Bill Mayfield

Bill started shooting when he was so young, his mom had to drive Bill and his friend out to the hills around Taft CA. His dad would have to go with him to purchase the guns for Bill to shoot. As the years went by, he and his friend would walk and then drive out to the hills. Bill was not satisfied to just shoot the guns, he also wanted to know how they worked, so out came the tools and apart came the guns. As the years went by, Bill continued to shoot as often as he could, things like school and work did interfere some. In 1979, Bill started at Fresno State to complete his degree in Business Administration. He needed a part time job so he went to work for Herb Bauer's in Fresno CA. That is where he meet Bob Gilman.

Bob Gilman

Bob started working with guns at an early age with his father at a gun store in here in Fresno, CA. When he was growing up he could walk a couple of miles east of his house and do some shooting. As the years went by, he would go hunting with his dad and always enjoyed not only the hunting, but did some competitive shooting. Bob went to work for Herb Bauer's here in Fresno, and a couple of years later met Bill at work. The two of them became friends and did some shooting together.

Now we are going to fast forward to late 1980. Bill is getting close to graduating from Fresno State and decided he doesn't want to go out and look for a job, so he talks Bob into starting a gun repair business. Bill goes to school full time and repairs guns part time, Bob works for Old West Arms and repairs guns part time. They have one busy garage for a while. Along comes 1981 and they rent 300 sq. ft. inside Old West Arms and Gilman-Mayfield opens for business. Business is good and when the lease is up, they move to a 1200 sq. ft. building at First and McKinley and open a firearm retail and repair shop. They are there until 1992, when they move to a 2700 sq. ft. store at First and Shield. They now have the only gun store in Fresno with a Target in the parking lot. Yeah, they moved into a strip mall with a Target department store between them and First St. Ten years go by and in 2002 they moved to a 3800 sq. ft. store at First and Ashlan. Don't know why, but they always seem to move 1 mile north of were they were.

It is now 2010 and we are still here.  We have made some changes and are now William B. Mayfield.  We have seen some tough times and a lot of changes in our industry in the last 29 years and are seeing more happen all of the time. Bill and Bob are still around and will be for some time to come. Their goal is to help you find the right gun for you and to see that your guns are in working order or to build you the custom gun you want.