First post cool sight. I have decided to have a 500 jeffery built and am wondering if any of you guys have an opinion on or experience with the two companies I am looking at or other smiths to recommend. The first is American hunting rifles who use a worked over cz mag action and single stack center feed. The secound is wff hein who are said to use a cartridge specific in house Mauser action with single stack center feed. I thought about the 500 AHR but have been burned by Imperial magnum and Lazzeroni in the past with poor brass quality and ended up forming my own brass. That is not an option with this rifle as it must shoot properly head stamped brass. Thanks Jason

The 500 jeff is hard to get to feed, and of the two options you posted, I would be inclined to go with Hein for that caliber.

Also, the Hein action is a good step up in design and quality compared to the CZ used by AHR.

Personally I would prefer a 505 Gibbs over the 500 Jeffery to avoid the rebated rim. Better yet is the 500 A-Square which is a very and economical conversion for a CZ550.

Do you have a budget? If so, how much $$$ do you want to tie up? How much involvement do you want? Strictly build from scratch, or what...? Walnut or plastic?

The reason I ask all these questions is that you have a broad spread here.

Waffenfabrik Hein builds a Palouse Rifle for under $3K, synthetic stock...basically a PH model. Resale will be high and the sale quick if you decide it is not what you want.
CZ builds 550 Safari Magnums in 505 Gibbs, for about $400 less than the Hein. Resale value is unknown, but it would also sell rather quickly. AS 500 grains sort-of suggests, you could buy a CZ in 416 Rigby and be just a barrel and fit away from a 500 A-square.
AHR builds nice rifles, and the 500J gets necked down to 375 to make the Remington 375 RUM. Bulk brass makes cheap practice stuff, and one box of 20 properly headstamped brass is plenty to take to Africa if that is a goal.

The 505 Gibbs is really a much better choice, unless you have your heart set on a jefferys. Jamison is making Gibbs brass, and it is very high quality stuff. I have some and fired one case in a 505 Gibbs twenty times using a 650gr bullet at 2200fps. Sectioned it and compared the web thickness to an unfired one. No thinning apparent.

Lots to think about. I am sure the AR group will have plenty of options for you to consider.

regards,


Rich
DRSS

Thanks for the replies. Idaho unless I am reading your comments wrong your info on the RUM's is incorrect the rum's are a copy of the original Imperial mag which is the 404j blown out and necked to 7mm-416 with 28 degree shoulder. The rums simply rebated the rim and changed the shoulder slightly. The 404j is a far cry from the 500j case and I see no possible way to form 500j from 404j or rum brass. No disrespect and sorry if I mis read your info. I am leaning towards the hein.

I would encourage you to consider Tip Burns (Canyon Lake, Texas) for the project. Tip built the Houston Safari Club President's Rifle last year in .500 Jeffery. Very nice rifle. He builds them to feed single stack.

Mike

J:

With all due respect to 500 grains, I think that the feeding problems with the .500 Jeffery are greatly over exaggerated! The Jeffery cartridge is much easier to load than the Gibbs. It is shorter, you don't have to mess around with fillers and it will work through a standard magnum action. That's the cartridge I'd go with.

Dave

Sterling Davenport had a .500 Jeff for sale at the Dallas Safari Club show last weekend. You could do MUCH worse . It's on a M70 action with drop box and all the goodies. Well worth his asking price as well, $4,800.

Having recently fondled a Waffenfabrik Hein action (American, despite the German name), I would totally agree as to the action, with 500 grains. That action was buttery smooth and, I believe that he makes each magazine box and follower cartridge specific. Not bad at all for $2K. He does have other options that can raise the price to about $2700. Check his website out.

http://www.rifleactions.com/Actions.htm

Choosing between AHR and WFF Hein is an easy choice as previously stated - the Hein will be much better quality, smoother, etc.

Depending on your specific needs / wants, either may work for you.

quote:

Originally posted by 700 nitro:
www.rbbigbores.com

Nice site! You're 505, how's it shaping up? From the looks of the others it'll be a beaut!!

i cant wait it will be finished by june.

and hopefully soon after i will be back hunting elephant.

Check with TIP BURNS of Canyon Lake Texas. He made the HSC President's rifle last year, for auction. A 500 Jeffery.

If you are in the California area (God forbid)
you could check with Lon Paul. He makes some mighty fine rifles.

I think for a 500 jeff I'd wait a bit for the WFF Hein mauser. I't would niggle at me a bit to have a classic English/German round in a model 70 style rifle. Although I bought a m70 style Hein in 505 Gibbs so I guess I'm a bit of a hypocrite

For a 500 Jeffery it starts and stops with Duane Wiebe. He builds 500s and used one in Africa. When he is finished with the rifle it will feed flawlessly. He is a complete 500 nut, including lots of info on the difference between the Jeffery and the Schuler. Get one built on one of the better mauser clones, and he'll tell you which one. MUFASA

I went with a hein action. I put my hands on one in Dallas. Nice action and built for the Jeffery talk with Greg or Karl. I going to use Tip Burns to finish her out. Lon Paul does a fine job and Sterling Davinport rifles looked very nice at DSC.

Who ever you chose have fun with it!

505ED