Visual inspiration bump

quote:

Originally posted by ForrestB:
Thanks for all the early support. You’ve earned a special treat…

Here are three snippets from Gary Bolster’s high resolution photos of our rifle. It’s not fair to most gunmakers to enlarge photos to this size – our craftsmen have nothing to fear from the magnifying glass.

Mail Portion is closed

Any of you who want in the drawing, send me a PM or email and we will make sure it happens. Thanks everyone.
Forrest

Forrest,
Those must be old pictures. I vividly remember lots of drool over that rifle when you had it on show in Dallas.

Well, we're still collecting payments and IOUs for tickets. In the last two days, we've sold 41 more tickets.

0704-0707 FLA3006 (TX)
0708-0711 Bob P. (CA) (please send me your screen name)
0712-0715 Jaglav (NV)
0716-0719 Emory (TX)
0720-0723 smallcal (NY)
0724-0727 Will (KS) (he doesn't want me selling tickets while he's peddling his book @ SCI)
0728-0731 CASII (CA) (4 more tickets)
0732-0735 DRM-HP (MI)
0736-0739 Blaine (TX) (a friend of mine who bought tickets while on the way to his own mother's funeral!)
0740-0743 22WRF (MN) (back for even more tickets, thanks)
0744 Jim Dubell

Tickets 801-950 are sold to a very generous anonymous donor from North Texas.

Tickets 951-1000 are sold to a somewhat generous donor from South Texas.

This leaves us with 56 tickets left to sell before the drawing this weekend. It would be really nice if one of you guys would just send me an email saying you want all these remaining tickets; it would free me up to look around the shows while I'm in Reno.

We're getting really close to wrapping this up. I just hope we can sell the remaining tickets in time to do the draw at the Giraffe Bar on Friday.

Right now, there's a high school student out there somewhere studying hard. She has aspirations of becoming a teacher and worries about how her family will pay her college tuition. Next month she'll find out about the Searcy Memorial Scholarship Fund and she'll pour her heart out in an essay about why she wants to be an educator. She has no idea about all we've accomplished in the last eighteen months, but this spring she's going to receive a greater gift than she's ever dreamed of. It's not about building a rifle, it's about building a teacher.

Wish us luck in Reno.

Okay. Its saturday, and for all of us poor guys who didn't get to go to the shows, it would be interesting to find out who won the Searcy Memorial Scholarship Raffle.

To whoever did win, congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am also wondering when the CD or DVD of all of the photos is going to be available???????

quote:

Originally posted by 22WRF:
I am also wondering when the CD or DVD of all of the photos is going to be available???????

I'd would be most eager to PAY for a copy with all proceeds going towards the fund.

I don't know if they drew or not on Saturday. Forrest was still about 45 or so tickets short as of 3pm Firday afternoon. I saw the rifle in person...quite awesome

quote:

Originally posted by fireball168:

quote:

Originally posted by 22WRF:
I am also wondering when the CD or DVD of all of the photos is going to be available???????

I'd would be most eager to PAY for a copy with all proceeds going towards the fund.

Ditto.

Don

quote:

Originally posted by DMB:

quote:

Originally posted by fireball168:

quote:

Originally posted by 22WRF:
I am also wondering when the CD or DVD of all of the photos is going to be available???????

I'd would be most eager to PAY for a copy with all proceeds going towards the fund.

Ditto.

Don

+2

I hope to have the CD completed in about four weeks. Hopefully, this will take me less time than the AR Africa book.

Dave

just to save ya'll the heartbreakk..

Forrest, can you just bring me my new rifle to the shoot?

LOL...

WHO WON?

We have a WINNER!

I'm glad we had lots of witnesses because this was quite a drawing.

We sold all but 31 of our 1000 tickets by Saturday afternoon. Our good friend in Fort Worth then bought all the remaining tickets. After the Guild show closed on Saturday we gathered up everyone we could find and headed to the bar at the Silver Legacy for the drawing.

Duane Wiebe's wife Jeannie was given the honor of drawing the winning tickets. The first ticket drawn was for our grand prize winner...and the winner was MHC-TX (ticket #273) This was a shocker, but in a good way, because Mike was sitting there with us in the bar.

The second ticket was drawn and it was another shocker...Charlie Hall (ticket #228) was the winner of our first Ingram knife and Charlie was sitting there with us as well.

I promise all the tickets were in the drawing.

Then, we drew the third winner and it was shocking as well, but at least he wasn't there in the bar with us. Lucky boy himself, Dave Phillips (ticket #214), won the second Ingram knife. To refresh your memories, Dave won the Wiebe 500 Jeffery rifle in a raffle about two years ago.

Everyone here at AR can join me in breathing a sigh of relief. The Scholarship rifle ended up in the hands of a very generous AR member who really appreciates what it is and what it represents. Mike says he's planning to give the rifle to his wife. She'll definitely put it to good use. Check out MHC-TX's posts in the African Hunting Report Forum and you'll see how enthusiastic she is about hunting.

To everyone who participated, you have my heartfelt thanks for joining together in this terrific cause. We have a few loose ends to tie-up over the next week or so. I have to mail out our gifts from the two drawings and we have a stock blank to be auctioned in the classified forum.

Loud-n-boomer will produce the CD and we'll hopefully have that ready for purchase within a few weeks.

I'll post some photos from the drawing as soon as I get a chance to download them.

Thanks again everyone.
Forrest

Well,
I'll be the first to say congratulations to all the winners - especially to the scholarship recipients. To Forrest and all the others who labored so hard to make this work - THANKS. That was one beautiful rifle and I was glad to have actually seen it and hold it.

Congratulations to all the winners. A Big Thanks goes to Forrest for his efforts and time. A special thanks to all the craftsmen and others that put it together.
Butch

quote:

Congratulations to all the winners. A Big Thanks goes to Forrest for his efforts and time. A special thanks to all the craftsmen and others that put it together.
Butch

+1


While I don't have a new rifle or knife to show for it, I still feel like a winner to have been able to be a small part (read that ticket buyer) in this. I don't think it can be summed up any better than Butch's statement. Congratulations to the prize winners and another thank you to the many folks that made this possible. Now we can look forward to the CD.

quote:

Congratulations to all the winners. A Big Thanks goes to Forrest for his efforts and time. A special thanks to all the craftsmen and others that put it together.
Butch

+2

Forrest,
I'm so sorry I wasn't able to attend the show this year. I really wanted to stop by and see you, Duane, Dave and everyone again. I really miss seeing you all.

I had never won the luck of the draw on anything in my life before winning the raffle of Duane's rifle.

I appreciate the win of the knife. I have a couple of Gene's knives and use them. They are of excellent quality. I understand the wait for one of Gene's knives now is about 2 years.

I would like for you to keep the knife as a gift from me, a token of appreciation for all the work you done on Duane's raffle, this one and all the good posts I have learned from. Please do not think I don't appreciate the knife, but much like Duane's rifle, I am not worthy of winning. You put so much work into this, and I'd like you to have it. My ticket purchases have always been to help the project succeed.

I honestly, with all my heart, want you to have the knife as a small token of my appreciation for everything you have done for the Scholarship fund and for all of us.

Dave

DPhillips

You are one Class Act.

There aren't any losers in this effort. I feel honored to have been able to contribute my small part and hope similar efforts will find as capable an advocate as Forrest Bruch.

Wow - I never expected to win when I bought my tickets.....just to support a worthy cause (kind of like everybody else).

I would like to thank everyone that was involved in this worthy cause and I do feel very lucky to have won.

As Forrest mentioned, I am going to give the rifle to my wife...she loves to hunt, so the rifle will get used and be appreciated for what it was built for. I will try and post some pictures of her and the gun........she is very excited to have her very own gun (what a first gun). Now all I have to do is teach her how to clean it.

Thanks again to all who were involved!

Congratulations to all the winners (now where's the "jealous" icon???)!

Congratulations, Mike. That is a spectacular rifle, and it is great to know that it is going to be hunted.

I still think it should have .275 Rigby engraved on the barrel!

Congratulations to one and all in this effort! I only wish I could have been there in person.

Here is the link to Mike's hunting report. His wife looks to be a real charactor, and a person who will use and appreciate the rifle.

Mike's wife on safari

DPhillips,
You are a man of men. What character!

Dave (aka LB), that was extremely generous and thoughtful of you and the knife is going to a worthy person. Well done.

Lucky Boy,
I’ve spent all evening trying to come up with a way to sound unselfish and magnanimous while still accepting your gracious offer. I really can’t come up with anything, so I’ll just be selfish and take the knife. These Ingram knives carry a lot of meaning for me. Their walnut scales were cut from the same blank as was used on the rifle so they’ll always carry a piece of our project with them.

I’ve been saving our other two Ingram knives with the idea of using them for a very special purpose. This is as good a time as any to tell you what I’d like to see done with them:

One knife I’d like to give to our far-and-away most generous donor who bought 201 tickets as well as contributed mightily early-on to put us in a position to even hold the raffle. No one has done more to support our efforts than this special man from Ft Worth and no one is more deserving of some token of our appreciation. He told me that he would just donate back anything he won in the raffle but, fortunately, Doug can’t return a gift from us.

The second Ingram knife, I feel, should go to Glen Searcy. We’re leaving the Searcy Memorial Scholarship Fund in the capable hands of Glen and his family, but I’d like to also leave Glen with a tangible reminder of the silver lining inside the dark loss that he experienced. Glen is healthily moving on with his life, but he should always remember how one special teacher and special woman sparked our efforts to create another special teacher.

Everyone who participated deserves an accolade. We also have a large number of especially generous contributors who should be pointed out. I’ll be posting a full listing shortly, but I want to say my first thank you to our craftsmen who did such a remarkable job on the Scholarship rifle and knife.

Mike Williams built the finest classic Damascus hunting knife I have ever seen. Mike cannot claim he was coerced into making the knife for us. He came to us with his idea and a most generous offer which he amply fulfilled. I want him to build a knife like this one for me and if any of you are interested in a knife like this please let me or Mike know.

Tom Burgess did the initial metal work on the action and it was on par with the best work he’s famous for. Tom’s health is not the greatest and it took an effort above and beyond all expectations for him to provide us with his best talent. Best wishes to you Tom.

Mark Stratton built and fitted the custom scope mounts on the rifle. Mark, during the course of our project, was beset with a series of problems that would have sunk any lesser man. In spite of all this, he gave us superlative work. Mark, it’s great to know you’re making a successful comeback.

Duane Wiebe – what can I say? It’s all in his series of photos that I hope you all are saving before they disappear into cyber space. Duane, I asked more of you than anyone should ask of a friend and you gave us all I asked for and more. You may have ruined your reputation with this display of kindness.

Roger Kehr gave our rifle real personality. His engraving and finish work is the perfect reflection of the spirit of our project. Thank you Roger - you never once complained as we put ever greater responsibility on your broad shoulders.

I have a lot of other thankyous that will come later. I just wanted to get started with the most important ones.

Forrest

Darn right you should keep the knife!!!!!!!! I also think your ideas for the other two is perfect.

The guys you mentioned all went above and beyond.

Forrest bottomline none of this would have happened without your effprt and dedication. My hat is off to you.

ForrestB.....

I think you did a fantastic job....no matter what boom stick says
I don't think a better person could have been found.
Selfish my butt, you deserve the knife...and more.
And as for winners, it has been said before, we are ALL winners! But most of all, the recipients of the scholarship this rifle created, are the BIG WINNERS.

Thank you for allowing me to be apart of this,
LeRoy.

Forrest: No one else could have put this together and made it work. You did a great job! You can auction off my Dallas prize on AR any time you want. I don't know what I ended up with. MUFASA

While I don’t deserve it, I will accept Forrest’s kind offer of the knife. It will have a special meaning to me and will always remind me of this amazing experience. I intend to pass it on to my grandson someday.

All of you deserve a huge round of applause, from those of you who bought even a single ticket to those who donated incredibly generous amounts; from those who donated parts or even offered only their continuing encouragement, to the amazingly talented (and generous) craftsmen who built “the rifleâ€; from those who worked behind the scenes to support, publicize or document this project to ForrestB (who needs no introduction). It is a success only because of your individual contributions, but I hope that each of you also gained something in return.

For a few lucky ones, that “something†is a rifle, or a knife, or a scope. But I hope all of you received some measure of satisfaction for having banded together to take part in something truly worthwhile, something much bigger than yourselves. Though you will likely receive no individual recognition, you have all done something that will dramatically change the life of a deserving young person and, ultimately, effect a positive change in the lives of many, many young people for years to come.

For those of us with an emotional stake in this “causeâ€, the success of this project is more than a little “humblingâ€. It has surpassed our fondest dreams. I can scarcely ponder what you all have given without being moved to tears. It is truly an experience that my family and I will never forget. Thank you.

Glen Searcy

quote:

Originally posted by ForrestB:
Lucky Boy,
I’ve spent all evening trying to come up with a way to sound unselfish and magnanimous while still accepting your gracious offer. I really can’t come up with anything, so I’ll just be selfish and take the knife. These Ingram knives carry a lot of meaning for me. Their walnut scales were cut from the same blank as was used on the rifle so they’ll always carry a piece of our project with them.

Forrest

Forrest,
It is wonderful you will accept the offer. You deserve this and it is my pleasure to be fortunate enough to make the offer. I'm sure this wonderful project could not have without your efforts. We have all benefitted greatly from this, and will for generations to come.

You are also correct in mentioning all the skilled craftsmen that worked on the rifles and knives. All did an amazing job, from what I can see from the pictures.

Dave

All:

If it is not out of line to ask, how much was raised for the scholarship from this project?

Can we do a double rifle scholorship fund project to send her to get her doctorate???

I vote 500 Nitro!

4 tickets please

quote:

Originally posted by 577NitroExpress:
All:

If it is not out of line to ask, how much was raised for the scholarship from this project?

It's not out of line at all. I hope each of you demand a full accounting from all the charities you support. I know I do.

I've been keeping the books as we progressed. I haven't done a final accounting just yet, but we have a couple thousand dollars in the bank and about that amount at the Greater Houston Community Foundation account. We raised just over $25,000 in the raffle (1,000 tickets X $25). All in, our current gross funds will be a little shy of $30,000.

I have expense receipts of about $900 for shipping, printing, and photo reproduction. We still owe money to our photographer and two of our craftsmen who have not billed us yet. I have no idea what amount they may have in mind charging us. At this point, my best guess is that we'll net in the neighborhood of $27,500 for the Scholarship Fund.

When I went to the DSC show to sell raffle tickets, I booked an Alaskan fishing trip for my son and myself. I think that should be a legitimate expense of the Fund. Anybody disagree?
__________________________________________

Mufasa, you ended up with the two piece stock blank and I'll post that in the classified section this weekend.
___________________________________________

Boom Stick, our scholarship recipient will be ready for grad school in about four years. That may be sooner than I'm ready to do another raffle project so I really appreciate you volunteering for the job.

Forrest,

There won't be an invoice coming in the near, extended or infinite future.

It was a pleasure working with you and the rest of the guys, and an honor to be associated with the scholarship fund.

Thanks for the chance to be included!

Roger

quote:

Originally posted by 22WRF:
I am just one voice, but I think you deserve some form of payment for all of the work you did. If your choice is a fishing trip with your son, and as long as the cost of that trip is comparable to the costs paid to the other folks who worked on the project, it seems fair to me.

The fishing trip would only eat up about half our scholarship money. I decided I better put a little smiley at the end of my question.

quote:

Originally posted by Scrollcutter:
Forrest,

There won't be an invoice coming in the near, extended or infinite future.

It was a pleasure working with you and the rest of the guys, and an honor to be associated with the scholarship fund.

Thanks for the chance to be included!

Roger

Roger - I don't know exactly when I will have my gun project ready for engraving, but when I do I will consider no one but you for that job or any other. Thank you.
Glen