Well I've taken all the steps I can for now...ordered a barrel and dropped the action off at the gunsmith. Now all I can do is sit back, wait, and collect things like brass, dies, bullets, etc.

I was going to look to Huntingdons for dies, anyone have a better idea? I guess I'm just assuming that you can start with .460 Weatherby brass and just neck them up for fire-forming?

If my luck holds out, I'll have this rifle back in time for Whitetail deer season...

A. What action did you start with?

B. What barrel did you get?

C. What gunsmith are you using?

D. Without some dummy rounds and some loaded ammo, can your gunsmith start on the project?

For forming cases, I got 3 expander balls from CH4D:

1. 458 to 475
2. 475 to 500
3. 510

I use the first two expanders in a forming die (just a die body with an expander ball in it) to open up the neck. Make sure to put some powder lube on the inside of the neck or you will mash a lot of cases. Those radiused shoulders on weatherby cases are not all that strong and mash really easily.

the 510 expander ball is in the sizer die, and after using the two smaller expander balls in the empty die body, I run the brass through the sizer.

500 A-Square dies from CH4D are $140.00, plus I think I paid $30 or $40 for the empty die body with the extra expander balls. See the link

http://www.ch4d.com/ch4d/Catalog/Page21b.htm

The action is a Winchester P17 that was already sporterized when I got it.

For a barrel I talked to a few people, but ended up with ER Shaw. They've been contracted to turn out some 50 caliber blanks (I don't know for whom). They're 15 twist, 35" long, straight taper designed for 50 BMG. They're shipping me one of the blanks, and I'll have my gunsmith cut it back to 26" and put a more pleasant contour on it.

The gunsmith is a guy local to me (30 miles or so). Just a plain ole country boy, but he's made 3 500 A-Squares so far and his other customers were happy. He also showed me the 50 BMG action he built from scratch. He does a neat job of "half-octagoning" barrels also, and I picked up my 6.5-284 barrel he just finished while I was there. If anyone is interested, let me know and I'll forward his info.

He has dummy rounds to work with (he keeps one as a display model on his rack out front).

I'm still undecided as to a stock, leaning toward a synthetic model. His previous customers carved their own, 2 choosing maple, but I hate woodwork.

Thanks for the tip on CH4D, they were my next stop after Huntingdons (I like the Huntingdons FFL discount).

Maple? Did the stocks hold up?

How much will your smith charge to build an Enfield into a 500 A2? I would like to build up some Enfields, but I only know 1 smith who likes to do it and he is very expensive for such projects.

I am assuming that your smith rebuilds the magazine box himself, or has he found an off the shelf model that works?

How about the follower, is it custom made from scratch?

As for the barrel, since it is military I suspect it will be extremely hard steel and could NEVER be shot out with a 500 A2. Good choice. Note, however, that Art Alphin chose a 1 in 10 twist for 500 A2, and your barrel is 1 in 15. That means your gun will likely prefer heavier bullets. If you decide to special order some heavies, let me know and I might join in the order. Right now I have about 30 or 35 Barnes 700 grain originals, but the rest of my .510s are either 570 or 600 grain.

SamB, I use an expander plug to neck up 460 wby. brass to 500 A2. All you do is expand the neck with one pass with the expander plug and your done. You can buy the plug for 35.00 from McGowen rifle barrels. I bought my plug more than 7 yrs. ago so it might cost a bit more now. My 500 has a McGowen barrel with a 1 in 12 twist.

Mitch,
Thanks for the supplier of the .510" expander plug, good ol' Harry McGowen. I have been missing one of those. With my longer throated .510 JAB, I have been simply seating a 750 grain Hornady A-Max directly into the .460 Weatherby with 100 to 110 grains of IMR 4350 and fireforming. The long boat tail of the Hornady works perfectly as an expander plug. I then resize and use the perfected cases in my shorter throated rifle.

------------------
Good huntin' and shootin',
RAB

RAB, glad to help out with the info. It looks good for a Saturday shoot at the end of the month. Look foward to shooting with you, Phil sends his regards.

I use the .45 to .50 expander from RCBS. You MUST polish the expander with progressively finer sandpaper until it shines. I used 320, 600, 800 and 1500 grit. Now with a little Imperial Sizing Die Wax, they slip over the expander like nothing was there. I just load up and go. I hope the 1-15" works well.

Roger,
RCBS has one too? I have just been too lazy to look for one. Everytime I asked at the store they didn't have it. Guess I will have to order one.
BTW, where is all that Mercury coming from in the Alaska Native diet? Pollution in Alaska seafood? Horrors. Interesting research you are doing. Keep us informed, please.

Mitch,
See you then.

------------------
Good huntin' and shootin',
RAB

If you want to buy the brass Quality Cartridge will form it for you. You can find them at:
http://www.owlnet.com/quality/

Chris

Ron,
That is a good question. A grad student doing research into this took approximately 400 salmon flesh samples from the high seas. They had next to no merc in them. Once in the river things change.
Pike have high levels of merc in the flesh, they are bottom feeders and long-lived. Black fish are at the bottom of te food chain and they too, are scavengers. This is what I am looking at this summer. Part of my Honers Thesis research paper due before graduation. Once I have the nutritional surverys and food samples from this summer, I have to somehow meld them into a cohesive approx. 50 page paper. Lotsa fun that. I can give updates.

Roger,
Hey, you ought to get funding from the state of Alaska for something that important. Ought to do well as a thesis for sure. Does this suggest some natural environmental source like glacial run off adding mercury to the rivers? A glacier gouging through mercury ores?
I can picture you packing a .500 A-square or .375 Wby whilst sampling the local rivers.

------------------
Good huntin' and shootin',
RAB