Dall sheep on a Ruger Hunter

[Robb Barnes]

A client saw some photos of some single action grips made from wild sheep horn and he asked if we could make some from Dall horn out of Alaska. He sent his grip frame and we crafted these to his specifications as far as shape and thickness goes with a slight palm swell.

 

[rugerguy]

nice job Robb, looks NICE, I was never able to get any of the 'horn' that our customer got when he killed his Dahl sheep with the .256 Win., Dan Wesson our shop built for him back in the mid 70s, kept the rack ( MOUNTED THE HEAD) :unsure: :(:cool:

 

[contender]

I love sheep horn for grips.
Great looking set there Robb!!

 

[Robb Barnes]

Dan, you would be amazed at the number of shoulder mounts I find for sale that I ask the seller to just cut the horns off at the base of the horn and ship me the horn then toss the mount! Saves shipping!

 

[Robb Barnes]

I thought you folks might like to see some of the differences between the different types of sheep horns in their pre-processing state. The dark set on the left are from a Stone sheep, which is a thin horn sheep like the Dall and the light colored horns on the right are from a Desert bighorn which like the Rocky Mountain Bighorn is considered a heavy horned sheep species. Processing sheep horn is like Forrest Gump's' line about a box of chocolates. You never know what you are getting until you bite, or cut, into them!

 

[needsmostuff]

Hey Robb, fun story for ya.
I bought a Stone Sheep head and neck mount at a pawnshop.
Brought it home and grabbed the Sawall to remove the horns. Then dropped the leftover head in the garbage can face up.
The squeal when the little woman took out a bag of trash,,,,,,,,,,, priceless.

 

[Robb Barnes]

That would have been perfect to film! Kind of like processing a deer and after boning the carcass, sticking it ribcage and neck and leg bones in the can and seeing the same reaction when she opens the lid!

 

[arcticruger]

Very nice!

 

[Robb Barnes]

This is another set of Dall grips I just fit today to a Freedom Arms 83. Notice the red tones in this set of panels. Every set is unique when dealing with sheep horn. We will start the shaping and contouring later this week.

 

[deac45]

This is another set of Dall grips I just fit today to a Freedom Arms 83. Notice the red tones in this set of panels. Every set is unique when dealing with sheep horn. We will start the shaping and contouring later this week.

Those are going to be beautiful when finished!

 

[Johnnu2]

Fabulous & interesting stuff here....THANKS

J.

 

[contender]

Sheep horn in the hands is beautiful, AND feels great. I have a few sets, and I also have blanks awaiting a build.

 

[Threespears]

I have a set or two of Bighorns hanging around somewhere

 

[Robb Barnes]

Always looking if you get bored with them! These are bighorn on a custom bisley project.

I'd love to draw one sheep tag in my life! I can't image seven tags! Those are awesome.

 

[Threespears]

Those are beautiful

 

[Robb Barnes]

I'll trade you a set of custom grips fit top one of your guns for a set of loose horns :)

 

[Threespears]

I'll trade you a set of custom grips fit top one of your guns for a set of loose horns :)

 

[mr.deerstalker]

I might have a few Dull Rams to my credit, a life time of hiking the Alaskan Mountains, Talkeetnas, Brooks Range, Alaskan Range...and beyond! many a great trips, fantastic flying, vast wilderness and unbelievable beauty.

 

[Kings6]

You TOO are a tease

 

[Robb Barnes]

This is Dall with some outer texture left on per the clients request. It is on a Ronnie Wells Brass SBH grip frame. Yes one lower corner is a tad short but the client is through a custom gunsmith and they wanted these panels so he said he would mill the bottom of the grip frame to match that shorter corner length.

 

[contender]

Beautiful!!!!!!!!
Another example of the beauty of horn, and the uniqueness of each set.

 

[Robb Barnes]

This is the right panel shown above in post #9 after shaping and working down to the initial fitting. There are two further steps in the fitting process before we start the sanding and finishing process. The second picture shows the slight palm swell used on heavy kickers like this 475 Linebaugh.

 

[contender]

Those are coming out quite nicely!

 

[mr.deerstalker]

Robb, you better stop now! you might start making a name for yourself and sometime soon be in high demand, we can't have now can we?

 

[Kings6]

Good point Scott There is plenty of work to do but I just find it fascinating to start with this curly gnarly heavy hunk of head gear and then find what color and beauty is hiding inside. It’s all a share the fascination story, not a troll for work story. At my retired age I don’t like working .

 

[contender]

Hah! Retired??? BS. You just swapped jobs!

 

[Robb Barnes]

This is the finished product for the Freedom Arms shown in post #9.

 

[contender]

As I expected,,, STUNNING!!!!!!

I love the looks of finished sheep horn.

 

[deac45]

Love the reddish tones! Makes them seem to still be alive.