Thread: Gunsmith Howard C Lopdell

I recently purchased myself a new rifle
It a 6mm rem built on a Mauser action with a beautiful walnut stock. The barrel is stamped "Howard C Lopdell maker"

From what I've found on the net (bugger all) Howard lopdell arms Ltd was a registered company from 1986 to 1990.

Any one on here know much about him or the guns he built?

beautiful stock.....

Looks like some nice stock work there. Action is commercial, PH or FN?


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Nice looking rifle

Originally Posted by Trav-6mmrem

I recently purchased myself a new rifle
It a 6mm rem built on a Mauser action with a beautiful walnut stock. The barrel is stamped "Howard C Lopdell maker"

From what I've found on the net (bugger all) Howard lopdell arms Ltd was a registered company from 1986 to 1990.

Any one on here know much about him or the guns he built?

I met Howard a few times he was a friend my Gunsmith mate, His favourite rifle action was the Brno Model 21 chambered in 7x57 I believe,
Went with my mate to Howards place to pick out some Walnut for a stock project, Howard was obsessed with Walnut he had stock blanks
lining the rafters of his garage he was only selling some to make room for a Walnut tree he had just cut down,
You have a great rifle there Howard was a perfectionist I have seen a number of his rifles that my mate had worked on all great workmanship
my memories of him were he was a stock maker more than a gunsmith, The stock blanks he had were in the $300.00 plus range this was back in the 1980's
I paid $125.00 each for a couple of stock blanks around 1990.

Originally Posted by Dicko

Looks like some nice stock work there. Action is commercial, PH or FN?


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Zastava m70 action. Yes she is a very pretty rifle

Originally Posted by Trav-6mmrem

Zastava m70 action. Yes she is a very pretty rifle

@Trav-6mmrem You need to stick up some more clear pictures of it ,that is a great looking bit of wood & stock work ,it looks very similar style to Austrian rifle work l saw while guiding in Africa ,you scored a beauty there well done .

Originally Posted by shooternz

I met Howard a few times he was a friend my Gunsmith mate, His favourite rifle action was the Brno Model 21 chambered in 7x57 I believe,
Went with my mate to Howards place to pick out some Walnut for a stock project, Howard was obsessed with Walnut he had stock blanks
lining the rafters of his garage he was only selling some to make room for a Walnut tree he had just cut down,
You have a great rifle there Howard was a perfectionist I have seen a number of his rifles that my mate had worked on all great workmanship
my memories of him were he was a stock maker more than a gunsmith, The stock blanks he had were in the $300.00 plus range this was back in the 1980's
I paid $125.00 each for a couple of stock blanks around 1990.

Cheers for the info mate. He definitely was a very talented man with a high standard of work. It a gentleman's rifle for gentleman hunts

they are a good action too..had one in .308..... wasnt hard to get it to shoot as they should.

Very good work. He acquired an excellent rifle ...

Afew more photos

@Trav-6mmrem What a beautiful & functional bit of stock work there & like l say it reminds me very much of custom rifles built in Austria l saw clients use in Africa .The flow of the pistol grip & butt look like it would come to the shoulder like a fine quail gun ,is the forend slim or beefy ?Can you put up some pics of the metal work ie action etc ,does the metal workmanship match the stock or was it just a std action dropped into a custom stock ?any engraving ?.

You have scored a Kiwi classic there ,from a Gunsmith l had never heard of before & whose work was obviously world class & whose work deserves further investigation & exposure. Well done mate on a buying a great looking & functional rifle.

That really is a wonderful piece of work. I particularly like how the rear of the action flows beautifully down into the pistol grip as a lot of Mauser based actions can look quite clunky through this area.

Have you shot it at all yet? Do you know if it's the newer 1/9 twist?

Originally Posted by Steelisreal

That really is a wonderful piece of work. I particularly like how the rear of the action flows beautifully down into the pistol grip as a lot of Mauser based actions can look quite clunky through this area.

Have you shot it at all yet? Do you know if it's the newer 1/9 twist?

The guy i got it off was under the impression it was a 1-8 twist but were not 100% sure at this stage, ill be taking it to the gunsmith in afew months to get the action pollished so ill get him to mesure the twist rate at the same time. So far only 2 3 shot groups through it. 100gr seirra game changer group and 85gr seirra hpbt group. The game changers were loaded with a half min max charge of imr4831 and shot sub moa with 2 rounds in the same hole (first shot pulled) and the hpbts were a load that shoot very well in my brothers 6mm rem with another sub moa group. With some load development I'm sure we can get it to drive tacks

Between the mid to late 80's Howard had a company called South Pacific Gun Supplies based in Beachlands. He imported rifles from the USA and sent several of them down to me in Rotorua where I had a small rural based licensed firearms retail outlet.

I remember having three Howard's Custom Rifles all of which resembled the one the OP has purchased. One in particular was an absolutely stunning Mauser action rifle with a gorgeous walnut stock in 6.5x57mm. The other two were a 308 and a 270.

Howard had a jobber in the US that sent him Ruger rifles, mainly the higher classed rifles such as the walnut stocked 10/22 Deluxe and fully wooded M77s.
Another rifle that I remember well that I sold for him was a mint Kimber of Oregon Model 82 Super America 22LR. Now that rifle was an absolute stunner!

Howard had an amazing eye for detail which can be seen in the photos that the OP has downloaded. From memory Howard passed away in 1988.