Bodacious

[Dphariss]

Does anyone know the location of "Bodacious"? John Baird's 69 caliber FS flint Hawken? Just curious.... I owned his Don King flint Hawken for a spell but was broke and sold it at a rendezvous at the North Fork of the Flathead years ago..... Dumb. I sold an even nicer DK Kentucky to pay a doctor bill and that really burns.....
Dave Baird dropped by for a visit and asked where Bodacious might be....
Dan

[Huntschool]

I believe "Bodacious" burned up in the fire at Johns house.....  Not in MT.

I shot "Bodacious" a couple of times at Friendship and out West and it was a $#*! of a gun.

Pity David did not keep up with his Dad.....

[Bob Roller]

I also remember "Bodacious".I donated the triggers for it and as I recall,all who had a
part in making this rifle got to shoot it at least once. I remember the load was 160 grains
of powder,granulation and make unknown and a patched round ball. Recoil was more of
a push than a punch.I also remember Bill Large and I were dressed like we were going to church
in suits with a tie.I don't recall the reason for that attire and not sure I want to.
Bob Roller

[Daryl]

John Baird's Bodacious and Forsyth were the 2 reasons I had Taylor build me the .69 in 1986.
I don't remember what John's rifle weighed.
Mine only weighs 9 1/2 pounds.
This is a shot with 140gr. 2F GOEX and a patched round ball. My standard hunting load is/was 165gr. 2F GOEX.
I made an adjustable mould for it, casting hollow based Hemispherical nosed bullets form
580gr. to 1,200grs. I fired 2 of the 580's - that was enough. Anyone want to buy a great .69 mould?
I also have the .69 Minnie mould of the Civil War and later period.



Just a big push.

[smylee grouch]

I went to a couple of shoots/rendezvous that Baird attended. I got to rub in a coat of finish oil to the gun but never got to shoot it. My loss I guess.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I met John and gave him money for his defense fund in '79 at the joint NAPR/NMLRA rendezvous in Montana...10 days of great camaraderie and fun.  But I never got to see Bodacious.

[Bob Roller]

I met John and gave him money for his defense fund in '79 at the joint NAPR/NMLRA rendezvous in Montana...10 days of great camaraderie and fun.  But I never got to see Bodacious.

Does the NAPR still exist as an organization or is it now extinct? I have vague memories
of someone having problems with the Taxgestapo about making guns that are not even
considered to be firearms at any point in modern law.

Bob Roller

[Dphariss]

I believe "Bodacious" burned up in the fire at Johns house.....  Not in MT.

I shot "Bodacious" a couple of times at Friendship and out West and it was a $#*! of a gun.

Pity David did not keep up with his Dad.....

Was not on Daves part. John is the one that abandoned everything and moved East.
I was not aware that he had a fire, hmm. Seems like I remember something of that in doing a little thinking. But it does not bear repeating here.
Dan

[Dphariss]

I also remember "Bodacious".I donated the triggers for it and as I recall,all who had a
part in making this rifle got to shoot it at least once. I remember the load was 160 grains
of powder,granulation and make unknown and a patched round ball. Recoil was more of
a push than a punch.I also remember Bill Large and I were dressed like we were going to church
in suits with a tie.I don't recall the reason for that attire and not sure I want to.
Bob Roller

I shot her once in Montana with 120 gr of FF.

Dan

[Dphariss]

I met John and gave him money for his defense fund in '79 at the joint NAPR/NMLRA rendezvous in Montana...10 days of great camaraderie and fun.  But I never got to see Bodacious.

Does the NAPR still exist as an organization or is it now extinct? I have vague memories
of someone having problems with the Taxgestapo about making guns that are not even
considered to be firearms at any point in modern law.

Bob Roller

it died with the magazine.  Dave told me that he was two issues from being back in the black when the bank pulled the trigger on the loans.
Bivens got into IRS trouble for the Bi-Centennial guns. Kept me from signing guns for a time.....

Dan

[Dphariss]

Now does anyone have a line on John's Don King Flint Hawken??  It had  tacks and had a Silver Cross on the buttstock.

Dan

[Huntschool]

Was not on Daves part. John is the one that abandoned everything and moved East.
I was not aware that he had a fire, hmm. Seems like I remember something of that in doing a little thinking. But it does not bear repeating here.
Dan

True dat.... nuff said.

[Dphariss]

Was not on Daves part. John is the one that abandoned everything and moved East.
I was not aware that he had a fire, hmm. Seems like I remember something of that in doing a little thinking. But it does not bear repeating here.
Dan

True dat.... nuff said.

Thanks for the info on Bodacious. BTW I had forgotten there was a fire..... I passed the info on to Dave.

[Bob Roller]

I met John and gave him money for his defense fund in '79 at the joint NAPR/NMLRA rendezvous in Montana...10 days of great camaraderie and fun.  But I never got to see Bodacious.

Does the NAPR still exist as an organization or is it now extinct? I have vague memories
of someone having problems with the Taxgestapo about making guns that are not even
considered to be firearms at any point in modern law.

Bob Roller

it died with the magazine.  Dave told me that he was two issues from being back in the black when the bank pulled the trigger on the loans.
Bivens got into IRS trouble for the Bi-Centennial guns. Kept me from signing guns for a time.....

Dan

I wonder what the bank got? A sad situation made worse.Did John get stricken by a form of dementia? I heard
some stories about him getting in his truck and was found somewhere in Maryland by the State Police and had
no idea how he got there.Also another one about him building an airplane with a Mercedes-Benz engine to power it.
I know he was here in West Virginia for a while and I saw him at Friendship but don't remember the year.
Can anyone clear this up??

Bob Roller

[Dphariss]

I wonder what the bank got? A sad situation made worse.Did John get stricken by a form of dementia? I heard
some stories about him getting in his truck and was found somewhere in Maryland by the State Police and had
no idea how he got there.Also another one about him building an airplane with a Mercedes-Benz engine to power it.
I know he was here in West Virginia for a while and I saw him at Friendship but don't remember the year.
Can anyone clear this up??

Bob Roller

My recollection is the loans were secured by some CDs that Vivian had.

John left here and moved to V VA. I know he was trying to build a home built A/C. Seems like I saw some photos years ago. There was a fire and it was lost along with some books with reprints of some Buckskin Report articles he had printed and was trying to sell. I have a set of those downstairs someplace.

Dan

[hanshi]

Just me, but I'd never consider shooting such a gun to be "fun"!

[Bob Roller]

Just me, but I'd never consider shooting such a gun to be "fun"!

I fired one shot with it and the load as I recall was 160 grains of powder and
a patched ball. It was a shove more than a recoil and easy to manage.
I have kicked MUCH harder by a Rigby .500#2 double rifle.

Bob Roller

[Huntschool]

hanshi

As Bob said it was more of a shove then a kick even with his loads.  I shot it at Friendship during the "Hawken Grudge Match" between Baird, Carlson, Nesbitt, Ressel, Dr. Baker and myself.....  It was a heck of a gun... no doubt.....

[Bob Roller]

hanshi

As Bob said it was more of a shove then a kick even with his loads.  I shot it at Friendship during the "Hawken Grudge Match" between Baird, Carlson, Nesbitt, Ressel, Dr. Baker and myself.....  It was a heck of a gun... no doubt.....

Nearly 1/2 of a century has gone by since we shot that big rifle.
Seems  like last week.

Bob Roller