The first Barnes PCP. Made for the Winston Salem show ... Fall 96. Put on the Cover of US AIRGUN MAG. with feature article inside. First Barnes introduction.



A nice 45 Tundra Magnum. Another wormhole victum.



Kent shoots the 87 Chief Justice pretty well. The 925 grain smooth bore slug flies pretty well too.



Sorry Jim. These are the molds that didn't come with your Alpine when you got it. Here they are in the crate when I sent it out to the orig. owner.



Swamp Thing. Gary ... working on the roof of my shop.

Man ... there are thousands and thousands of pics. Fun to look thru some.

Hope you enjoy seeing some of them with me.

Gary

Ohhhhh . . . that makes me ill. I suppose if any "illicit" .45 Avalanches ever show up, we might be able to finally track it down. Extra ramrod too, I see. I'm 0-for-2 getting the molds back that you originally shipped with guns I've bought from the Internet classifieds.

I always loved that specific Tundra Mag. What a beast.

-- Jim



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/21/2008 10:35PM by Jim.

Those .87 shots are at 90 yards!

Gary,

When are you making molds again? I can see that I'm going to need a set sometime in the future and if it matched the my rifle, that would be cooler. Its a shame the molds for Jim's rifles are lost into the void. At least you have photos of what was.

Keith

Hi Keith,

According to the charts, I should be free about 2050 ... if I make it.

Best to use Jerry's shop for the foreseeable future. I apologize. I'm on a pretty strong quest to complete this huge vol. of parts I've been dragging toward the finish line.

And, of course, I was nuts to ever make the stag handle rig, but I was young and foolish. And, in the spirit of 90% of those things I got talked into, that mold has never been above room temp.

I'll pencil you in for 2049 though, just to show you I'm a good guy.

Gary

Gary,

Great, I'll still be yough then. Now I have something to look forward to other then grandkids, great grandkids and great great grandkins.

I was thinking, do you have photos of all your work? Maybe Jim or I can create a database of all your rifles and accessories, date made, etc, to use for a reference. Jim could use it when he buys another Internet special so he can try to get the complete sets. It might also make a nice book. I think it would be cool to see a Barnes reference manual in the local book store. As a matter of fact, I would like to write such a reference. What do you think?

Keith

Hello Keith,

That's a very generous offer. I'd like that. Thank you.

I have photographed everything. Tools, processes, range sessions, targets as well. The organization of the origonal materials is somewhat poor. My organization program became the website.

The first couple of years would be on film ... with much of it already scanned and used on the website. Everything from about 98/99 to present, is digital. There are tens of thousands of images in folders. Much has been used on the website over the last 10-12 years, and is accessible. If you get crazy, we could go back to 1974 and do custom furniture thru 1,300 knives as well! Right! ... the smilie guy reminded me ... there are the oil paintings too .... and the jewelry .... 34 years of projects ... right ... maybe just the guns. heheh

Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/22/2008 05:19PM by barnespneumatic.

Oil Paintings? O you must post them!

Might help the wife (who's an artist) to stop yeeling at me for all the time I spend airgunning......

Here's a few quick pics. Need daylight for a better quality lighting.












Thanks for asking. There are a bunch of them, these were in a couple of rooms.

Gary

Great Paintings!

I agree that there is a lot a material that would make very interesting reading.

Gary,

It is clear that Keith has no concept of just how many times a day you take a picture and that you've been doing so for years! This is your big chance!

Gary,

You have done many things in your life that would make interesting reading. I have a brother who is an artist and a son who will be one in the near future. My brother has done the same thing his entire life, nice art, but its all in one area, and other then a picture book of his artwork, there is nothing else there. I see my son being more like you in your artistic efforts since he has many artistic interests. As far a books, your life as an artist is far more interesting and your work far more varied. You have kept notes, photos, odds and end which make the effort easier then whould have been thought. Granted, its a year to two year project, but its doable. I think one book on airguns, one on knives and one on the entire spectrum of your artistic efforts. Add to that a book on making custome airguns, which covers metal and wood working, knifemaking and furniture. I think are too many books on painting, but few of vaule on the other topics. You have a wealth of material to work with and knowledge that I can tap into. Besides, I've always wanted to write a book, as crazy as that sounds.

OK, I've just rattled off six topics that would make good reading as well as a references to your creations.

Any thoughts?

Keith

Keith,

You'll obviously have to quit your job and move in here for a couple of years. Thank God we have plenty of room.

I've always wanted to write books too. Always thought I'd save that for a rainy decade.

Yeah ... we'll save the "How to - step by step" until sometime after I retire. That one would be "How to ... without CNC and $$$"

I have always thought it's interesting (to me anyway) how an artist went about processing his career. You know ... some guys sold a dot.com at 23 for a billion dollars, and then had an elaborate studio built where they invent widgets and order them from China by the container full. I had to build many of my machines and tooling, adapt every hole in the wall or basement where I could work, and scrounge materials. It wears you out faster that way. Hand mixing and pouring a concrete floor, building a shop from the hole in the ground up ... adds significantly to your work day! (need an "aching back" smilie here Jim).

Sounds fun. I'll request that Kelly "fluff up" the guest suite.

Gary

Gary,

I don't think I will need to sleep on your couch for extended periods, but I'm sure there may be visits now and then. I think creating an electronic catalog of all your work would be the start. Then add additional information such as drawings, production notes, and any additional info concerning each peice. Organize and edit the information and before you know it you have a book. I bet most of the information is already written, in one form or another, its just a matter of putting it togather and filling in the gaps, editing, some more editing, and some more editing.

The "How to" series would be a lot harder and that is where the visits would be required. I see a lot of filming in the shop and lots of note taking. That is way down the road, just pointing out it would be worth doing, but not for a while.

And besides, its a good excuse to visit and do some shooting.


Keith

Hello Keith,

Sounds like great fun. Will "fill in the cracks" between all the life lessons.

I have a couple of more computers to copy. See what's there. Jim's also pulled down a complete copy of all the web materials.

Hey ... you might be a good guy to ask. When I was an Apple shop, I named a bunch of files with names that included symbols that PC's don'[t like. For example ... if I had a file named ... turnips.html ... and I wanted to designate it from a new reworked version, I might rename the orig. as *turnips.html .... Well, you see the problem. Now ... there's hundreds of things on the server named +turnips ... ;?(turnips ... etc. And, the PC web writing programs do not want to bring down the old files in remote view.

My newest old Mac has a fried ethernet modem (which is integral inside the case). I have a nice Stainless Mac G-4 laptop, but I don't have a OS 10.4 webwriting program to pull them down with. There's just a few things yet I don't know about computers hahaha so the solution might be obvious to all but me. But ... there's a ton of materials on the server I can't grab easily.

Gary

Gary,

What is the OS on the server where the files reside? Does someone have admin rights on the server? It might be easier to rename all the files using a script to remove te special symbols and replace them with a name date comination where no two files have the same name. Then they should be easy work with using any computer. If the server's running Linux then all you need is a simple bash script. If its windows its a little more problematic, but can still be done, but may require physical access to the server and forensic software to pull and rename the files. The bottom line is the files can be recovered and named.

Keith