Well, there ya go. Eventually, there's just no more to do. And, so; I guess it's done!



Pic added Sept 8th. Got a few better ones with daylight.


Orig. post follows ......

Pc. of cake. hahah.

It's 9pm, dark , and raining cats and dogs. So; I couldn't do the whole photo shoot. Hopefully, I'll get some pics real soon, althought it's supposed to rain all week.

Here are the pics of the section I ended up working on that last hour ... all evening. ;?)

Hope you enjoy.



Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/08/2011 03:32PM by barnespneumatic.

wow! whats the story behind this one?
steve

Well Steve,

If you have a week or so, I'll tell you the story .... hahah.

Look back to the threads that use "Washington's Hatchet" and or "Joe". The gun was made to fill Joe Hoover's Ledger order. I decided to upgrade the design a bit for Joe and his Son to enjoy more hunting possibilities. What started as a relatively impossible task ... ;?) ..... became absurdly complex ... as more and more systems needed to be changed to meet the requirements.

In the end. the gun became a perfect example of "Washington's Hatchet". Have you ever heard that story? Well ... I have here the very hatchet which belonged to George Washington himself !!! Thru the years, it's had five handles in it, and the head has been replaced twice ... but it's completely origonal other than normal maintenance!!!

Gary

Hi Gary,

What a nice way to finish this gorgeous rifle! I hope that Joe and Wiley enjoys it and together experience some great moments in the outdoors.

There are some rumors about a North Carolina white tail deer air gun hunt in this next Fall; hum sounds good…

Julio

Great looking gun, Gary! That will be filling the freezer for years to come. Just watch that shiny bling in the stand.

I like the T handle hammer that will be welcome when the gloves are on. It will also make that slow deliberate movement a lot easier when the game is easing in on you, Joe.

Kent

Thanks Kent,

yeah ... I figure Joe can laminate the whole thing with camo duct tape, and tarnish the brass by himself.

Of course ... I see he's "bugged out" again. Probably enjoying some feast somewhere. Sweet tea. Apple pie .... While I slave awaaaa.....

Oh well. Some must stay behind ...

Gary

brand new and vintage , pedigree barnes there .
well done its a spectacular piece of engineering.

Thanks Tom,

You know ... it is that. I'd like to have one myself.

Don't care to make another ... not for some time. At least, not in the manner I came to do this one. haha. But ... I wish I had a shop of men to turn the plans over to and supervise. We'd run off a batch of these.

Hey Tom ... why is it that everybody is always in the wrong place and circumstance? I mean, I have files and files of completed prototypes and plans I've never gotten to. But - here in 2011, you don't just start a business like that. Heck - the environmental impact studies would last until I was 83 ... then the permit applications could start.

So; I'm stuck here just making one after another, of "model shop prototypes", with never any production going on at all.

Gary

Well Gary, the next step is obvious. Your next prototype is gonna have to be a time machine.

That way you can use it to transport your plans back to your younger self about twenty years ago, so that you can have time enough to catch up with all the stuff that you'd like like to have built already. Hmmm, come to think of it, it better be more like thirty or forty years ago. That way the right-now Gary can have a few words with the way-back-when Gary about lifting too much heavy stuff and playing football and chronic back injuries and drinking too much Crystal Light Lemonade and such. As a bonus, you could have started right off on the V-twin series and save the Bisons and Alpines and such for about ten years from now when you've got all that time on your hands and the apprentices you took on a decade or two ago are running the shop pretty much by themselves by now. Except, you'd probably have to take on the thirty-years-ago-Gary as an apprentice to get him up to speed on all the stuff that the right-now Gary takes for granted, and when are you gonna be able to work a detailed course of instruction for THAT knucklehead into your schedule?

Actually, come to think of it, the whole thing is probably a bad idea. If you'd have had any inkling thirty years ago how it would turn out now, THAT Gary would probably be selling car insurance in Daytona Beach. If anyone as much as mentioned an airgun to him, he'd probably think back on right-now Gary's descriptions of how epidural injections work and the care and feeding of a hundred-year old shop/house/machine-tool-museum and just shudder.

Nope, what you really need to work on is a combination time/cloning-machine, so that you can make two or three of yourself back around 1985 or so, and work out a program where you split up all the work between yourselves way back when, so that you can take some time off AND get something done at the same time. Clear as mud...right?

Hi Sean,

Well ... it all sounds so simple, the way you describe it.

You're right, or course. The good thing is, there's still some time for someone to develop that time machine and ... ah ... work the bugs out ... while I'm still here.

You are right though. It really wouldn't be helpful for me to have foreseen all this. hahah.

But ... you know, I do find myself thinking about spending a bit of time in Joe's shop, maybe bagging a deer, and ... I've been the recipient of some fine hospitality at Kent's home. Been shown some kindness and received quite a few hugs from the family. There's good range days, and good exchanges of mail, PMs and phone calls (but don't tell anybody). haha.

Just wish I felt better, worked faster, got more out to people who were waiting, and got to see more of it enjoyed. But .. that's the gig. I didn't interview for the job. I just hung an "Open" sign on my shop.



Gary

The whole "life is what happens while you're making other plans" thing, I guess.

Of course, if the right-now me somehow got a hold of the twenty years ago me, I'd probably have a thing or two to tell that young idiot as well. Of course, that doesn't mean that he'd listen to me any better than he did anyone else who knew better back then either.

Another wonderful gun. It bears no resemblance to what was ordered except the most basic of layout functions and the ultimate customer satisfaction.

I've got the idea in my head that even if Gary went back in time, there'd still be a series of one off prototypes because a mind that comes up with a bunch of ideas can't be stopped by simple ideas like series production...the experiments and changes just have to happen!

Well ....

I guess ... since Joe is busy .... we'll just have to raffle this one off ....

I'll start putting numbers in my hat and making tickets ....

There you go again talking about giving away my gun, as much as I like you guys your going to have fight both me and Wiley for this one, hehehe
Gary it turned out just awesome, I love every line and detail. Now I just need to hear it go booooooooom 100 or 100000 tmes.

It's been a very hectic week here for the whole family, but we're holding our own and moving forward. I won't bore every one with the details but this post couldn't have come at a better time for me and Wiley. We both needed a good pick me up from the last few days and this certainly has done that.

Hey Gary, thanks buddy this gun is certainly something unique and special from you. I know how difficult it was for you to get this one from idea to reality and man you hit it right out of the ball park.
Joe

Ah ... it was nothin' ...

I'm glad you like it. I hope it makes many, many good memories for you and Wiley.

Gary

And lots of lead splats, right in the middle of the target zone.

indeed it is an interesting business model , make and perfect a prototype , put in all the research , and lots of development , work out the tooling and perfect the production method , set everything up ready , make the first one ,,,
then just start all over again
,,,
,
,
,
take the pencil away from that man , life would be so much easier ...lol
just not as satisfying

Hi Tom,

That's about it. Yep - 56 years of that model so far. I keep turning it over to the production shop in the front of the Barnes Pneumatic complex ... I don't go up there much. I'm sure they're working on it though.

Gary

To kinda close out the thread on what was initially ordered vs. what the final delivery worked out to, we need a picture of the closest model to the original order I think.