I just found a 450 Watts Mag built on an Enfield Action by H.B. Anderson of Yakima Washington. Has anyone ever heard of this gunmaker? It is priced at 385.00. Is it worth this price???

Details of the rifle

21 Inch Barrel

Cock on open conversion

Straightened bottom metal holds 4+1

Tang safety conversion.

The trigger is labeled H.B. Anderson

Single crossbolt behind the recoil lug

No barrel recoil lug

The stock is cracked at the tang and appears to have been repaired with acraglas but the repairs are very crude.

The Barrel and action are hot blued and the top of the front and rear receiver rings are stippled.

Redfield peep sight.

Weight appears to be about 8 pounds

Thanks for your comments.
Jeff

Does it feed?

Yes! Yes ! this is a part of history you found

Let me explain !

Harvey Anderson of Yakima was the gunmaker that built the rifles for James Watt's....... this was the famous duo who made the very first Watts's Magnum the forerunner and the father of the 458 Winchester ( aka 450 Short Watts )and what we now know as the 458 Lott, also the 450 Alaskan.

The first rifle was in fact a FN Mauser actioned rifle, because the trigger guard whacked Watt's 2nd finger Anderson bent the rear part of the trigger guard to allow for the second finger to sit behind the guard without being whacked.

Anderson then also holds? ( held the patent 1950 ) for the orginal cartridge which they named the 450 Watts

Both Anderson and Watts worked for Boeing at one time and their coming together gave us the whole dynasty of cartridges in 45 cal based on the 375 H&H case.

Sounds interesting give it a shot......id buy it.

I reckon Alf has read the Cal Pappas written biography of Watts, James ".450" Watts: Recollections of My Life.

For $385 better grab it and study it and give it a place of honor in the rack. Might even restock it with any stock you want, but do save the old stock for posterity.

I'd buy it in a heartbeat!

.

If you don't want it , I'll buy it.

465H&H

For $385, I'd buy it whether it fed or not. For slightly more, someone could make it feed easily enough and I'd still be money ahead of buying a brand new rifle.

The stock is another matter but still not one that would stop me from buying it.

Were I you, I'd run go buy it before someone else found it and snatched it out from under me!

i would buy it, knowing that a replacement synthetic stock is 2bills, and doing a wooden one, well, that starts at 2bills for nuthin, working up to money

let me know if you pass
jeffe

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:
i would buy it, knowing that a replacement synthetic stock is 2bills, and doing a wooden one, well, that starts at 2bills for nuthin, working up to money

let me know if you pass
jeffe

I will try to fix the existing stock first but just in case, who makes a synthetic stock that fits a straightened enfield?

As Alf said you've got a neat piece with some historical significance. Go for it.

Probably the most famous .450 Watts built by Mr. Anderson was the one he made for Jack O'Connor. O'Connor took it to Tanganyika on his first safari in 1953 and shot rhino and buffalo with it, using 480 grain Kynoch soft points. His was built on a Mauser Model 98 with a Holland and Holland magazine and a receiver sight.

Kurt

Thanks for all the input guys. It is on layaway as of this afternoon.
Jeff

quote:

Originally posted by moleman:
As Alf said you've got a neat piece with some historical significance. Go for it.

Probably the most famous .450 Watts built by Mr. Anderson was the one he made for Jack O'Connor. O'Connor took it to Tanganyika on his first safari in 1953 and shot rhino and buffalo with it, using 480 grain Kynoch soft points. His was built on a Mauser Model 98 with a Holland and Holland magazine and a receiver sight.

Kurt

I need a copy of the article Mr. O'Connor wrote about that rifle because I may have found that rifle. Here is the story. After I bought the rifle, I dropped it off at a local gunsmith to have the stock repaired. The smith had seen the rifle years before in the hands of the individual, a local pharmacist who is deceased, who brought it back to Texas from Alaska.

The gunsmith told me that the rifle was accompanied with a letter, which he had seen and read, from Jack O'Connor telling of his exploits in Africa with that rifle and stating that he had written an article in Outdoor Life about the rifle and hunt.

After the pharmacist died his wife's new boyfriend/husband apparently sold off his rifle collection. I contacted the dealer who had the rifle on consignment and he reported to me that he had no such letter in his possession and that the individual who put the rifle up for sale did not know of the existance of any such letter.

Does anyone have a copy of the O'Connor article they would scan and e-mail to me?

Does anyone know if the H.B. Anderson gunshop is still in business or if the family can be contacted regarding records of rifles built by Mr. Anderson.

Any help would be greatly appreciated in authenticating this potentially historical rifle.

There is some potential confusion if the rifle you have is an Enfield action.

The rifle O'Connor used on his 1953 safari was a Mauser....metalwork modified by Tom Burgess, rebarreled to .450 Watts by Harvey Anderson, and stocked by Alvin Oslin.

The above info from Robert Anderson's recent book "Jack O'Connor". There is also a picture of Jack and the rifle with a nice Cape Buffalo.

GV

quote:

Originally posted by GrandView:
There is some potential confusion if the rifle you have is an Enfield action.

The rifle O'Connor used on his 1953 safari was a Mauser....metalwork modified by Tom Burgess, rebarreled to .450 Watts by Harvey Anderson, and stocked by Alvin Oslin.

The above info from Robert Anderson's recent book "Jack O'Connor". There is also a picture of Jack and the rifle with a nice Cape Buffalo.

GV

Can you scan a pic of the rifle.
Jeff

JNC, how about posting a pic? ($385? No brainer.)

Alf,
Harold Johnson from Cooper Landing Alaska designed and built the 450 Alaskan. Not Harvey Johnson.

quote:

Originally posted by jnc91:

Can you scan a pic of the rifle.
Jeff

I'd rather not, Jeff. The book is a recent publication and is readily available on ebay and book shops. It's a very good book that details several of Jack O'Connor's custom rifles.

As written in Anderson's book.....Jack wrote about the rifle in an Outdoor Life article titled "Buffaloes Shoot Back". January 1954 Outdoor Life.

The picture of Jack, Buffalo, and rifle are in the 2nd series of plates. It shows the engraved floorplate with Jack's monogram. The text indicates this was Jack's first Cape Buffalo.....43.5".

GV

quote:

Originally posted by fla3006:
JNC, how about posting a pic? ($385? No brainer.)

I would love to, but I don't know how. I can e-mail pics to someone if they will post them.
Jeff

I'll be happy to. fla3006@yahoo.com

I thought O'Connor was using a 416 Rigby in "Buffalo Shoot Back."

quote:

Originally posted by Will:
I thought O'Connor was using a 416 Rigby in "Buffalo Shoot Back."

According to Anderson's book Jack's first .416 was built about 2 years after his 1953 safari. ("Buffaloes Shoot Back" appeared in the January 1954 Outdoor Life)

His first .416 was an Enfield reworked by Apex Rifle Company and stocked by Al Biesen. It went on its first and only safari in 1962. Pictures of it appear in The Rifle Book.

GV

quote:

Originally posted by jnc91:
....who makes a synthetic stock that fits a straightened enfield?

Try Bell & Carlson. They had one that would fit my P-17 Enfield.

http://www.bellandcarlson.com/

Here are pics of Jeff's find:







(sorry Jeff, I was out of town, would have gotten them up sooner)

Great Enfield with tang safety, and historically interesting for chambering and gunsmith. You got a steal.

The stock seems to have been "rode hard and put up wet," and the repaired tang speaks volumes about bedding and reinforcing and relieving and secondary recoil lugs and pillars.

I would put it in a synthetic stock and save the old wood for posterity. And go shoot it.

Where did you find it?

I found it in a upolstry shop in Atlanta, Texas, a town of about 5000 population in East Texas. The owner is also a gun dealer and has about 10 rifles on the wall. There is a very limited market for rifles such as that chambered in obscure wildcat cartridges. The Dealer evidently didn't know or care what he had.

jnc91,

Outdoor Life Shooting Book by O'Connor (1957) in chapter 12 "The African Battery", there is a short paragraph on your rifle. It states the gunsmith, how to form cases, the load he used and a comparison to the new winchester cartridge and the famous 470 Nitro Express. He stated he used this rifle on three animals, a buffalo, a rhino, and one unhappy zebra. The more he hunted in Africa the less he looked like Gregory Peck- no double and no bush jacket.
Bob

I just ordered the book on e-bay. Does the article say what action the rifle is built on? Are ther any pics of the rifle?

no pics, no action type,just .450 Watts the wildcat JOC took to africa was made by Harvey Anderson, Yakima, Washington gunsmith. It uses cases formed by necking up .375 magnum brass to .45 cal.

quote:

Originally posted by jnc91:
Does the article say what action the rifle is built on? Are ther any pics of the rifle?

Jeff....I'm trying to help you out here.

Here is a copy of the text in Anderson's book Jack O'Connor.

Burgess-Anderson-Oslin Custom in .450 Watts: This was Jack's first real big-bore rifle, made especially for his 1953 safari to Kenya and Tanganyika. Tom Burgess did the necessary metalwork on an M98 Mauser action and fitted a Holland & Holland floor plate, magazine, and trigger guard. Harvey Anderson of Yakima Washington, installed the barrel and slotted it as an integral muzzle brake. Alvin Oslin of Clarkston, Wahsington, stocked the rifle, which was equipped with iron sights only. The floor plate was decorated with some scroll engraving and Jack's monogram. The Watts wildcat predated the .458 Winchester factory round, so Jack had to handload ammunition: 82 grains of No. 4895 behind 480-grain .450 Nitro Express bullets in the long, necked-up 375 H&H cases.

Jack used the rifle to take his first Cape buffalo (a 43 1/2 inch bull), his only black rhino (19-inch horn), and a zebra. Jack's story "Buffaloes Shoot Back!" in the January 1954 Outdoor Life told of the rifle and of being charged by the bull.

There is a picture of Jack, the rifle, and the 43 1/2" buffalo in the above book.

Here is the ebay link I PM'd you where a copy of the January 1954 Outdoor Life is for sale. The cover indicates a story "O'CONNOR'S CLOSE CALL P.17".

http://cgi.ebay.com/LAKE-ICE-FISHING-Artwork-Mint-1954-...QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

O'Connor's .450 Watts was a Mauser.

GV

Thanks for the info. I ordered Anderson's book on Amazon this morning, but I think you may have answered question. I didn't check my pm's until after the e-bay auction was over. I e-mailed the seller to see if the OL Magazine was still available but I havn't heard back.

Based on the information I have gathered so far, it looks as if I have found an intresting rifle but it is not the one Jack O'Connor used.