RICHARD R. BOUCHER An Engraver's Biography    Exerts of this biography were obtained through the book, "Frank A. Pachmayer: American's Master Gunsmith Safari Press, 1995 Second Edition, Long Beach, CA."

     All the engravers contacted by Frank Pachmayr, were highly qualified craftsmen, all of international stature. Certainly one of the best was Richard R. Boucher. He became an engraver mostly by accident. After leaving collage Richard answered an advertisement for a job in the stockroom at Hallmark Greeting Cards  in Kansas City, Missouri. When his artistic talent came to light, he was hired instead immediately as an engraver. Richard was a supervisor of the steel die, copperplate, and the engraving department. 
     One day Richard saw an engraved gun in a gun store and was a little surprised at the cost of an otherwise ordinary shotgun. He thought, "I can do that." He experimented on a few simple patterns on his own guns. Inevitably, his shooting buddies began to ask him to engrave their guns. He soon found that he was earning more at engraving guns part-time than he working full-time for Hallmark.  In 1969, after 20 years, he left the greeting card firm and moved to California to establish an engraving career.
     During his career as an engraver, Richard has accepted commissions from five presidents, which included President Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson for steel dies of the presidential seals, etc. He also engraved for President Reagan, a Winchester rifle and a Weatherby shotgun for President Bush. Richard has engraved presentation firearms for Ducks Unlimited , North American Sheep Foundation , and Safari Club International , Others included Buffalo Bill's museum, The Firearms Engravers Guild of America , and along with many more.
     Today as a full-time engraver, Richard is accepting commissions for shotguns, rifles, hand guns, and knifes.