I finally have it all together. A 550 Shirly Magnum on my PH action and I love it. It is a monster at 15 lbs but the recoil is nothing. I know us old farts would need a gun bearer to tote it around but for now I am happy. I did some tuning and still need a little work on the feeding. It is and will be a project in action as I have ideas I want to try and loads to develope. As soon as I learn how to post pics I will get some on line.

Steven

Congratulations on a great round. What bullet and load are you shooting right now?

I have posted alot of collected data on the 550 magnum on ammoguide -

At the moment I only have 700gr solids by Barnes to reload. My first shot was with AA2520 for the powder, 113grs of it, Fed 215 primer, and Qual-Cart case. AOL was 3.875. It was a mild load just to get an idea of what to expect.

At 15 lbs it should be pretty nice to shoot. Mine's a hair under 11 lbs. I really miss that extra 4 pounds; recoil is pretty brutal with full-house loads. One of these days I'll get a round tuit and fix it...

quote:

Originally posted by tiggertate:
...recoil is pretty brutal with full-house loads. ..

At 10 1/2 obs, very true!

Keith

Here are a couple of photos
http://s1102.photobucket.com/a...%20magnum%20project/

Ahhh..I see the muzzle brake. I'm not a fan of them for my own reasons, I just have to nut-up and pull the trigger. I bet it helps the 550 a whole bunch.

Tiggertate;
If you use the Vais style brake it is as quiet as a rifle without a brake plus a reduction in recoil. It helps with all my heavy recoil rifles.

That kind of weight and a brake should make it pretty easy to shoot, especially doing load testing off of the bench. You will be able to find the accuracy potential.

Got a DG trip planned for it yet?

Rich

Idaho Sharpshooter;
No DG planned yet but would love to attend one sometime. I have only begun to finish this rifle. It isn't ready for show and tell yet.

quote:

Originally posted by Steven R Gierke:
Tiggertate;
If you use the Vais style brake it is as quiet as a rifle without a brake plus a reduction in recoil. It helps with all my heavy recoil rifles.

I beg to differ on the db of a Vais versus a normal muzzle brake. I bet they are a few db quieter, but still much louder than a "free range" rifle BTW - I have one on a 300 RUM - and as such - have sworn off muzzle brakes for hunting rifles. I do have a muzzle brake (that looks like a flash hider) on my HK G3. You can imagine a 10 pound semi-auto rifle with a muzzle brake doesn't recoil much, but a .308 semi w/mb is much quieter than a 300 RUM bolt-action.

I bet that you are correct. I only compared what I heard between several brakes. The loudest is a Browning adjustable for tuning the barrel for the bullet. I was incredible.
What are your reasons for not using a brake to hunt?

You guys do realize of course that a muzzle brake on a .550 caliber rifle sounds differently than that on a .30 caliber rifle don't you? Just because you dont like the sound of a brake on a little gun doesnt automatically say the same about a Big Bore. Something to do with FREQUENCY. You know big hole with gas moving through it vs little hole!
Nearly all my .50 caliber rifles and above have muzzle brakes and they don't seem to increase the sound signature much at all. I cant tell the difference in the LOW Frequency BOOM! Finally you do know that most humans cant detect even a 3db increase in sound levels which equates to TWICE the Power of the signal!
-Rob

I don't care for them for other reasons, Rob. I seldom shoot alone or in a formal setting and they tend to annoy the people around me, whether its frequency or redirected gas is a moot point. Its still annoying. I don't like the look and I don't shoot anything so big I can't handle it w/out one. I don't have a 600 OK and I'm sure its well beyond my threshold when loaded to potential. So as long as my 550 is tops I'm good to go.