Muzzleloading Community mourns the loss of Doc White - Founder Green River Rifle Works, White Muzzleloading

Gary Banks White, MD, age 86, of Roosevelt, passed away August 2, 2022, at the Utah Valley Hospital following a heart attack. He was born on May 5, 1936, in Rock Springs, Wyoming, and was raised in Spanish Fork, Utah; He served a mission in Brazil and graduated from BYU and then George Washington University's medical school and has been known as "Doc" ever since.

Doc first made an impact on the muzzleloading community by starting “Green River Rifle Works” in 1972. The business started in Doc’s garage but soon grew to an 8,000 sq ft building in Utah. Doc had been thinking about rifles for a production company for a long time, finally centering on a composite of Henry Leman’s later cross plains rifles. Green River Rifle works would go on to offer a variety or rifles from Hawkens to “Poor Boys” during the late 20th century to satisfy the demand of a growing interest in muzzleloading.

By late ’75, GRRW was making ‘Plum Center” barrels for sale into the general market as well as for in house use. They gained an enviable reputation for accuracy.

Despite the closure of GRRW in 1980, a victim of the Carter inflation-recession, he continued to imagineer, developing the ‘White Muzzleloading System’ in 1968, way too early for the marketplace.This advanced system, featuring fast loading, super accurate and powerful slip-fit bullets, finally came to market in 1990. The company was named after him, ‘White Systems’. he designed the elegant inline ‘Super 91’ and Super Safari rifles, engineered the ‘Whitetail’ and ‘Bison’ inlines, and designed the ‘Superslugs’ and ‘Shooting Star’ saboted bullet so successfully used in the rifles. He also designed and engineered the Tominator shotgun, and designed the sidelock Green River Sporting Rifle, and the Javelina inline pistol, as well as many accessories.

Doc will be fondly remembered by many in the community as one of the people who held tightly to the American spirit of entrepreneurship and ingenuity that allowed thousands if not tens of thousands of people to enjoy muzzleloading.

Cards and flowers may be sent to

Mrs. Doc White
77 North Skyline Drive 55-8,
Roosevelt, Utah 84066