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Joshua Mayfield

I stumbled upon a small custom rifle shop in southeast Arkansas a few weeks ago. The owner was a confidently soft-spoken, friendly gentleman. He was a good four inches shorter than me and probably 50 pounds lighter. A couple fellows in his shop were loudly swapping the usual "that 338 Lapua Mag of mine will knock an elephant over at 1,500 yards" BS. The store owner was friendly and polite with everyone, but he seemed to latch onto me and my father, who was with me that day, once I asked a couple questions that were about actions and fine tuning as opposed to hunting groundhogs with a 50 BMG. The gentleman started showing me the rifles he himself had built, explaining some of the subtleties that I might not have noticed myself. His personal deer rifle caught my interest, partly because it's not a rifle I'd build myself or buy. It was a 30 BR built on a Deviant action from Defiance Machine out of Columbia Falls, Montana. While the stock, scope, and caliber combination is not for me, it suits this gentleman, his frame, and his hunting style. We had a really refreshing visit void of boasts and one-upmanship. We discussed and I've continued to think about the simple joy of being able to flesh out a creative impulses, whether it be in form of a rifle build, a knife build, fly tying, carpentry, the written word, cooking, whatever. The joy of creation is something everyone ought to know and many seem to miss out on.

So here's my question: what are some things you fellows would like to create? Two come to mind for me. I'd like to one day develop and experiment with a .296 caliber rifle. I do realize the cost and challenges of such an experiment, but that gap between our .284" rounds and our .308" rounds fascinates me. Secondly, I hope to build a bush plane. Fortunately, there is a great deal more material readily available to draw on for the second idea.