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Post by squawberryman on Nov 4, 2022 15:03:33 GMT -5
Oof, I'll watch from afar. Awesome, Martins.
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Post by Lee Martin on Nov 14, 2022 17:44:12 GMT -5
Feeding Once the magazine box was cut out, we had to work on feeding. This can be dicey for a couple of reasons. One, if you don’t remove enough of the load ramp and feed rails, the cartridges bind. Conversely, remove too much feed rail and the rounds won’t stay down in the box. Fortunately, my dad has over 50 years of experience with Mauser 98’s. The guy is a wizard when it comes to getting bolt actions to cycle. Step one was to grind the back edge of the receiver’s lug abatement to accommodate the longer case. In doing so, you also must re-form the feed ramp. This is one of those steps better done by hand. It’s tough to get an end mill in there, plus the steel is hard as hell. Grinding it by hand is preferred. Dad grinding the rear lug abatement and extending the loading ramp: View of the receiver’s underside. The rounded portion illustrates how much was removed: Here’s the re-ground feed ramp. We also ground and polished the feed rails: Side view of the magazine well with two cartridges inserted. The gun will comfortably hold three down below plus one in the chamber: I’m happy to report the action cycles beautifully. No hang-ups and they feed with absolute ease. Because the magazine box is removed and the .404 Jeffery case is longer by 0.30”, the front edge of the stock’s well was milled out. We went to the penciled line shown below: The project is now on hold until the barrel arrives. In the interim, I’ll cast some 330 gr bullets. -Lee www.singleactions.com"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"
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jpw480
.30 Stingray
Posts: 140
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Post by jpw480 on Nov 14, 2022 23:30:05 GMT -5
Lee did you make a new follower or use stock follower and spring.
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Post by Lee Martin on Nov 15, 2022 9:26:51 GMT -5
Great question. I fully expected to have to change the follower. Somehow it works perfectly with the original (to include the last round out of the box....and that's usually where hiccups occur). Even so, I'll probably add a Wisner magnum length follower and stronger spring when we put it together. It'll be pure placebo effect however. Another thing I forgot to mention. A lot of guys aren't comfortable with grinding the front of the action. They believe it weakens the lower locking lug support. No doubt, any time you remove metal, you're taking away support. I've seen photos of Mauser conversions with way too much metal removed. Even those are probably still safe, but the key is to remove just enough to get the round to feed. Dad extended the lower edge of the receiver with a radius. Remember, curved edges are stronger than square. He also radiused the new feed ramp, removing very little metal. Nearly all of it was below the bottom edge of the lower lug. So while we did remove metal, the action's strength was not compromised. There's another way to add length to the receiver. Whereas we ground out the front, you can do the same to the rear. However, that requires bottom metal that has the back wall of the box pushed rearward. Then the bolt stop has to be modified to allow pick-up of the rim farther back. If you want a dangerous game rifle chambered in a magnum length round, I recommend starting with a magnum length receiver. CZ550's, Brno 602's, Winchester 70's, etc. Anything that's controlled feed. You'll never convince me to build a dangerous game rifle on say a Remington 700. That tiny extractor makes me nervous. I chose to do my .404 on a vintage 98 for nostalgia. The steel is outstanding, the 98 design is bullet proof, and I knew my dad could make it work. -Lee www.singleactions.com"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"
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Post by pacecars on Nov 15, 2022 10:26:47 GMT -5
CRF - you may not ever need it but when you need it you REALLY NEED it!
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Post by Lee Martin on Jan 6, 2023 15:37:24 GMT -5
The Lilja barrel arrived today. I also ordered a NECG Masterpiece rear sight and a magnum length magazine follower. Stay tuned....I hope to have this put together soon (the most time consuming part will be metal prep and bluing). -Lee www.singleactions.com"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"
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woody
.375 Atomic
Posts: 1,116
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Post by woody on Jan 10, 2023 20:21:37 GMT -5
The Lilja barrel arrived today. I also ordered a NECG Masterpiece rear sight and a magnum length magazine follower. Stay tuned....I hope to have this put together soon (the most time consuming part will be metal prep and bluing). -Lee www.singleactions.com"Chasing perfection five shots at a time" Very cool build!!!!! What are its hunting plans? Africa?
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Post by Lee Martin on Jan 10, 2023 21:11:35 GMT -5
The Lilja barrel arrived today. I also ordered a NECG Masterpiece rear sight and a magnum length magazine follower. Stay tuned....I hope to have this put together soon (the most time consuming part will be metal prep and bluing). -Lee www.singleactions.com"Chasing perfection five shots at a time" Very cool build!!!!! What are its hunting plans? Africa? Nothing. I don't hunt. I just enjoy shooting big bores. -Lee www.singleactions.com "Chasing perfection five shots at a time"
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Post by reflex264 on Jan 11, 2023 8:47:35 GMT -5
I have been following this with interest. It is amazing how well big bore rifles can shoot. I have a .416 Taylor built on a Mark X in a Boyd's stock. The smith cross drilled the stock and drilled the grip and epoxied rods to reinforce it. It consistently shoots under an inch and has shot 1/2" groups. Very fun rifle as I am sure your will be.
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Post by Lee Martin on Jan 11, 2023 13:45:43 GMT -5
reflex64 - slick looking .416 Taylor you have there. Thanks for posting it to this thread. Of all the big-bore express rifles I own, my .416 Taylor is my favorite. Done on a Mauser 98 behind a Shilen barrel, it'll send 400 gr bullets to just under 2,400 fps. Right on the heels of the Rigby and Remington Magnum. I went bare bones on mine. Butler Creek synthetic stock with the barrel and action in Mahovsky's hard-chrome. I topped it with a 2.5x Leupold: I know Ruger chambered a few 77's in .416 Taylor. But I'm still surprised this one never caught on commercially. -Lee www.singleactions.com"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"
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Post by reflex264 on Jan 12, 2023 9:28:33 GMT -5
Lee that .416 looks killer. Simple but down to business elegant. I worked up loads with the 300TSX and was able to get them A hair over 2700fps. It still shot just under an inch with them. Curious what your load plans are with the .404. If you posted it I missed it.
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Post by Lee Martin on Jan 12, 2023 12:40:14 GMT -5
Lee that .416 looks killer. Simple but down to business elegant. I worked up loads with the 300TSX and was able to get them A hair over 2700fps. It still shot just under an inch with them. Curious what your load plans are with the .404. If you posted it I missed it. I'm going to run two loads. The first is Hornady's 400 gr DGS at 2,300+ fps. The second is a 330 gr cast, powder-coated and gas-checked slug at 2,000 fps. Both will be fueled by 4350 powder. The gun will have iron sights and a 2.5x Leupold in quick detach rings. The irons will be set for the 400 gr bullet. With the scope, I'll know the click adjustments between the two. -Lee www.singleactions.com"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"
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Post by bigbrowndog on Jan 12, 2023 13:31:45 GMT -5
Technically the 416 Taylor did catch on commercially, it’s just called the 416 Ruger. Case capacity and performance are nearly identical, ironically also nearly identical to historical 404 Jeff data just with higher pressure. I personally like the performance end result of a 400 at 2150-2200fps, what is gained by going 2400fps is in my opinion unneeded. A 300-350gr. at 2500-2600fps is a useful nondangerous load. CEB offers some lighter stuff that might be interesting on elk size and smaller. Really looking forward to seeing the end product, I’ve wanted a clean 404J, since the late 20th century, settled on a 416RM, then decided a 416Ruger would be a better choice. Still waiting for it to arrive from the builder.
Trapr
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Post by reflex264 on Jan 12, 2023 17:28:38 GMT -5
Should be fun. I put a VX-3 1.75x6 on the Taylor. If I ever want to shoot it past 300 yards on game the 6x will come in handy. I handgun hunt 99% of the time now so it may never get used for its original purpose.
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Post by Lee Martin on Jan 16, 2023 13:32:16 GMT -5
Chambering the Barrel The Lilja barrel is placed in my South Bend Heavy 10 lathe. I began by indexing the muzzle end using a dial indicator and pin which precisely fits the bore (0.4130”). Once I achieved zero runout, I inserted the pin in the chamber end and indicated again, this time using a ten-thousandth dial. I was able to get it to 0.0002” runout over 360 degrees, which is plenty good for an elephant rifle. Using a depth mic, the distance from the face of the main ring to internal shoulder was between 0.621” and 0.623” depending on which side I measured. The tenon was turned 1.10” in diameter by 0.623” long. A relief cut was made behind the shoulder as a thread stop. The threads were cut 12 per inch. The action screwed onto the barrel beautifully. Not too loose with no hint of bind. Calculating headspace: Distance from the main ring to internal shoulder = 0.623” Distance from main ring to bolt face = 0.728” Cartridge protrusion from barrel (headspace) = 0.105” The barrel was pre-bored to put less strain on the reamer. This hole can be trued with a boring bar. I reamed 0.200” per pass. Then the reamer was removed, chips were cleaned, it was re-oiled, and another 0.200” pass was made. The Jeffery is a long case. Chambering took a while, but the end result was dead on case-head protrusion of 0.105". A dummy cartridge was used with the bolt and receiver to test headspace. It chambered with ease. The barrel was then flipped, re-indicated, and cut to 24”. A mild crown was applied. The barrel was then removed from the lathe and torqued into the action at 75 ft/lbs. Again, the cartridge was tested and it chambered perfectly, even after crush fit. Equally important, there is no forward and back movement of the bolt when in battery. -Lee www.singleactions.com"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"
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