Colt slide over Wilson frame by Mr. Alan Marvel. Years ago, I asked Pete Single about his biggest influences. He rattled off all the usual names, and then I heard the name Marvel. I said, Bob Marvel…to which he responded, no Al Marvel. Al started gunsmithing in 1958 around the same time guys like Clark, Dinan and Shockey were producing guns for bullseye competition. There were only a few pistolsmiths in the Baltimore area and no gunsmithing school, so Al trained under Sergeant Nelson Lute, who was a local army marksmanship unit gunsmith of some renown. After a 36 year career as an air technician with the Maryland National Guard, Al retired in 1987 and devoted his efforts full time to the operation of Marvel Custom Guns. His contributions to pistolsmithing are too numerous to count, and as such, he was inducted into the American Pistolsmiths Guild in 1978 as the 12th member of all time. Pete gave me Al’s telephone number, and because he was 87 years old, I wasted no time calling him. No he didn’t text. I asked him about his greatest memory in his career, and without hesitation, he told me it was shooting with his friend and colleague Jim Clark Sr. at Camp Perry. This gun is TIGHT and RIGHT and finally found its forever grips by Mr. Craig Spegel…because anything else is just playing for second. We lost Al last year so this post is dedicated to his memory.
