Value- Benny action target gun?

W

West

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My father, August Westergaard, had a Benny Action , with a stainless steel A &M Rifle Company match grade 22 long rifle barrel, target gun that he won at Camp Perry, Ohio in the early 1950's. Am trying to determine the value and possibly sell this gun. Have tried Blue book of guns, Guns America and Gun Broker and no luck. Any suggestions?
 
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West said:
My father, August Westergaard, had a Benny Action 22 long rifle, target gun that he won at Camp Perry, Ohio in the early 1950's. Am trying to determine the value and possibly sell this gun. Have tried Blue book of guns, Guns America and Gun Broker and no luck. Any suggestions?
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Howdy West,
By any chance, does the barrel have the name Eric Johnson on it? Somehow I suspect that your Dad's rifle is EXTREMELY accurate!

Greg
 
West..........

West said:
My father, August Westergaard, had a Benny Action 22 long rifle, target gun that he won at Camp Perry, Ohio in the early 1950's. Am trying to determine the value and possibly sell this gun. Have tried Blue book of guns, Guns America and Gun Broker and no luck. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Howdy West,
Ok. You are holding out on us. I thought your Dad's name looked familiar. More on that in a minute. Benny was Benny Sunderhaus, I think I spelled the last name right, he was a gunsmith in Ohio and he built some custom actions that were supposed to have been good. Sometimes he used Eric Johnson barrels, which is an interesting thing because Eric's son, a very nice gentleman in his early 80's told me that his Dad would not sell barrels for someone else to install, after all they had his name on them and if installed improperly and if they didn't shoot well it would reflect badly on his name. Benny must have been considered a good enough gunsmith by Eric, because there is a gentleman on this forum sometimes who uses the name 40ezxs who used to have Benny action with barrels made by Eric Johnson, but installed by Benny Sunderhaus. He had one or two of Eric's barrels installed. He usually posts on the rimfire forum. Hopefully he will see this and comment.

Now, regarding what I said about holding out on us. I did a small bit of digging and came up with this, go down the page 'til you reach 50m & 100m Teams. I will copy that part of it here, but you need to see it on the website yourself. You do realize your Dad was shooting with legends in 1954 when he was part of a World Champion team? And it looks like he tied Art Jackson for the high score.:cool:


http://www.usashooting.com/alumni/USAworldchampions.html

USA World Champions

50m & 100m Free Rifle Prone 30 + 30 shots
1952 - USA - 2364 NWR (Arthur Jackson 596, Verle Wright 595, Arthur Cook 589, Emmet Swanson 584)
1954 - USA - 2373 NWR (Arthur Jackson 596, August Westergaard 596, Verle Wright 594, Arthur Cook 587)

I hope I have not come across wrong, I presume you already knew this.

I don't know how to value the rifle, especially without pics. It won't be in the Blue Book as it is custom all the way. And it very well may have history to it that you are unaware of.

Again, with no offense intended, if indeed that is your Dad that I referenced, I would not sell the rifle. It is priceless.

If I weren't broke right now, I would be interested, but I bet you probably don't want to sell it now.............

Take care,

Greg
 
Howdy West,
I did a bit more digging. I apologize, in my effort to be of help, I may have offended, you had to know about your Dad's shooting career. As weird as this seems, there is an ebay auction going on right now of a picture of your Dad. Here is the description:

This is an original Type I wire news press UPI photo November 21, 1954. August Westergaard, US rifleman with score ofr 399 out of 400 in World Championships in Caracas Venezuela. Photo measures 9x7 and contains stamp on verso with caption. This is part of a collection from a former employee of the UPI in Tribune Towers before this collection was moved to New York. Look for many more great images covering all sports. We encourage multiple winners...shipping is a flat fee whether you win 1 photo or all of them. Enjoy!

Here is the link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/1954-Westergaar...est-UP-wire-photo-/170471880794#ht_500wt_1156

I think the rifle he is holding is a Winchester 52.

Best of luck in whatever decision you take regarding the rifle!

Take care,

Greg
 
Greg,
Thank you for your posts and information. Yes, I was aware of his shooting exploits and was aware of those news items. He actually felt he got screwed by a Russian scoring judge that stretched the bullet hole on the one 9 in the 399 score. Also had stories of how the Russians tried to bother him while he was shooting. The barrel on the Benny is a stainless steel A & M Rifle Company match grade 22 long rifle. Sorry for the slow response, I'm just getting on to this site. No, I'm not offended by any of your comments. We have a number of guns and since my brothers and I are no longer shooting, we are selling some of the guns. My grandfather, Chris T Westergaard was also a champion Schuetzen rifleman who was challenged to many 200 yd standing matches all over the country and finished 2nd at the San Francisco Worlds Fair. Met my grandmother at a ST. Louis Scuetzenfest. He won the King match and she was the Queen.
Lee Westergaard
 
Barrel is a stainless steel A & M Rifle Company match grade 22 Long Rifle with barrel band.
 
West said:
Barrel is a stainless steel A & M Rifle Company match grade 22 Long Rifle with barrel band.
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Howdy West,
You may want to consider asking this question on the rimfire forum as well, I don't know if the guy who goes by 40ezxs checks this board or not, but he periodically checks the rimfire board. He will be able to give you better info than me, shucks, he quite literally may have been at Perry when your Dad won that rifle. As I understand it, A & M barrels were supposed to have been excellent.

Greg
 
We have a number of guns and since my brothers and I are no longer shooting, we are selling some of the guns.

Sounds like it is time for you and your brothers to get your children, great grand children and great great grand children when they arrive into shooting these family heirlooms so they can also have the same opportunity to pass them on. The name Westergaard in my realm of shooting of which is Schuetzen is held in the highest regard and the equipment they used in my book should be considered priceless.

J.Louis
 
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Benny Action,rifle

West said:
My father, August Westergaard, had a Benny Action , with a stainless steel A &M Rifle Company match grade 22 long rifle barrel, target gun that he won at Camp Perry, Ohio in the early 1950's. Am trying to determine the value and possibly sell this gun. Have tried Blue book of guns, Guns America and Gun Broker and no luck. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Hi,
Yes,I knew Benny very well. I also saw your father at Perry a few times. What is the Bennys Action # ?
I feel it left Perry with a Johnson barrel. The A&M was a replacement. If you can send me a PM.we can chat...I might know a buyer for your Benny.
I had Johnson and Hart barrels on mine.
Those were the golden years of Rifle Shooting.
40EZXS:
 
I'll check on the action #

40EZXS said:
Hi,
Yes,I knew Benny very well. I also saw your father at Perry a few times. What is the Bennys Action # ?
I feel it left Perry with a Johnson barrel. The A&M was a replacement. If you can send me a PM.we can chat...I might know a buyer for your Benny.
I had Johnson and Hart barrels on mine.
Those were the golden years of Rifle Shooting.
40EZXS:
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply.
Lee Westergaard wgaardfarms@hotmail.com
 
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