Incredible!
Any idea how many man hours you put into it?

quote:

When we dry fired the gun to test trigger pull, the right firing pin remained protruded and was catching the
extractor so that we couldn't open the gun.

Dry firing double rifles is NOT a good practice, and one of the reasons is exactly what happened when they did!

Damn am I glad I found this site. I thought all the Masters were getting old. Mr. Bradshaw you are an artist. Can't wait to get my SS.

Yes, Bailey has done an awesome job building this unique double, and also giving us all the details and photos during the build!
Great stuff!

I can't believe some one who claims to be an informed gun writher would not use snap caps or a horn block when testing the trigger pull.
Bill

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Cooley:
I can't believe some one who claims to be an informed gun writher would not use snap caps or a horn block when testing the trigger pull.
Bill

Bill where is the post this referes to?

quote:

Bill where is the post this referes to?

I just received this email from Rocky Hays. He is partof the gunsmithing staff for Chuck Hawks. The did a test firing of this rifle and will write an article on it to be up soon. I thougt it important to include the whole e-mail showing issues with the rifle as well as the good stuff. The issues are correctable and will be taken care of as soon as it's in hand.

"Bailey,
We got the Hornet out to the range for test firing, and we're all finished. It's boxed up, and I'll ship it via UPS Ground tomorrow (Tuesday); I'll send you the tracking number
We were not able to find factory Remington ammo; the only ammo we could get was Stars & Stripes, 33 grain speer tnt's. The gun shot very well with this ammo, although it
was about 2 1/2" high at 50 yds. The regulation on the gun seems to be perfect--I don't think you could tune it any better. Good job. We shot it at 150 yds and 200 yds; it
shot under 2" groups at both distances--still about 2 1/2" high and 2 1/2" right. If it were my gun, I'd probably zero the scope at 100 yds for the 33 grain ammo
We had some problems with the triggers. We measured the front trigger pull at 5 pounds and the rear trigger at 7 1/2 pounds; both trigger pulls seemed excessive. And the
trigger pull did affect the accuracy of our shooting--the left barrel (front trigger) shot tighter groups than did the right barrel. You told me how to remove the trigger pack, but
we did not remove it, and we made no adjustments on the triggers. When we dry fired the gun to test trigger pull, the right firing pin remained protruded and was catching the extractor so that we couldn't open the gun.Also, the right firing pin seems a little high, as it is making drag marks on the casings
The staff really liked this little gun, and loved the idea that it was made with Damascus steel--it was very pretty and very unusual
It may be as much as a month before the article on your gun is posted; I will send it to you as soon as it's up
Rocky"

Bailey Bradshaw

Bailey

You are a great gunmaker but only a so-so photographer. Many of your photos are dark and lose some of the detail that should be showing.

You need to get a better lighting system to photo your wonderful guns.

You are 100% right. One problem I have is not enough room in my shop for a proper light set up, and with my marauding kids at home.....

I will be taking the rifle to a photographer before it leaves for good.

quote:

Originally posted by Bailey Bradshaw:
You are 100% right. One problem I have is not enough room in my shop for a proper light set up, and with my marauding kids at home.....

I will be taking the rifle to a photographer before it leaves for good.

Bailey

You don't need lights - in fact unless you have decent photograpy lights / diffusers you are better off with none.

Suggest take the gun outside on a BRIGHT but CLOUDY day (NOT clear blue skies with the sun shining) and take the photos this way.

You have enough light to get the detail without suffering from bright spots.

Hope that helps.

Thanks Ramrod, I know where not to send a double rifle or any other kind now!

This is something I have always tried to tell anyone new to double rifles! Never let anyone work on a double rifle but a top double rifle smith. There are hundreds if really fine gun smiths who simply do not under stand double rifles. However a studant at a gun smithing school that has been there for more than a week should know not to dryfire a double rifle with out snap-caps, or a striker block!

.........SHHHHHHHEEEEEh! ............

quote:

Originally posted by MacD37:
This is something I have always tried to tell anyone new to double rifles! Never let anyone work on a double rifle but a top double rifle smith. There are hundreds if really fine gun smiths who simply do not under stand double rifles. However a studant at a gun smithing school that has been there for more than a week should know not to dryfire a double rifle with out snap-caps, or a striker block!

.........SHHHHHHHEEEEEh! ............

A properly-designed and fitted striker system can be dry-fired several hundred-thousand times with no problems. Bailey will correct this problem with no difficulty.

Most of the older doubles and single shots are indifferently designed & fitted and much of the older steel is not really suitable in either its composition or heat-treatment. I agree that any older rifle should ALWAYS be used with snap caps but they aren't really necessary for a well-built modern arm.

"Well-built" and "modern" are the operative words in that statement. If the strikers stick or break or batter then the rifle needs work on the design, the fitting or the heat-treatment or maybe all three.

I no longer can afford to own any doubles but you can dry-fire all my 100-year-old single-shots (INCLUDING rimfires!) all you want. The only thing that'll happen is that you'll quit when you get tired.
Regards, Joe

quote:

Originally posted by J.D.Steele:
A properly-designed and fitted striker system can be dry-fired several hundred-thousand times with no problems. Bailey will correct this problem with no difficulty.

Most of the older doubles and single shots are indifferently designed & fitted and much of the older steel is not really suitable in either its composition or heat-treatment. I agree that any older rifle should ALWAYS be used with snap caps but they aren't really necessary for a well-built modern arm.

"Well-built" and "modern" are the operative words in that statement. If the strikers stick or break or batter then the rifle needs work on the design, the fitting or the heat-treatment or maybe all three.

I no longer can afford to own any doubles but you can dry-fire all my 100-year-old single-shots (INCLUDING rimfires!) all you want. The only thing that'll happen is that you'll quit when you get tired.
Regards, Joe

Joe please let me repeat!

Originally posted by MacD37:
This is something I have always tried to tell anyone new to double rifles! Never let anyone work on a double rifle but a top double rifle smith. There are hundreds if really fine gun smiths who simply do not under stand double rifles. However a studant at a gun smithing school that has been there for more than a week should know not to dryfire a double rifle with out snap-caps, or a striker block!

.........SHHHHHHHEEEEEh! ............

quote:

Originally posted by J.D.Steele:
Most of the older doubles and single shots are indifferently designed & fitted and much of the older steel is not really suitable in either its composition or heat-treatment. I agree that any older rifle should ALWAYS be used with snap caps but they aren't really necessary for a well-built modern arm.

"Well-built" and "modern" are the operative words in that statement. If the strikers stick or break or batter then the rifle needs work on the design, the fitting or the heat-treatment or maybe all three.

are you serious about these statments, or did you just wake up and deside to post something really stupid

peter

quote:

A properly-designed and fitted striker system can be dry-fired several hundred-thousand times with no problems. Bailey will correct this problem with no difficulty.

Most of the older doubles and single shots are indifferently designed & fitted and much of the older steel is not really suitable in either its composition or heat-treatment. I agree that any older rifle should ALWAYS be used with snap caps but they aren't really necessary for a well-built modern arm.

"Well-built" and "modern" are the operative words in that statement. If the strikers stick or break or batter then the rifle needs work on the design, the fitting or the heat-treatment or maybe all three.

I no longer can afford to own any doubles but you can dry-fire all my 100-year-old single-shots (INCLUDING rimfires!) all you want. The only thing that'll happen is that you'll quit when you get tired.
Regards, Joe

That's a bold statement. I'd like to meet a "Modern" double rifle maker who says it's OK to dry fire his rifle!

I'm not going to get into a pissing match over this, just sufice to say the problem was corrected easily.

When I turn my firing pins, I use a slight radius on the cutter. I use a straight pin profile, and where the pin goes from the narrow end to the thicker shank, there is a radius to add strength. The bushing didn't have the same radius inside, so when the pin bottomed out, it stuck on the radius. I just used a drill bit to break the square shoulder inside the bushing so the pin bottoms out on the face of the thicker shank. Took longer to pull the bushing out than it did to correct the problem.

Resulting from this, I dry fire the heck out of my rifles now, to make sure I don't have this happen to another customer.

quote:

Originally posted by Bailey Bradshaw:
I'm not going to get into a pissing match over this, just sufice to say the problem was corrected easily.

When I turn my firing pins, I use a slight radius on the cutter. I use a straight pin profile, and where the pin goes from the narrow end to the thicker shank, there is a radius to add strength. The bushing didn't have the same radius inside, so when the pin bottomed out, it stuck on the radius. I just used a drill bit to break the square shoulder inside the bushing so the pin bottoms out on the face of the thicker shank. Took longer to pull the bushing out than it did to correct the problem.

Resulting from this, I dry fire the heck out of my rifles now, to make sure I don't have this happen to another customer.

With that said, we now have one double rifle builder who reccomends dry firing his double rifles! To my knowledge he is the only one who does!

So gentlemen if you have a Bradshaw double it is OK to dryfire it, but if you have any other brand name double I wouldn't reccomend dryfiring them without snapcaps.

Bailey Bradshaw is not only a top double rifle smith, but a maker as well, he should know his own rifles.

The advice still holds that you should never allow anyone to work on a double rifle except a top of the line double rifle smith. The makers of any brand would be a top double rifle smith, especially on his own rifles! I still wouldn't let a studant gunsmith touch a double rifle of mine, or anything more valuable than the Rem 700 bolt rifle!

There is no pissing contest, only a simple warning to those who may think it is OK to dryfire any double rifle without snapcaps!

Mac,

Let's not jump to conclutions. I didn't say I recomend dry fireing my doubles. I said I do it to ensure there won't be a problem IF a customer does it.

As a maker, I have to accomodate some not so well mannered practices or it ends up as egg on my lapel.

Perhaps I should make a set of snap caps with each rifle as a passive suggestion.....

I am in your camp though. I don't like to dry fire any rifle on an empty chamber.

I was serious in my post, and in the performance of QUALITY modern rifles as well as quality rebuilding of older rifles with modern materials and designs. IMO modern high-priced items (like Perazzi doubles for instance) that break when dry-fired are merely over-priced and inferior.

IMO if a modern maker won't guarantee his product against dry-firing then he has no confidence in his own work and so I wouldn't buy his rifle or shotgun. I've dry-fired my own rifles literally thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of times and haven't had any problems since I learned how to make good firing pins 30 years ago.

Now, mine are all 100-year-old single shots and not doubles, but what exactly would make a double more likely to malfunction?

It's a serious question, WHAT exactly would make a DR more likely to malfunction in any way than a single shot? Aside from having 2 of everything of course?
Regards, Joe

Mac,
I am sorry I didn't reply earlier to your post. I want to thank ramrod340 for pointing out what I was talking about. I wasn’t clear what I was talking about in the first post. I still stand by what I said.
Bill

Thank you so much for letting me shoot this today!

It was really my pleasure to see y'all enjoy it.

Thanks, for coming down and bringing the rifles and boys! You really make nice rifles!

I hope whoever was taking pictures will post the ones of Bailey's rifles.

One of these days I'm gong to own a Bradshaw 22 Hornet double rifle! So Sweet!

I took a few. I'll download and send to this thread. What a cool little gun, and great pleaseure meeting Bailey and sons. What talent. Bob

It was a trhill to just hold and aim that beautiful rifle.

Amazing

quote:

Originally posted by eddybo:
Amazing

I agree, this is like watching art being created! Bravo! Looking at this, its amazing that 100 years ago, these companies were able to make such works of art with out a CnC machine and the other toys!

Bailey,
Any plans to make a titanium falling block for the medium to small calibers single or double? I think a Titanium stalking 7x57 single shot would be de-light-ful.

Holt's
http://auctions.holtsauctionee...o=+++86325&saletype=

Estimated to sell at 3-5 thousand Pounds Sterling? Seems low. Must be the small caliber that hurts it because it is a work of art.

Bump this interesting thread to the top.

My double rifle is apparently ready to ship. It has 2 barrel sets, in 500 NE and 450-400 NE....deep relief engraving, gilding touches, $4K piece of Walnut, the works!

Bailey,

Having owned and hunted successfully with one of your double rifles in 9.3x74, I confess I really liked that falling block DR and regret having sold it. But I don’t get the .22 Hornet. What’s the attraction to the caliber. Just make it a .22 Mag or better yet a .22-250. JMO

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
My double rifle is apparently ready to ship. It has 2 barrel sets, in 500 NE and 450-400 NE....deep relief engraving, gilding touches, $4K piece of Walnut, the works!

Wow! I'm looking forward to photos. How long before it is for sale!

Funny man!

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
Funny man!

We know you!!

Guilty as charged!

Well, hell! What can I say? I'm not qualified to comment. Thanks for the thread. I think I'll go downstairs and drop one of my rifles on the floor; then kick it. Regards, Bill

quote:

Originally posted by BigUglyMan:
This is the greatest thread I have ever seen on the internet...anywhere. And possibly the coolest thing I have ever seen in my life.

Hat's off to you Mr Bradshaw!

I was hoping to read words like these, to make them

own !.

Absolutely fantastic!!!.

Congratulations.