemplating getting into Big Bore and 2 Bore rifles but for now it's a very small group.

What keeps me in business(I'm currently 3 years backlogged with orders) is that my business model is different than most other custom gun builders. For instance how many other custom builders take the time to document their builds like I do? My customers love it because they get to see how their money is being spent and it's some of the best advertising in the world for me.

Colin

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Stolzer & Son's Gunsmithing

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