Ralph Bond

[IHMSA80x80]

Ralph Bond passed away Tuesday. He was an outstanding gunsmith who built many XP-100's for silhouette, made a few of them for rimfire also. He was a good friend of mine, always friendly and helpful to others.

We are diminished.

 

[Kathy]

Friend Dean

Friend Dean:

Very sad news............

Pardon me if I reminisce.........the last time I saw Ralph was about 4 years ago.....I met him in Bedford, Indiana, corner of Hwys 50 and 37....we had a big feed at one of those all-you-can-eat places......me and Ralph both liked to eat...

Anyway, Ralph had just made me ten of his XP-100, 3-lever, 2 ounce triggers for center grip XP's....and he delivered them to me that evening...we had a wonderful time discussing accuracy.....

Ralph was a thinker.....an example; his center grip XP, 2 ounce trigger was extremely well thought out.....Ralph machined the third lever from mild steel, then had the levers deeply cased....made them glass hard and slick, and about break proof......

He then re-located the trigger sear adjustment away from the linkage, like the factory trigger, and put it at the base of the trigger sear itself which resulted in an extremely positive adjustment.......

He used a mild coil spring to return the third lever, captured in the third lever itself....this was extremely clever as one could use just enough spring to positively return the third lever, but not so much to apply excessive upward pressure to the bottom of the cocking piece......his trigger was the closest thing to a manual re-set trigger, of any competition trigger I've ever tested, as far as that un-wanted upward pressure is concerned....They were simply wonderful triggers....

Ralph, I'm sure the Big Man will want to discuss that wonderful trigger with you....I'd heard He shoots a 30 Bond DC.....

Your friend, always, Bill Calfee

 

[Kent Owens]

I never met Mr. Bond but have heard of his work with triggers. It is always bad to lose a fellow shooter and craftsman and they're getting scarcer all the time. May he rest in peace, and my condolences to his friends and family.

 

[Molly]

Ralph

I am saddened to hear of Ralph's passing. I first heard of Ralph's work years ago when people started using his triggers and XP's at 3 gun and silhouette matches . A friend at that time had a rifle built by Ralph and it was superb. I shot some cast bullet's along about then and Ralph rebarreled a 700 remington for me. I still have that rifle. My XP rimfire from Bill has a Bond trigger and it's a work of art. Anyway I will miss my conversations with Ralph and wish blessings on his family. He was a great gunsmith.

 

[IHMSA80x80]

Thanks Bill. I have 4 Bond guns, one he built for me back in 1990. Most of my XP's have Bond triggers in them and have some of his improvements. We had a lot of good times at the silhouette matches, and the many hours I spent with him in his shop.

One thing that made me smile was that his shop always looked like a tornado went through it. You could ask him about any small, obscure part, and he could immediately find it without searching...he knew where everything was.