First of all, it was great meeting many of you in person in Dallas. I thought it was a great show. I also thought I would share photos of my Bailey Bradshaw rifle that is nearing completion - Bailey had my rifle at the show for those of you who could not attend. Bailey assures me my rifle will be delivered by the end of January 2013. As you can see from the photos, the rifle is still "in the white". When completed, it will have a skeleton grip, skeleton butt, metal other than the barrels will be color case hardened, and Bailey's double "B" logo will be inlayed in gold on each side of the receiver (small- about the size of a dime - a little gold goes a long way). Bailey has made several design changes since I ordered the rifle 2 years ago, and I like all of them. In one of the photos you can see the cocking indicators at the rear of the breech block. Once I send him ammo for regulation, he says he will finish it quickly. Overall, I was very pleased with the rifle and can't wait to see it completed.

Yes I think it will be a great rifle when finished and yes I was the guy holding it so you could take one of the pictures.
Bill

Very nice...I'm glad for you. I guess your build has put mine on the back burner again, 2+ years after it was ordered.

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
Very nice...I'm glad for you. I guess your build has put mine on the back burner again, 2+ years after it was ordered.

Biebs, Bailey is just trying to teach you how to delay gratification.

Doing a great job of it :-(

Good things come to those who wait?

That is a nice gun indeed. I guess you can take solace in the fact that
1. you have one in the works
2. you can see and know that the gun will be beautiful and well made.

I need to go out an buy a lottery ticket.

PS You know the first one always has bugs. So yours should all of the kinks worked out. He's getting the Beta.

Looks nice. I've been waiting 18 months, hopefully soon.

Biebs,

I know your rifle is late, and I'm certainly not proud of it. I could give you a long list of reasons, but I know they don't matter. Bottom line is I need to deliver it and I'm busting my ass to do just that.

I'm looking into a major equipment purchase along with outsourcing some steps of the rough machining to speed up my build time. I am also going to be hiring a machinist within the year if my plan goes as I hope.

I should have started with more capital and wish I could have hit the gas pedal much sooner. The design changes I have made not only make the rifles better, but more streamlined to build as well. Now that the changes are made and implemented, I am doing everything I can to get the ball rolling and get my order wait time down to less than one year. There has been A LOT of prototyping done but the bugs have been worked out and the gas pedal is on the floor.

I know many of you who have rifles on order have been waiting far too long. I appreciate how patient most have been and will not disappoint you when the rifle is delivered.

All that being said, I walked into the shop this morning to find the power acting funny. Measured the input voltage from the meter at 181 volts. As it turns out, I have a burried cable burned in half. Somewhere in the 150 foot run to the transformer pole, there is a repair to be made. Shovel and pick in hand, I get to dig the cables up, find and repair the open tomorrow and turn my shop back on.......

Really stunning work. My hats off to the very few riflesmiths(under 5?) in the U.S. that design and build a action and rifle from scratch. That under capitalised problem seems to be universal for those "one man" shops that follow their dreams.

Nice looking rifle. I bet it shoots like a dream when he gets done with it. Congratulations.

Bailey
Great rifle. Have any been exported to South Africa?
Ian

Haven't exported to S.Africa yet. So far Canada, England and Spain.

if you get your south african permits together and can come to usa to pick up the rifle it's a walk through at customes. we just sent a rifle home to rsa during dsc.

i have at least 4 guys thinking of ordering from bailey but there waiting to see and shot mine when it's finished

Thanks for the update.
How is case extraction time on this type of action. With a 500 NE would it be as fast as a conventional extractor double?

Is the rifle designed to be a hard working PH rifle or is it a novelty with some practical application?

quote:

Originally posted by ddrhook:
i have at least 4 guys thinking of ordering from bailey but there waiting to see and shot mine when it's finished

Please give us a report on how it handles and shoots.

i have been able to shoot a lot of baileys rifle over the last couple yrs. I had the good fortune to like close when we became friend. all of them i have shot shoot well. the action once you get used to it is great. accuracy is really really good. there is an article in expedition africa online magazine about them.

Over the last year Bailey and I have have made a handful of changes to his actions and we feel they are far superior compared to what it was at the beginning. One of the best changes was in his extractor system. His new design has two phases, the first primary phase uses the direct force of the lever to pull the case out of the chamber about .100". Usually if you have a stuck case it will free up before the first phase ends. In fact the first phase is so powerful I have no doubts it would pull the rim right off the case, mechanically it is that strong. The second phase is there to act in a way that will accelerate movement. Depending on manipulation it will extract or eject. Move the lever at a normal pace and it extracts to so can pull the cases out. In the event of needing to rush a reload you pull the lever down with authority and it will eject; which when adrenaline is going your probably going to do anyways. It might be necessary to tip the butt down so the cases fall out if you can't bump it down hard enough. We felt this was the most reliable system in the event of sticky cases.

Another change is the trigger system. Our new design allows us to obtain lighter pulls, the design is safer in the event of doubling, and its easier for us to tune.

Hey subsailor, any update on your Bradshaw double?

quote:

Originally posted by Matabele:
Hey subsailor, any update on your Bradshaw double?

Bailey sent me a regulation target last week that showed 2 shots from my rifle at 50 yards that measured the width of the barrels. He said it would be completed by the end of the month. I am trying not to bug him. (but that is difficult for me!!)

I wish you GREAT SERVICE from your B. Bradshaw D/R
and I fully expect that's just what you'll get! I'm a huge
fan of this design!!!!!!

Are there any owners of these rifles that can give feedback on the rifle after firing a number of rounds through them?? Dont seem to have any reports on how they are going. l know there are not a large number of them around.
Would like to have one of these rifles sent down under.

Sounds like perfect regulation! I'd be champing at the bit right about now, hang in there can't be too much longer now.

It will be finished this week. I'm engraving it now and will case color it by mid week.

quote:

Originally posted by Bailey Bradshaw:
It will be finished this week. I'm engraving it now and will case color it by mid week.

SWEET!

Now me?

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
Very nice...I'm glad for you. I guess your build has put mine on the back burner again, 2+ years after it was ordered.

Been waiting on a refund for 17 month's now.

And your refund is coming. Frankly I've been broke for about a year now scrambling to pay bills. I explained that to you, and since all I owe you is the deposit ( which is not normally refundable and is clearly stated on my website and you were/are aware of this, yet I agreed to refund it , so much for being a nice guy)......but I'm sending the brass and dies back with the check as I stated last time we exchanged emails. So your order was ALL lost time and I'm not asking to keep anything for my time. I'll send it as soon as I CAN, which should be SOON. The last couple of plans to raise the money fell through and were based on potential sales that didn't happen, now money is coming from orders. I'll be in touch.

I would think that if any gunbuilder is going to expect a person to put down a nonrefundable deposit the fair exchange would be a definite time when the metalwork SHALL be completed.

The way that "agreement" is worded now it is rather remarkable that anyone would agree to it.

My rifle is almost ready for delivery. Bailey sent me this photo today. The engaving and color case hardening are complete. All that is left is final assembly, final test and ship!

Beautiful!

May thousands find their way to hunter's hands...

Looking good! Cant wait to see the complete rifle.

I spoke with Bailey last week, and he is completing the final touches on my rifle. He sent me these photos to share. I think this one will have been worth the wait!

Bailey, Sub

Congratulations, beautiful.

Great looking rifle! Will be looking forward to a range report.

Any range reports on this one yet? Those of us still in the que are anxiously waiting....

Beautiful rifle....

The Admiral gets his today!

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
The Admiral gets his today!

Once I have the rifle in hand, I will start a new thread with photos, range results etc. Only a few hours now!

Great!