Doan Trevor Custom Rifle Building

On September 2nd, 1945 the end of World War II happened.

Today, I’m going to share some family photos to commemorate this day.

Here is a picture of my uncle, Leander Lachance (L.L.) Doan receiving the French Legion of Honor. Note the security squiggle. Yes, this was declassified properly. We have been trying for years to figure out who the gentlemen with the flat french “scrambled eggs” hat is.

A photo of Col. L.L. Doan receiving his Distinguished Service Cross.

L.L. Doan is standing behind the car. President Truman and Maj. Gen. Doyle Hickey in the car. The 3rd Armored Division cut Germany in half and covered the most miles of armored division in one day. The record wasn’t broken until one of L.L.’s student (General Schwarzkopf) broke it in Iraq.

My cousin Bill (L.L.’s son) says,

“This found photo was taken within days of the German surrender. Doyle Hickey, 3rd Div Commander with Truman reviewing 3rd Armored Division troops and Col. L.L. Doan, Commander, Combat Command A. I’ve never seen my father so relaxed. How humble the arrogant gesture of the conquerer usurping the vanquished’s own symbol of the people. The backseat of a Volkswagen convertible is too small for human occupancy, much less generals and presidents. Note the mechanical turn signal (dummystick). “

One last photo about WWII. I found this picture on the internet. It shows some of this awards. If you would like to know more about L.L. Doan CLICK HERE. Also, if you have any information, I am always on the hunt and would love to learn more.

I realize that this is not WWII photo, but this is a photo of L.L. Doan. He was Chief of Staff/Commander, Military Assistance and Advisory Group (MAAG) Southeast Asia. During his post he arrange a cease fire between Nationalist China and The Republic of China. I believe this is what Jimmy Carter nulled and voided while he was President. 

The folks who served in early on in Vietnam will remember this. This is before Westmoreland took over.

This is a nice piece of dark English walnut While working on the stock I noticed that there were some marks in the wood that I didn’t understand. When I machined the slot for the bolt relief in the cheekpiece it became very evident what the marks we

re . It’s obvious that it was a lead bullet in the relief and that  the stock already been shot . I will wait for the owner to fire the first shot.

Here are some pictures of the action. This is one of the more interesting pieces I have worked on. I have no clue of what it really is. All the measurements are Winchester, except the loading port radii are a little sharper than Winchester. You can see that it has Eric Johnson barrel with lots of British Proof marks. There are some initials of CJH with appears to be a recoil lug, and there is an H on the bolt raceway. The bolt handle us not Winchester, but was custom made to fit the user and is not as hard as a Winchester. This came to me without a trigger. Strangely, enough…. I realized in my abyss of a stuff that I had a trigger that would drop in!! Freaky!!  I do not know who made this trigger. My guess is that it is a Wright Allen trigger or a C.C. Pierson trigger. Note the oval shaped slot on the sear. 

This rifle is from the 1950’s and is rumored to have been used by a British Olympian. 

Does anyone have anymore info on this rifle. I would be very grateful for any and all knowledge!

Thanks,

Doan

There’s a new F-Class for Smallbore for a round Anschutz action on the For Sale page.

Here’s the link: Stock For Sale

Please contact me if you are interested.

  Happy Birthday, Dad!!

I’d wish you one, but you won’t hear me over the machines.

Love,

Clare ( Daughter #2)

The owner won a discount certificate at the Berger Southwest nationals match in February. 

 Note the bottom vents have not been added or the escutcheon for the trigger guard.  

 This is just the first coat of the UV finish there’s a bit more sanding to do

The real challenge here was to shorten the length of pull and maintain the original look of the Steve MCGee buttplate. This involved keeping all the radii and remove aluminum.

Between working on completing stocks and duplicating stocks, I have been keeping busy. Which is great!

These two pictures show stocks tough of the duplicator, the second picture shows them sanded with pistol grips caps.

A number of years ago I made some fiberglass and polyester resin stocks with balsa wood cores. They finished out at approximately 11 to 12 ounces. Because the stocks were so light, you could still use the inch and a quarter barrel and make the light weight requirement; but needless to say they changed the rules. The workmanship on this carbon fiber stock and the shape of the stock is outstanding, but there are some limitations with the interior. The balsa wood is fine. The stock has a red Cedar core, which can be sensitive when you glue a pillar into it with very little surface area. The reason is because red Cedar has its own natural oils, which is why they make red cedar shingles to repel water and bugs, and last for years.. If a piece of instrument grade spruce was used for this, similar to the spruce that I use in my FT/r stocks, this might be a better solution. Spruce lends itself to almost every type of glue available and is more rigid. Countless number of airplanes have been built from Spruce including the Spruce Goose. The following pictures depict what I did to solve some of the problems. I removed the red Cedar and replaced it with a pillarized bedding block. I added an adjustable buttplate that is adjustable for up-and-down and cast on cast off. The rifle still makes FT/R weight with an F / Open size barrel.

At first glance this wood appears to be unremarkable. But as you look at it, the patterns of burls and flowers appear. It’s really beautiful.

Congratulations to Derek Rodgers on his FTR win. I am proud to say that this is the blue rifle that I built for him which can be seen on my website.

Congratulations to Allen Thomas and Peter Church who both used rifles that I barreled with Hart barrels.

So proud of my wife.  She qualified today for her CCL with a PERFECT score!

25 out of 25!  Liners count!

This is a left-handed English walnut stock that I duplicated when I did the Spruce stock. Ironically the two owners are almost neighbors.