David Bradshaw Photos - Vol. XI

[Lee Martin]

More great material from David....

Aluminum and dynamite



Pontchartrain (steel & dynamite)



Ruger Super Blackhawks: (top) Bisley Hunter 7-1/2" .44; Ruger KS411N (introduced 1983) silhouette model 10-1'2" .44. Silhouette model has untapered barrel, target sight, and long ejector----which was prototyped on the SRMs in 1981, introduced on the .357



.44 mag forcing cone erosion-----more accurately called "barrel face erosion"----about to be removed. Considering the thousands of rounds fired, this is minor erosion. Nevertheless, to close the gap, barrel must be faced off.



Primer burn-through at the corner of the primer scars recoil plate of standing breach. Harmless to gun. (Burn-through at firing pin quickly



Barrel shoulder is set back on a lathe to match amount removed to eliminate forcing cone erosion. Barrel is timed to hand tighten into frame 10-to-12 degrees BTDC (Before Top Dead Center). Final TDC is achieved with barrel vise and frame wrench. Excessively advanced thread timing squeezes a compression ring into the bore----an absolute accuracy-killer.



Barrel must be square to cylinder frame, and "barrel socket" must be straight.



Mike Brazda of Bayou Teche Guns fixin to tighten barrel on KS411N.



Cutter for facing off barrel mouth. Original forcing cone remains untouched.



Ruger 03 100 yards off the sandbag



Ruger 03 100 yards off-hand



The Ruger 03 enjoys good company. Here with Colt Peacemaker (1897) .45 and engraved Blackhawk .45. Holster I made originally for a Super Redhawk, blocked it in and trimmed it for the "03."



Aerial practice with factory built Ruger 03 and thrown water jug.



A one gallon tin full of water takes lead from the Ruger 03.







Ruger 03 keeping company with a beautiful piece of history... or, is it just puppy love?



This early, mint condition Remington .41 rimfire over/under derringer is a palm-size monument of raw beauty. Anyone wants to see BLUE bluing, this original has it. This Remington belongs to my friend Benjamin "Bear Man" Kilham, likely America's foremost authority on another artwork, an artwork of nature, the black bear. Yes, this most beautiful of all hideout guns sleeps with original bullets in its original box.



-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Building carpal tunnel one round at a time"

[nitro577]

Thank you Mr. Bradshaw. Enjoy your pictures and writings.

[Fowler]

You know your arial shots remind me of a question posed by a well respect gun author. My uncle told this gentleman when he first got to know him that on a good day he could hit clay pideons at 50 yards with his Les Baer. The gunwriter without hesitation asked "in the air or on the ground?"...

That engraved Blackhawk appears to be quite stunning, guess the old Peacemaker will do in a pinch as well.

I enjoyed the post as always...

[jayhawker]

Fascinating post. Great engraved Ruger, Colt SAs are priceless, and blue guns used to be blue.

[bradshaw]

Fowler.... there is plenty of proof Les Baer builds 1911s that will cut a clay pigeon at 50 yds.

As for busting trap-thrown clays at 50 yards with a Les Baer----or any other handgun----I'd like to know by exactly how much the shooter leads the pigeon, and how far under it he drops his pistol to hit it coming down.

The old aerial shooting with handgun on overhead targets is much easier than on targets flying just above or below the horizon line. Having a known backstop is part of it, and throwing a flash sight picture to target with instant lead adjustment against a noisy background, well, for my old eyes it ain't easy.

As for the photo of that stunning Remington .41 derringer, notice after the fact I forgot to wipe off the lint! My apology,
David Bradshaw

[gman50]

Enjoyable as always. Good to see my friend Mike Brazda get some credit. He is truly a talented smith.

[Fowler]

May 2, 2013 15:39:07 GMT -5 bradshaw said:

Fowler.... there is plenty of proof Les Baer builds 1911s that will cut a clay pigeon at 50 yds.

As for busting trap-thrown clays at 50 yards with a Les Baer----or any other handgun----I'd like to know by exactly how much the shooter leads the pigeon, and how far under it he drops his pistol to hit it coming down.

The old aerial shooting with handgun on overhead targets is much easier than on targets flying just above or below the horizon line. Having a known backstop is part of it, and throwing a flash sight picture to target with instant lead adjustment against a noisy background, well, for my old eyes it ain't easy.

As for the photo of that stunning Remington .41 derringer, notice after the fact I forgot to wipe off the lint! My apology,
David Bradshaw

Ha I agree I cant do it on a dare, and I know I would not bet against this man saying he cant do it.

I mutual friend was telling me he was at this writers ranch years ago and they were leaning against the hood of his truck jawing. Well a flock of Canadas came by 35-40 yards up and without hesitation he drew a 4" 44mag and killed the lead bird double action. He returned the gun to his holster and walked over picking up the goose like he did this everyday. Who knows how lucky the shot really was but he didnt let it on I guess.

[steve]

As always, I really enjoy the pictures and the stories behind them. Thanks for sharing.

[buckheart]

Pretty good lint sharing.

Shooting targets in the air, makes me want to go hammer nails with my six shooters. Kind of like watching Tony Rice play guitar makes me want to come home and set my guitar on fire. ;D

Mr. Bradshaw did you perchance film the making of those sculpture pieces?

[keano44]

Hello David. I also have been enjoying these posts and photos. If I'm not mistaken, that's Tony Smith in the background in the photo with Mike Brazda, both great guys, good gunsmith's, and friends of mine. When will you be back in Louisiana?
I liked seeing, handling, and shooting David's Ruger 03 so much that I'm having a 5-1/2" Ruger Bisley SS convertible .45 customized very much like his!
I really need to find time to go shoot it, and take photos and do a write-up about it here.

[bradshaw]

buckheart.... there exists a bit of 16mm film of a dynamite piece. And somewhere some video. There is pretty crude video of the Pontchartrain Series sculpture made across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans in 1994. A detail which persons who haven't been around explosives fail to grasp is that it is better to mount the camera on a tripod for a static shot. The reason is country simple: seen through a viewfinder, the explosion instantly fills the window. One jerks the camera to better see the hazard----"fly," as it's called----inevitably ruining the video.

Keane.... that is Tony Smith behind Mike Brazda. Thanks for he note on the 03. Keep us tuned----with photos----on your revolver. And I look forward to shooting it.
David Bradshaw

[Seasons44]

David ,thanks for sharing, very interesting, since we are sharing some blasting I thought you guys would get a kick out of this, a job I was on a few years ago

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rouk7QPeMaM

[cmh]

Impressive Sir

[buckheart]

Just curious about the Pontchartrain piece. What are the dimensions of the subject piece. LxWX thickness? Was the piece held down on top of the dynamite or just placed over it? How many sticks and how far did she fly?

[vonfatman]

I really enjoy these. Thank you very much.

Bob