And the first US Marine to win the Congressional Medal of Honor and live to see it is walking and talking in Kentucky too.
A solemn thanks to Dakota Meyer.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/po...nt-says-hes-no-hero/

As you were ...

Rusty McGee is piecing this together from parts I drag over to Falls of Rough KY.
Thanks Rusty:

Gentry 3-position stainless Mauser safety ordered from Midway.
Timney trigger Rusty ordered from Brownells I reckon.
Duane Wiebe 500 Jeffery bottom metal for standard Mauser 98, I ordered from Duane, and he delivered in a few days.
The FN Mauser is still wearing a .375 /.338WinMag barrel.
An old Tupperware stock from 1987, maybe Butler Creek, as a first try to see how the metal goes together ...
The standard M98 action screws that came with the FN were used,
though some "left-long" action screws came with the bottom metal kit from Duane.













This is the rifle with 4 cartridges shoved into the box.
It will only hold 3 down properly,
but the 4th one can be pressed in far enough to feed off the top of the box when the bolt is closed.
That makes for a CRF 4-shooter without having to pinch the extractor.
The box is roomier than it would be for the 500 Jeffery for which it was designed.













49-10 cartridge lengths:



For this rifle, the max inside box length is a hair over 3.500", maybe 3.505", or "+3.500"," as Duane said.

The Winchester M70 is +3.600" or about 3.625"

The Ruger Hawkeye is +3.400" or about 3.425".

This suggests 3 COLs for the 49-10, depending on the action used:

3.4": Ruger Hawkeye
3.5": Mauser with Duane Wiebe 6MX 3+1 box (500 Jeffery)
3.6": Winchester M70 with RUM box and Sunny Hill drop floor plate and McMillan Winchester Safari stock.

But adding a re-inforcing steel plate to the front of the RUM box, and tapering it into the feed ramp would make that M70 a "+3.500" also.

All the bullets shown can be loaded to well under 3.400".

The shorter length loads feed better in all the rifles.

I reckon the new COL max for the 49-10 is 3.400".

Anyway, it is just a trial, and it worked nicely.
Needs a new barrel and a new stock, and the bolt face needs to be opened up to fit the Lapua Magnum case head ...

Maybe I need to make this one a switch-barrel for both 49-10 and "47LM" ...
Uh-oh, I am weak again, one more wildcat:

.475/.338 Lapua Magnum.

That will be easy to make brass for:
Just neck up the .338 Lapua Magnum to .475 and go shoot it.

Headstamp will be easiest ever. A single "4" stamped in front of the upside-down "L" inside the Lapua shield logo:

4[7] .338 Lapua Magnum

Maybe add a "5" and a "/" after the shield logo to really get fancy:

4[7]5/.338 Lapua Magnum

Also gives slicker feeding and more room in the magazine than the 49-10, due to the 47LM not being blown out at the shoulder.

Back To The Future:

The 47LM



Here is the 6MX "3+1" box for the 500 Jeffery.
If it will work for the 500 Jeffery,
it will work even better for the 49-10.
That's the "49-Bore/.500-Caliber/.338 Lapua Magnum Improved of 2010."














A few more views:







"Scope lightly and carry a big kick and you shall go far."
Theodore Roosevelt, from The Happy Hunting Ground.

quote:

This suggests 3 COLs for the 49-10, depending on the action used:

3.4": Ruger Hawkeye
3.5": Mauser with Duane Wiebe 6MX 3+1 box (500 Jeffery)
3.6": Winchester M70 with RUM box and Sunny Hill drop floor plate and McMillan Winchester Safari stock.

But adding a re-inforcing steel plate to the front of the RUM box, and tapering it into the feed ramp would make that M70 a "+3.500" also.

All the bullets shown can be loaded to well under 3.400".

The shorter length loads feed better in all the rifles.

I reckon the new COL max for the 49-10 is 3.400".

Your Mauser is coming along right nicely. To the best of my recollection Michael was loading his 500 MDM with the 510gr SST FN bullet at 3.443” COAL with its 2.8” case length so I do find the 49-10 very interesting that its best feeding comes from <3.4” COAL. Has Rusty had a chance to fine tune the ramp and rails yet for the longer 3.428”-3.470” COAL yet?

Jim,
Zero feed work done on this Mauser so far.
The 49-10 that feeds is the Winchester M70 with 3.625" length of box awaiting the McMillan stock.

3.400" is a good COL for that one too, after I put a steel plate inside the front of that Winchester sheetmetal box.


Hornady dies were born on 9/14/11. Arrived here today,
a couple of weeks ahead of schedule.

Mr. Ben Syring of Hornady Custom Dies is efficient at making great product.

RIP- What! You didn't have the barrel garnished in that elegant Snakeskin pattern you love so much? I'm disappointed?
All kidding aside nice working gun with GOOD parts!
Congrats!-Rob

Hi RIP,

GREAT Job !!
Nice lookin Rifle....all in all a bit on the "light" side ??
Remember it right ?? Something about 9 lbs ??
Hornady Die´s looking good too....why a 3 Die set?? What is the 3rd die for ? Neck sizer ?

Best
2RECON

Rob,
The snakeskinner is studying to be a pathologist and too busy to do another one of those barrel finishes!

2RECON,
The rifle is not a rifle yet!
Just a "parts-try-gun."

These dies are similar to the North Devon 500 Jeffery Dies I have.
The full-length resizer and decapper has no neck expander ball.
Second die is a neck-expander/belling die.
Third die is the seating die.

I cannot verify the functionality of the crimp just yet ...

Your dies should be there anytime, eh?
An extra few days to cross the pond?

Hallo RIP,

finally the dies have made it across the big pond. Got them some days ago after 70 miles drive to the next Costums-Office to pick them up and ( what else....) pay tax for it...

This Hornady Dies are VERY fine.
Have necked up and sized different brands of brass to see how it works. Best so far, no wonder at all, was Lapua followed by Hornady and Jamison. Privi Partisan was ok also, but i think they´ve to learn to be a bit more accurate mashining the extractor-grove. Found some brass that won´t fit the shellholder. Junk was the swiss made SM-THUN brass made for their "POLICE" Ammo. Split necks by the first necking up step to .375"Caliber...

Now i´m looking forward to get the reamers/gauges from Manson to build the testbarrel and start doing pressure testing.

Best and thanx so far

Michael

BTW: Hope to get 9,5x70 brass "this year" (Horneber told....) Michael458 knows what that is meaning :-), will send you some.....

Michael,
As co-creator of the 12.7x68mm/49-10, you are enjoying a fine bit of madness, eh? Me too.
It takes several months to get things like a McMillan stock and a Pac-Nor barrel, even though those are produced and delivered on the same side of the pond.
Fingers crossed for speedy deliveries to both of us.
I am on my usual snail's pace here.
You may soon overtake me.
Pressure data you say?
Very nice!
Thanks for posting.

It looks great Rip! Having four down in my CZ 550 500 Jeffery would be sweet and I know Duane is working on bottom metal for it as well. My only concern is that my 500 Jeffery finally feeds and extracts flawlessly now, do you think adding the new bottom metal would impact that? I think if I go this route, I'd have Duane install it and finish it, just to be sure.

Chuck:
If Duane does it, it won't feed worse!
The massive walls of his boxes alone are worth replacing the magazine well liners of the CZ. Is the front wall of your box reinforced with an extra layer of steel?
Rusty McGee is doing a CZ .395 Tatanka for me, am waiting to see what kind of wraparound steel he puts on the front of that box.

After 100 cases fireformed, I finally lost one.
99% success ain't bad.
I can live with that.

Here is how I do it, since I had 3 pounds of 1998 vintage IMR-4831 that I have no other use for, I get 77.777777777777... shots per pound:

90 grains of IMR-4831 and a Hornady .338/250gr RNSP seated nose down in the case (yes that is excessive in a .338 barrel, but not in a .500 barrel).
Load it and pull the trigger.
Remove the bolt and brush the unburnt powder and smoke out of the barrel with a nylon bristle brush on a cleaning rod.
Repeat.

The cases change little in length on fireforming. 2.714" is what the cases are supposed to be to start with.
A lot is going on, including blowing out the sides and necking up, and maintaining the standard shoulder position and angle of the .338 Lapua.
All counterbalancing, so no growth or shrinkage in length.
The end of the over-long neck is curled into the throat area of the 49-10 chamber.
Trim to 2.647" minimum length.
This produces a beautiful thick, concentric, square case mouth and neck with no dreaded donut.

Must have been some damage to that one bad case somewhere between Finland and Kentucky.
I suppose even the Uru metal of Mjolnir might have a little speck of sabotaged metallurgy in it, and it would make little difference unless it happened to be right at the case mouth.
Loki? Frost giants? Gremlins? Bad ju-ju?







The JIMDANDY CEB .500/430-grainer loads through the +3.6" box of the M70, 3-down with Sunny Hill.
It is a single shooter in the Mauser 3.5" box,
but all the other CEB and North Fork bullets of .500 caliber (FNs and HPs), and of course the .500 S&W "pistol bullets" will work through an even shorter box of 3.4" or less.





Those .338 bullets shot backward down the barrel of the .500 are CG forward and sometimes hit where aimed at 50 yards,
and most of the time they land within 2 feet of the bullseye at 50 yards.
My neighbor with the target frame next to me at the range was an understanding fellow,
and keyholing .338 holes are easy to distinguish from .223 bugholes.

The recoil of the fireforming loads is nil, and the report is mild.
Reminds me of shooting a .22 Hornet.
One-handed rifle shooting is easy with this .500.

RIP,

According to Dan you can seat the MTH Y01 (aka: JimDandy) somewhere between 0.100” and 0.120” deeper in the case, Seal Tite Band will be seated within the case neck area, due to a cylinder shaped shank section between the Seal Tite Band and the commencement of the Ogive. This photograph gives a visual of the area – looking from the commencement of the engraving between the point and the Seal Tite Band:



You might give that a try to see if it’d feed from the Mauser magazine.

And yes, only losing one case during fireforming is great.

Love the " Tupperware stock ", do you allow us to use this expression ?

Don't know why we wouldn't...heck we use it all the time!

Bobby:
Yes, we call them Tupperware stocks here.
These two rifles await higher grade synthetic stocks.

Jim,
I will try that with the JIMDANDY bullet, thanks.

RIP,

DUDE! You have one hell of a cool toy chest full of some really cool tools!

Tanks, surestrike!

Tupperware stocks:
Saeed is hunting with one right now, on his .375/404J UAE, rifle No.2.
I held the same rifle in my hands last year in Tanzania.
His Dakota box projects below the stock too.
He took it back this year with some splashes of red spray paint on the barrel (Waltered?), same stock.
My kind of rifle.





The smallest 100-yard/3-shot group with a big bore that I ever shot was with a .375 Weatherby in a Tupperware stock,
with a Leupold 2.5x-8x scope set on 8x,
a straight rechamber of a factory M70 Classic Stainless from Connecticut,
with hot-glue bedding(!),
using Bridger copies of the .375/300gr Walterhog bullet:



Don't try that load at home, unless you start 7 grains lower and work up.
Use 88grains of H4350 instead, like Saeed does.

I am eschewing barrel hardware, and will build them Saeed-style, until I get all my toys finished:

1. Stainless barrel with no sights, bands, nor lugs: slick-barreled
2. Synthetic stock of whatever make that works, from Tupperware to Kevlar with aluminum bedding block.
3. Leupold scope.
4. Splotches of red spray paint on the barrel will signify: Ready for blooding!