Stocks for the 404 Jeffery Projects!

12 May 2006, 12:20

TIP BURNS sent these pictures to me. John Valicek has finished the stocks!

Not too bad for American Black Walnut from WATTS WALNUT

Now, as soon as Roger Kehr Kehrengraving@comcast.net finishes his mgaic on the metal, Tip can blue the rifles and put it all together!

Yeah, I'm all excited again!

Rusty
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DRSS, NRA & SCI Life Member
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12 May 2006, 13:23

ErikD

Looks great Rusty! I look forward to seeing the finished rifles.

12 May 2006, 15:22

vapodog

Wow.....beautiful wood.....and there's absolutely nothing wrong with American Black.....

12 May 2006, 17:51

Gringo Cazador

Rusty,

very nice, nice wood, good work. who turned the blanks, or did Tips stockmaker cut them from the blank.

12 May 2006, 18:09

Rusty

The stocks were turned from blanks by John Valicek a professional stockmaker who lives in Canyon Lake, Texas. I met John through Tip Burns. I got a chance to actually meet John at the Houston Safari Club convention this year. A very nice man!

12 May 2006, 19:12

MJines

Beautiful wood and work.

Only thing that pisses me off is that while Tip is working on your .404 Jeffery's he is not working on my .458 WM! Just kidding. Talked to Tip last night and my project should be wrapped up in another two or three weeks. Really looking forward to seeing (and shooting) the finished product.

Mike

12 May 2006, 19:13

Charles_Helm

Rusty,

Very nice indeed -- and it must be your fault that my .458 is not ready yet! Of course you were in line way ahead of me.

Are you doing cross-bolts?

12 May 2006, 19:21

fredj338

I like the wood & shape Rusty. I'm not a ebony forend type of guy though.

12 May 2006, 21:33

577NitroExpress

First Tony (NE450No2) posts about how great a bolt action Blazer is, now Rusty is posting about his bolt action .404 rifles....

What's happening to the DRSS!

Just kidding, Rusty! I have been following the process very closely and I am envious!!!!

12 May 2006, 21:59

bobc

Congrats. Both of those guys do some great work. Me, I'm a ebony fore-end fan, and John put a nice replacement (no plastic!) on my Whitworth. We're sure gonna need a sighting in party. Bob

12 May 2006, 22:19

jeffeosso

Rusty,
send me those rejects.. i'll tell Tip these aren't his best work, and only the BEST is good enough for rusty
jeffe

12 May 2006, 23:22

T.Carr

I'm sorry, I must have missed the background on these projects - but why one right hand and one left hand stock?

Regards,

Terry

12 May 2006, 23:24

Charles_Helm

quote:
Originally posted by T.Carr:
I'm sorry, I must have missed the background on these projects - but why one right hand and one left hand stock?

Regards,

Terry

Rusty is such a nice guy that he is having two made, one for him and one for a friend!

12 May 2006, 23:39

Hog Killer

Rusty, these are realy looking great. You should bring your's up to a Bubba shoot, for a group inspection.

Along with plenty of ammo.

Hog Killer

13 May 2006, 00:11

MJines

[/QUOTE]

Rusty is such a nice guy that he is having two made, one for him and one for a friend!

[/QUOTE]

Rusty,

Need any more friends? I will even buy you a beer from time to time.

Mike

13 May 2006, 06:55

GAHUNTER

Damn, Rusty, I thought you were having a couple of RIFLES built. Instead, you show up with a couple of refugees from a French art gallery!

Bubba shoot, my ass! Them's ain't shootin' guns. Them's "lookin' at" guns.

But I gotta admit, they's awful purdy to look at! Tell you what, Rusty, I'll swap ya a nice CZ 416 Rigby, new in the box, for one of them "lookin' at" shootin irons of yorn. Hell, I'll even swap ya even! You won't owe me nuthin!

Kain't stand to see a man with nuthin to hunt with.

13 May 2006, 18:39

Rusty

Dang, GAHunter,
If I'd only known?

Just a few weeks ago I acquired a CZ550 American in 9.3X62. I'll be glad to let you borrow the CZ!

14 May 2006, 06:16

GDOG

Rusty,
Like Terry, I am interested in the background for your projects. Could you provide more info?

-George

14 May 2006, 08:15

Mickey1

Rusty

I was at Scrollcutters today and saw the engraving on the left handed action. Floor plate also.

It looks very nice and you guys will enjoy them I'm sure.

Ask him about his soon to be new Rigby pop up bolt peep. One of them would look pretty nice on those rifles.

14 May 2006, 12:24

333_OKH

We need to chat again about whwere you got that pattern and I must say I really like the work!

14 May 2006, 17:37

30 Caliber Mag Fan

Rusty-

Those stocks look incredible!! Congratulations!!

Thanks for sharing.

14 May 2006, 17:43

Rusty

Terry, Gdog,
The the 404 Jeffery projects started because I own an A. Hollis 450/400 3 inch double rifle. Since the 404 Jeffery was tauted as the bolt action version of the 450/400 3 inch I thought it would be nice to have one. While I was at it, I thought I'd get one build for my friend David Guitar as a gift. He shoots left handed.

I sent to project to a gunsmith in Washington State. The projects took an 18 month nap.
When I finally got my money, and the projects sent to Tip Burns I found out that nothing, absolutely nothing had been done in a year and a half. Needless to say Tip has been a ray of sunshine.

Micky,
Thanks for the report. Roger has really added some graceful beauty to the projects.

333_OKH,
The pattern I used was whatever John Valicek used. I looked at several rifles that Tip had in his shop when I went to visit him. I like the Dakota he had and told him that I'd like my projejcts to look like that, as a "go-by".

All I have done is given some guidelines for Tip and John to follow. I've allowed them to use their artistic eye to create the finished projects.

Tip and I discussed sights, barrel band swivel, barrel length, and finish. I told him what kind of finish I wanted on the stocks and I wanted classic 4 panel checkering and an ebony tip.

The really nice thing about doing business with Tip is that if he has a question he calls me.

That's a wonderful feeling!

14 May 2006, 18:35

GDOG

Rusty,
I am very interested in your project as I would like to create a custom 404J myself someday. What type of action and barrel are you using? Also, what grade of wood did you specify as it looks fantastic!

-GDOG

14 May 2006, 22:24

Rusty

I am using the Montana Rifle Co. Long Action in Crome Moly. They offer several bolt face diameters with this action.

The barrels are .423 caliber Magnum Sporter contours from Lothar-Walther USA.
The barrels on the rifle will measure 26".

Tip does have the 404 Jeffery reamer on had at his shop.

The grade of wood I bought from Robert Watts was "Fancy". He told me that he had some more "Exprensive" wood that he could sell me, but for what I wanted, the blanks he was offering would do just fine. 2-3 years ago I paid around $200.00 for the blanks. I bought the blanks on Robert's advice without every seeing the blanks until they arrived. We discussed what I was looking for, type of figure and I left the rest to him. Robert assured me that if I didn't like them he would take them back.

15 May 2006, 02:12

lb404

really nice stuff here Rusty!

15 May 2006, 02:16

bulldog563

Who was the smith who took your money and then let the components sit for 18 months?

Project looks very nice. David Guitar is very lucky to have such a nice friend.

15 May 2006, 02:40

Rusty

Bulldog,
I'd rather not post who that was here. I would be glad to give that information to anyone who would like it. Please email me at rkmojo@aol.com