http://www.montanarifleman.com/actions.htm
http://www.accurateinnovations.com/golden_sporter.html

The above are the links to the places I'm looking to get the action and possibley the stock built. They manufacture left handed actions in a "professional Hunter" model that will handle the large case head cartridges. They are in the prototype stage, but I've heard good things about their standard long actions. I originally was going to go with Selous in Africa, but quite honestly could not justify $6,700 plus to build a bolt gun. I'd have bought a Merkel 470 and called it good. If all works out well I thought this method of gradually building up a rifle might work for me. I'm looking at Krieger for the barrel work and chambering. The stock material I am looking at wood be English Walnut. If you do go to the stock website, what do you think of the aluminum system these guys have? I'm sure there will be some extra strengthening required in some areas, but thought this was an interesting design.

I am not really intested in testing the limits of the rifle. I would like a rifle I can depend on for hunting with standard pressures and velocities. I'm 5'9" and weigh in at 240 lbs, so I don't think I want to try pushing things into another level with higher velocities and pressures. I will end up using it for Africa and as crazy as it sounds, for whitetails and maybe bears in Michigan. I don't want a wall hanger in this case, I would like to use the rifle. With reduced loads, I would imagine this would be quite effective on whitetail.

Thanks for the sight information. I'll do some more checking on that.

Kurick1,

Robgunbuilder has given you some excellent advise. Personally, I like my hunting rifles to weigh less than he seems to, but that is all a matter of personal choice. My 505 Gibbs weighed around 10.5 pounds as I recall (been a long time though and the memory does get foggy), and my 500 AHR with scope weighs just over 11 pounds. A muzzle brake isn't a bad thing, I use one on my 500 AHR, but did not have one on the 505, they do work but not as much as they do on the higher pressure "overbore capacity" cartridges (378 WM, 338 RUM, 50 BMG, etc).

I like a barrel contour that starts out at 1.25" for the first 3" to 4" and and then tapers down to ~ .78" to 0.8" at the muzzle with a finish length ~ 26". The long barrel reduces the "recoil torque" (read muzzle flip I suppose) similar to the difference between a 4" barrel and a 10" barrel 44 Magnum revolver.

With your stock I can only add a few minor things to what Rob said, first being minimize your drop at comb. I would also recommend staying away from "fancy" figured wood and use a blank of straight grained, properly laid out, 1/4 sawn turkish walnut(english would be second) with 4 to 7 growth rings per inch. Ideally, you will have your stock fitted to you by a competent stockmaker, I know of one who is quite good, but I don't know if he is stocking anymore (the other guy I have used I know ain't because he passed on about 7 years ago). A properly fitted stock dramatically helps reduce felt recoil, and in my opinion is money well spent! Bedding, as Rob indicated, must be near to perfect as possible and done with a tough epoxy. Double cross bolting with a second barrel recoil lug are all mandatory.

Once you get the rifle running, make it a habit to check your action screws before each shooting session. If they start getting loose, you know your bedding is beginning to fail. Fix it right then and there, or you will be making a new stock.

I am also a bit strange I guess (there isn't actually any guessing about it just look at my handle ), in that I personally prefer my stopping/DG rifles to be slightly butt heavy. Hence my desire for a "lighter" barrel contour. It should be mentioned though, that ~ a pound of lead is still needed to get the desired balance (which is at the front of the trigger guard bow in my case) even with that "light" barrel contour. By the way, I don't remember ever feeling the kick from a 50 caliber during a hunt. Actually, I don't recall ever being bruised or hurt by either the 505 or the 500, with the exception of my right elbow which looses all it's skin after a few shots from the bench (now that does sting a bit). Occasionally, I do get a headache after 10 shots or so, something to keep in mind. I try to make it a habit to stop shooting once the old noodle starts hurting. I figure it is trying to tell me something that may be important.

Good luck,

ASS_CLOWN

Are you looking primarily for a hunting gun, or one you will be using alot (relativley speaking) at the range? Are you going to load to original balistics, or take advantage of the case capacity and load to high pressure? Those are huge questions to answer before deciding on how heavy to build the gun.

Loaded to original balistics, and building the gun specifically for hunting, I could see a 10# finished weight. If you want to use it alot at the range, and experiment with max level loads, it can't be built too heavy.

My 500 Jeffrey is ~11#'s with a 25" barrel that is as I recall .850" or .875" at the muzzle, need to check, and has is paralell and 1.2" in dia for the first 4-5". 535 and 600 gr bullets at 2200 fps really aren't that bad in the recoil department. I haven't had a chance to build a decent stock to venture further into the guns potential. I have a feeling that at 2400 fps, it'll be a whole nother ball game!

Hamilton Bowen did some conversions of Ruger M77 magnums that started as 416 Rigbys, and had the barrels re-bored. If you can find a used one for a reasonable price, it wouldn't be a bad way to go. I wholeheartedly agree with Rob that a big gun deserves a proper action and competent smith to assemble. Otherwise it is a waste of money that could be put towards one of the good factory big bores on the market.

SCott,
I hate to bring this up, but I thought you never got to handle that 500 ahr?
jeffe

We all have been awaiting the fabled Montana PH action and I would not hold my breath. I have two "on Order" and maybe I'll live long enough to see one. As for the stock with an aluminum bedding block in it, I'd pass. That concept works well for Rem 700's in 22-250, not on hard kicking big bores. I've tried it and it failed! They are not trying to reinforce the wrist for nothing. Most folks, like you don't want to shell out the big bucks for a bolt gun, but it's false economy. By the time you get through fixing all the problems your going to run into you'll think $6500 for a stone stock reliable gun was a steal. Talk to Ed at AHR about a GMA actioned 505 Gibbs. He's built about a dozen I know of. AHR can and does build relatively low cost real African hunting rifles and you won't wind up with the big bore equivalent of a "parts Gun". -Rob