I have an old heavy barreled version of the Ruger RSM in 416 Rigby. I am thinking about converting it to a 450 Rigby or a 450 Dakota. I wondered about having it rebored but know very little about the process. Does anyone have any ideas about this and where can I have it done if possible?

sure can.. 450 rigby, dakota, 460 weathery, or any of the more or less rigby based rounds .. even 470mbogo

Bowman Arms used to convert those to .505 Gibbs.
That turns a muzzle-heavy 10.75-pound .416 into a well balanced .505 Gibbs 10-pounder, dry weight rifle.
That was back when Labounty was doing the reboring.

Who is doing reboring now, is the question, eh?

A 470 Mbogo or 500 Mbogo with integral quarter rib is appealing ...

Those first and second generation RSM .416 Rigbys had a muzzle diameter of .810", 10.75 pounds.

The third generation RSM .416 Rigby has a muzzle diameter of .750", a 1 inch shorter (23") barrel, and weighs a nicely balanced 9.5 pounds.

.810" muzzle diameter at 24" is plenty to rebore, even up to .550" grooves.
That would make a sub-10-pound 550 Magnum

Lou,

You may want to check with Dan Pederson. Hopefully the link below works. He lists reboring under services. I have never had any work done by Dan but heard he does very good work.

http://www.cutrifle.com/

jjs,
Thanks for that. The link works.
He has a satisfied customer letter excerpted, and a target pic posted, and it was a Ruger Number one rebored to .510" grooves ... despite the bore-holes for the take-off quarter rib.
A solid integral RSM barrel should be no problem up to .510 caliber.
Probably the same fat barrel profile of the old RSM, less the quarter rib, for that 50 Alaskan No.1.
Dan is the man from all I have gleaned here at ardotcom.
I might get him to do one for me.

quote:

Originally posted by jjs:
Lou,

You may want to check with Dan Pederson.

http://www.cutrifle.com/

I have had work done by Jum Dubell of Delta Gun Shop and was amazed at the job he did. Part of his company is also Clearwater Reboring: link


What about the 465 H&H Magnum:

quote:

Recognizing that most hunters today prefer a bolt action dangerous game rifle and not all are satisfied with the performance of the industry leading .458 Winchester Magnum big bore cartridge, Holland & Holland have introduced a new .465 belted magnum cartridge. The new .465 H&H Magnum is a cartridge with performance on the order of the .450 Watts Magnum or .458 Lott, but which operates at lower pressure and is designed specifically for the extreme heat of the sub-Saharan African hunting environment.

Thanks for the help guys. It's that time of winter when I get bored and projects hatch.

quote:

Bowman Arms used to convert those to .505 Gibbs. That turns a muzzle-heavy 10.75-pound .416 into a well balanced .505 Gibbs 10-pounder, dry weight rifle.

Interesting.

Does this mean that if Ruger wanted to bother they could chamber the 505 Gibbs in the RSM? Or was there major metal removal for the length. And that might be objectionable to a very safety conservative Ruger? The 505 is longer than the 416Rigby. Obviously much fatter from head to shoulder too.

Just curious.

A 450 Rigby would be nice too, obvious that could be offered if they turn a profit on it.

Oops, that was Bowen, not Bowman, Bowen the famous revolver smith that the likes of Ross Seyfried used to keep busy.
I doubt Ruger would mass produce the RSM in .505 Gibbs, because of the skeletonization of the action it requires.
Bowen quit doing it too, for whatever reason.

Why not go for a 500 Jeffery I did. Jim Dubell did a wonderful Job.

I'll post some photo's

Brad