After over two years, my falling block 470 arrived yesterday. It was worth the wait. It is gorgeous. The man is, indeed, an artist. I will post pictures, but since I am leaving for Zim in the morning, I have a bit too much on my plate today.
I had, of course, wanted to use it on this hunt, but big picture wise, that's OK.
Pictures next month, with a range report!

Great to hear!

Congratulations!

Marty - Good luck on your hunt. Congrats on the new rifle. Just think you will now have a good reason to go back and take the new one. Like we all need "good reason" to go back to Africa, right?

Larry Sellers
SCI(International)Life Member
Sabatti 'trash' Double Shooter
R8 Blaser
DRSS

Have a great hunt and congratulations on your new rifle.
Bill

It didn't happen without Pictures!!!

Come on Marty, lets see what you got.

Marty is in Zim chasing a bull Elephant.

Your point being...

Marty,

We need some photos of this rifle you speak of. Those of us still in the que, are really anxious to see this thing. Please help!!!!

Signed

Marty we are all waiting patiently (so far) to see some pictures. As soon as you return, snap a few photos and show us what Bailey did for you.

Matt

As I have been reminded, no pictures…. Well, it just didn't happen!

Marty Is hereby given an extension on posting pictures of his new rifle as long as he post pictures of his El at the same time.
Bill

I meet Marty at JoBerg airport when he was headed to Zim. he was smiling big time

I hope to get rifle pics up this weekend, but my desktop is down and I am having trouble managing the huge volume of photos on my iPad for a hunt report.
Glad to have met you, Hook, in Joberg. The silver pieces we got from you were added to the tip for our trackers, who were nothing short of amazing. That bit of bling seemed pretty appropriate for them.

Marty, Yes i enjoyed meeting you again and the beautiful lady you where with. ( hope your wife does not find out about her) I bet the trackers are proud of the pendents. there are 6 silver ones and 2 gold ones in texas ready to ship if anyone needs them.
I ran into retriever at JoBerg this round tooo he is always fun and so is his lovely wife.

Boy talk about being teased!

One picture is not going to do it!

From what I can see of the rifle so far I have to see the rest!

Absolutely beautiful...what we can see that is

shane

Well, my desktop is still down, butI managed to get these up from my iPad, with some difficulty. I had to post each photo in a separate post, I'm sure I'm doing something wrong.
I shot it today. I need to shoot it a bit to evaluate regulation, but the targets Bailey shot with my loads were great.
My first impression is waaay cool, we'll leave it at that. Rapid reloads are going to take some practice.

Well I guess it DID happen! Congratulations. Nice looking rifle. Let us know how it shoots.

Damn! That is a beauty!

Marty,

Give us some specs and details about your rifle. It is a beauty and looks to have some unique features.

The rifle is chambered in 470 NE. The barrels are 26 inches. I just put it on my luggage scale, and it comes in right at 12 pounds.

I had Bailey color case harden the receiver, and asked him for a simple motif of crossed tusks, which he inlaid in pure silver. I wanted silver, because it will develop a patina, which I think will look good on the case colors. He designed the images, and added a pair of tusks on the safety button, which I thought was a nice artistic touch. I should add that he is doing his own color case hardening now.

Since I think a double gun should be a takedown, he incorporated his takedown design as an option. I bought a wood upgrade, and added a leather covered recoil pad.

Twelve pounds is a little on the heavy side for a 470, but the weight rests solidly between my hands, where it should.

The long tangs, sling studs and steel grip pad are standard, as is the folding peep sight.

It feels different from my Searcy, which isn't surprising. Since I can only handle 8 or 10 full tilt loads in a session, I'm really just getting started with it. I did put a right and left about an inch apart at 25 yards, but my other groups weren't as good, blame my shooting.

All in all, I'm thrilled with it, but need to do a lot more shooting. Glad you all like it!

That is a gorgeous looking rifle. I hope it shoots well. Good luck with the rifle & hunting.

Marty, very nice. Mine will be in 500NE with a 2nd barrel set in 450-400. He must have added the pop-up ghost ring recently...I don't remember that. You should shot the rifle full length, to show the proportions of the short forend to the 26" barrels. I love that look :-)

Very nice! Excellent case colors and engraving. I really like the tusk motif. Congrats.

Stunning! Compares favorably with any make I have seen! Strikes a good balance between looking practical and decorative.

Marty, good stuff Bailey always does great work..

The more I get to see these fallingblock doubles the more I get tempted.
Love to get one in the old .577 or .577/500magnum blackpowder Express.

Thanks for sharing. Beautiful executed rifle.