The Legacy Continues

From Building Rifles to Building Gunsmiths

Melvin Forbes, founder of New Ultralight Arms, and his family have teamed with Montgomery Community College to offer the Melvin Forbes Next Generation Scholarship for gunsmithing students who attend that institution. That’s big news, partly because in today’s world everything – including an education – is expensive, but mostly because opportunities for financial assistance for those wanting to pursue a career in gunsmithing are uncommon. This news is also very personal for me.

My father was a veteran of the Korean War. He volunteered and was shot all to hell. But with the assistance of the GI Bill got an education and become a schoolteacher. He soon became a guidance counselor and also served as the Adult Education Supervisor at a Vocational School. A firm believer in the importance of education, Dad was one of the founders of The Shady Spring, WV Citizens Scholarship Foundation, and he served as the Chairman of the Selection Committee of The Westmoreland Coal Company-Penn-Virginia Scholarship Foundation for 33 years. He was also an outdoorsman and a deer hunter. For most of my life I’ve been meeting folks who told me my father changed their life with the guidance he had given.

In 1983, the year I graduated high school, West Virginian Melvin Forbes – also and outdoorsman and a deer hunter – quit his job as a high school shop teacher with the goal of building the lightest, best shooting, bolt-action hunting rifle possible. He was successful, and in 1985 the less than five pound Ultra Light Arms Model 20 rifle was introduced. From the design of its action to its incredibly rigid stock, the rifles crafted by Forbes became known as the, pound for pound most accurate bolt-action rifles of all time. And, for almost 40 years, Forbes’ rifles have been featured in many gun and hunting magazines. So groundbreaking was Forbes’ work that in 2011 the National Rifle Association awarded Forbes their Golden Bullseye Pioneer Award.

I’ve been hunting with Melvin’s rifles since the turn of the century, and currently own several. More importantly, Melvin and I have become good friends. Since my father passed, Melvin is one of the first people I call when I need advice – guidance. And many a night at my hunting camp I’ve listened to Melvin’s stories about his life and his rifles. But when Melvin talks about teaching shop in high school, his eyes get a little brighter, and his smile a little wider. I think mostly because Melvin knows, like my father knew, that when he was teaching, he was really making a difference.

• Melvin Forbes at a West Virginia deer camp teaching a young man how to skin his first whitetail deer.

In 2022 Melvin Forbes sold his business to Wilson Combat and they are continuing the legacy Forbes started, but Forbes will always be remembered as the man who changed the way the world looks at lightweight bolt action rifles. So, what’s he doing now? Well, he still picks up the phone when I call, and he still gives good advice and guidance. And it’s a damn shame that all of tomorrow’s gunsmiths cannot learn from Melvin Forbes, who Field & Stream Rifles Editor Dave Petzal calls a “genius.” In lieu of that, the scholarship Melvin and his family have established with Montgomery Community College will have to suffice.

The Melvin Forbes Next Generation Scholarship is completely funded through donations from family, friends, organizations, and manufacturers within the firearms industry. If you would like to contribute, you can do so in three ways:

1.     Call (910) 898-9633 and donate by credit card.

2.     Mail a check or money order to: Montgomery Community College Foundation, 1011 Page Street, Troy, NC 27371

3.     Donate on-line by clicking HERE

Please be sure to note or indicate the “Melvin Forbes Next Generation Scholarship with your contribution.

About Montgomery Community College

Montgomery Community College is one of four schools in the nation to offer NRA approved, affiliated, short-term gunsmithing courses. Classes are taught by nationally and internationally known gunsmiths and craftsmen who share their expertise in courses from basic to advanced techniques. Most classes combine a hands-on and lecture format and range from three days to two weeks in length. MCC also offers a two-year associate degree program in Gunsmithing. For more information about the Gunsmithing School at MCC, click HERE.

“Melvin Forbes is a genius who has been masquerading as a country gunsmith. Why a genius? Because he saw what had not yet been created, but saw how it could be created, and then he built it and it worked. Why a genius? Because most of the people who carry the title “genius” never get beyond step one, and Melvin took it all the way. He made rifles for the 21st century a decade and a half before the century turned. If he had chosen to be a teacher, he would have been as great. He did that for a while and was able to explain things so simply and so clearly that anyone could understand. Not all “teachers” can do this, but he could. Melvin’s time as a gun maker will have to stop, but with your help, the teaching can continue. That would make him happy.”

David Petzal, Rifles Editor, Field & Stream