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Daniel Fraser was born in 1848 and grew up with a dad in the coach-making business. After a flood washed the business away the elder Fraser moved the family to Edinburgh in search of work. Young Daniel was entered into a seven-year apprenticeship at the age of 13 under the great Master Gunmaker Alexander Henry.
Daniel would become a favored apprentice of Henry’s; before he was 21 he was made foreman.
Daniel Fraser was an accomplished marksman, and during his employment with Alexander Henry he actively participated in long-range shooting matches with the Scottish Rifle Team. However, his official position was listed in the 1871 census as “Gun-Action Maker.”
By 1873 or ’74 Fraser had set up a shop of his own and was making breech-loading single shots, double rifles, shotguns, as well as the then new type of repeating rifle, the bolt action.
Mr. Fraser would die sometime around 1904, but not without leaving an indelible mark on the gun trade through his superbly made guns — among my favorites, the “Velox” rifles. These state-of-the-art bolt-action rifles, based on Mauser and Mannlicher-Schoenauer actions, used his patented bullet design: incorporating “Oblique Ratchet Slots” cut through the metal jacket, at an angle, opposite to that of the barrel’s rifling. This helped promote expansion and accuracy, and marked Mr. Fraser as one of the first maker’s and inventors of premium bullets for hunting.
I have recently acquired one of Daniel Fraser’s “Velox” Mauser Model 1893 Take Down rifles chambered for the .303 Fraser, originally made in 1899 for the Scottish Lord George Arnulph Montgomerie, 15th Earl of Eglington and 3rd Earl of Winton. This rifle, serial number 2902, appears in great detail in the book Daniel Fraser: Gun and Rifle Maker Edinburgh, Scotland by Jonathan Grenville Kirton (Arms Collecting Publications, 2014).
The rifle is based on the Mauser Model 1893 in Fraser’s “highest finish” and is in a takedown format with a removable forend and threaded barrel shank. The fact that the rifle remains in its original chambering, the .303 Fraser (which was a rimless cartridge different from the better known and rimmed .303 British used by the British Army) and was not modified to a more common cartridge in its 117-year life is quite remarkable in and of itself, and only adds to the gun’s rarity and desirability.
The rifle has very slender lines and handles fast and easy. The peep sight mounted on the cocking piece and the Deeley-style forend latch of the forearm are two attributes I especially like. A wonderful example of Mr. Fraser’s gunmaking skills, it displays so many Fraser characteristics, such as the bolstered stock, bolt knob shape, and the Alexander Henry-style forend — a nod to his teacher and mentor.
Duke McCaa and his son Duke “L.D.” McCaa II have owned and operated Gulf Breeze Firearms since 1986 in the panhandle of Florida. They are purveyors of fine sporting and investment-grade firearms.