Ed
Have you got anywhere with a barrel yet?? lets keep moving on this.

We have got to pick a good source for the barrels and define our requirements.

Must have a good finished product either rebore a barrel or produce a new barrel with the proper twist.

I would be looking for someone like Montana rifleman that could supply a barreled action. This is based on the fact that the make there own actions and barrels and maybe eaiser in the future for someone to order this wildcat. But Wells sports could do the same and are more known foe big bores but there price is out of the average range. Pacnor could do the job if you supplied the action and so could K and P.

Just about any good smith could install a .550 barrel on a action so who do we pick ??????? If you are in a hurry to get started on this let me know as I have no time frame. RNS

RNS-We should get one who can rebore and supply barrels also, so only one set of drills,reamers,
and rifling cutters has to be paid for...Wells
sounds as good as any, as all rebore folks I
have found so far are scheduled many many months ahead.And some of them only rebore.Wells prices for tools, you quoted was as low any others.I will be able to do my own work and chambering.
I have rifle now, just needs reboring, on an
Enfield action.Just send in barrel.I think 18
inch twist,6 grooves is plenty.Will call Wells
and get more info.Tomorrow.Got real busy in the last week,grandson
in service got married, our mother who's been
deathly sick,went to the Lord.Ed Hubel.

RNS-Mingo-Rob-I called Dan at Wells.He said 6 grooves are plenty, but if Mingo wanted 8, He'd make extra cutter width.No big deal.He can make any twist from 5.5 to straight.A 5 minute adjustment.

Here is a good part.He said if we got a dozen,
he would only charge for $200 finish reamer.
He would build rest of tooling for a dozen barrels
and/or rebores.Maybe the guy to deal with.Is
their any other on here interested in the 550Mag,
the biggest bore to be had on a 460 case wildcat.

Rob- He has most everything to make or rebore
to 12 GA FROM Hell barrels.Sounds like a place
that has possibilities.Ed.

RNS and others--I can do a third of
the tooling costs, but it would be nice to get a
dozen, so we would only buy finish reamer.If we get a whole bunch I will pay for reamer and
all the rest will only pay for their own barrels.
Ed.

Ed and others
I have been doing some hunting for information on this bore size hoping to find someone who has already attempted this. What I found has surprised me Hawk http://www.hawkbullets.com/P-LIST.htm lists .550 bullets this is very exciting news to me which means that someone has already worked on the project. Hawk even has bullets in stock. I talked to them and they are going to try to contact the guy who has built several guns in this bore size and let him know we are interested in the .550 bore.

Now we have a source for bullets and can probably get bullets made by other makers as well.

Barrels can be done by Wells or the orginal supplier who has already worked on them.

Lots of good action choices in the near future.

Maybe this will help some others get interested in the .550 lets keep the ball rolling.

Lother walther will make the barrels 180 per barrel and 750 for tooling but won't rebore.

The barrels that were used were made in germany according to hawk from memory. Does anyone know of barrel makers in Germany???

The .550 is equal to 28 ga. and 28 ga round balls weight 250 gr which would make 750 gr for a 3 ball load.

RNS-That would be an interesting load to shoot.
I wonder if game depts would consider it a shotgun
for deer hunting in no rifle areas.

I have checked all list i could think of and no
EU barrel makers that I can find that specializes in odd sizes..Ed

Ed - what are the expected velocities with this round in a given barrel? sounds like a winner and a bit easier to do than the 600 overkill - what bullet weights are available for a .550 bore? seems like cast would be a much more affordable way to shoot often - KMule

Kmule-Hawk lists 500 and 700 grain.John can build
any size you want.Right powder,decent barrel will
get 700 gr to 2500 fps.Brass is easy to get, just anneal and expand.Here is picture again,30-06
first,458WIN second,
550 Mag is on right.Ed.

Ed are you tired of holding on to My case yet .have you heard from John about making bullets??

RNS-Email your address and I will send it to you.
John indicated that he can build any size, with no lead in problems.Like kind of instantly.
He can do it in 2- 4 weeks.He just pushes buttons
and starts the machine.Ed.

Is john back up again the last I checked his web page was down???

Well the project is moving alone slowly and now some more good news.

Subj: Re: Custom sizes
Date: 4/30/03 11:33:33 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From: gscustom@wol.co.za
To: GoldCoins1@aol.com
Sent from the Internet (Details)


Hello Neal,
Custom sizes are easy and our experience is that if you are asking for something, there are a whole bunch of guys also wanting but not asking.

To produce a new bullet we require:

The exact diameter of the bore.
The exact diameter of the barrel at groove depth.
The twist rate of the barrel.
The length of freebore.
The case capacity in grains of water.
The case neck length.
Double rifle or magazine fed.
The intended muzzle velocity for a given weight of bullet.
The intended target to which the bullet will be applied.

With the background of ten years of designing HV and FN bullets and the actual shooting of more than 600 animals from steenbuck to elephant, we will produce a prototype for testing. If changes are required, we will do them till there is a satisfactory result. Lately we rarely change the prototype more than once and usually the first design delivered for field testing is the final one.

Regards
Gerard

Expand your mind, include GS Custom Bullets
Visit http://gscustom.co.za
South African shooting and hunting directory
Visit: http://gunlinks.co.za

This is good to see a company willing to work with the small guy

RNS