The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Rifles Big Bores My almost .425 WRGo | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
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I found a wonderful barreled action in .425 WR and it fed like poop thru a goose..I had to have it and got all excited and ran to my catalogs to check on components..Jeeez Louise, I found bullets from Woodleigh at reasonalbe price, but dies and trim dies were out of sight on the financial charts, then the only brass I could find was Bertram and thats a no no for me. but Kynoch has loaded ammo and per round it was more costly than the barreled action... I passed it up for now...always liked the 425 WR and loved those Mauser with the side clips, and drop boxes..restored one last year and it was a beauty.. Looking at the .425 case tells me that I might be able to open up the bolt face of the barreled action to fit a 404 case, trim to .425 length, and resize the shortened case in a .425 die, and have brass inasmuch as I have bastante 404 brass..Might have to anneal and perhaps outside neck ream?? Any suggestions. Anybody had to deal with this..I may yet be the proud owner of a 425 WR.. Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | ||
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 Ray you're right on track with this.I seem to recollect reading about someone doing this a few years ago but don’t recollect what they called it – just that it was ‘425 Westley Richards (something)’. Jim  "Life's hard; it's harder if you're stupid" John Wayne | |||
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Others have used RUM brass. I have a 425 WR dummy made from Rum brass and quite like the cart but the lack of bullets make it an odd duck but some like odd ducks. Quack quack. 577 BME 3"500 KILL ALL 358 GREMLIN 404-375 *we band of 45-70ers* (Founder) Single Shot Shooters Society S.S.S.S. (Founder) | |||
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Ray the Woodleigh brass i have bought recently is very good. I believe he supplied to Kynamco. Even the latest 500/450 31/4" Nitro brass i bought has a thinner neck than earlier brass to suit some of the old tight chambered rifles, like mine! I reckon it would be a great and fun project. Best wishes, Chris DRSS | |||
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Find another bolt to open up if you have to do that. You can also take the .404 brass and machine a few to the rebated rim style. | |||
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Did Savage try chamber one of their rifles in.425 caliber? And what happened to it. | |||
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savage chambered the .425 express, as I recall. http://www.thefreelibrary.com/...+joins...-a017000058 | |||
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Ray sent you a PM, think I have bullets also. | |||
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Really enjoyed my 425WR and used Hornerber brass but the Burtram was not bad also.   | |||
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Rockdoc, I am thinking you mean Bertram, Woodleigh makes bullets not brass? Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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Ray, I have a 1930 vintage 425 WR, drop box mag, side clips and 27 inch barrel. It didn't like feeding some old BELL brass I had but handles factory ammo perfectly. I ended up getting another bolt and having the face opened up to handle RUM brass as has been suggested. Brass is resized 375 RUM which it feeds perfectly. I've kept the original bolt so I can switch back to the original configuration anytime. This has worked well for me and I would recommend it to you. Best | |||
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Cool pictures as always Ozhunter . Like Em both, but that Big old Lion is great !! That second bolt idea is the way to go ! | |||
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Jack Lott used to have .425 WR with two bolts; one for original ammo with rebated rim and other for those ammo with bigger case head whose he made from .404 Jeffery cases. | |||
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I second (or third) the second bolt solution. Be careful with turning 404 brass to the rebated 425 rim unless you cross section one first and know how much meat you have to work with. I have a bunch of HDS brass which is all cracked around the web just waiting to separate! | |||
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Yes Ray, i meant Bertram... Brain fart! I have recently bought it in 375 Mag Flanged, 500/450 3 1/4" Mag Nitro and 500-3 1/4" Nitro and no problems at all. Cheers, Chris DRSS | |||
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I believe the .425 Express used the .423 bullets of the .404 Jeffery. | |||
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African hunter you have a PM.. When I was much younger, I would have jumped all over such a project, but my African hunting has dwindled to say the least, the flight is a real b--ch! on this old body...so I have been staying home and team roping, building a few nice rifles, selling a few hunts, and smelling the manure,er roses! I think I'll just keep my 404 Jefferys. just in case, besides I'm not sure about the feeding of a rebated case in a Mauser without side clips, WR knew from whence they came on that one I'm thinking. Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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My son has a WR 425 Check out his two posts on loading and forming cases http://forums.accuratereloadin...=260100705#260100705 http://forums.accuratereloadin...=732105015#732105015 These cases are great and the gun shoots like a dream | |||
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I have an original Wesley Richards 425 rifle that was made in 1924. It has the magazine clips and the drop box hinged bottom metal with a 28 inch barrel .My rifle shoots very well with the Woodleigh 400 grain projectiles and Bertram brass.It will feed empty cases straight in like butter . You cannot even feel them being picked up . By the way the 425 should shoot 435 dia. bullets not .423 . Bison-j | |||
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Anybody played with 44mag bullets in the 425WR? Just a thought | |||
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boet, Bison J is correct, the 425 WR needs .435 bullets, the 44s would be 5 thou undersized unless you could find some oversize. Ray, the beauty of using the second bolt and RUM cases to form the 425 Improved is you eliminate the rebated rim problem. In fact the cartridges sit a bit proud in the magazine and feed very reliably just as any rimless cartridge would. I visited the WR factory in Birmingham five years ago and discussed this with them, they referred to this conversion as the 425 Improved. I also shoot a GC cast bullet in mine from a 43 Remington mould and get 2100 FPS out of it. Makes a great practice load about equal to the 450-400 nitro. Best | |||
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As an aside, wouldn't it be great to have someone put those deep magazines for a 98 back into production? The WR rifles I have seen with this feature are marvelous... Rich | |||
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Ray you know better than that! The 404 is the real ticket on bolt guns. The 10.75-68 mm is the only other to consider unless you don't have a fine 375H&H. square shooter | |||
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Yoru right LB and I'm building a 404 Jefferys on a 1917 Enfield as we speak, hoping my hand will be healed by the time I get'er done. The recoil on my middle finger, the one I point at folks that tick me off, takes a lick on the trigger guard and I go to my knees and all my friends roll in laughter..I guess its entertaining! At any rate right now, I seem to get by with a 338 Win and a 9.3x62, and I have been loading my .375 down to 2200 FPS with a 300 gr. Ordered some rubber bumpers from Conn. shotgun, maybe that will help, otherwise I'm going back to my beginning and stay with the 25-35!  Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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Good luck with that. My arthritis ha s all but done in my career. H ave had 4 of 6 major joints replaced. 2 more slated for chopping soon. Hand pain bad enough that holding onto an anesthesia mask and bagging a patient really hurts. Can do it but it is awful. square shooter | |||
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I have wished for a FN / Interarms / Zastava coffin plate for a while. | |||
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I have a 425WR with the extended magazine too. I had another WR magazine which was made using the original military floorplate soldered to the magazine walls rather than a purpose built magazine like my rifle has. It would be pretty easy to replicate and I assume it was the earliest version of the extended WR magazine. | |||
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Yes the .425 Express used the same .423" bullets as the 404 Jeffery cartridge and is a 300 Win Mag case necked up to .423". Why it wasn't just called a .423 Express who would know! It is a completely different cartridge to the rebated rim, long neck .425 Westley Richards that used .435" bullets. A .404 with .423" bullets, a .425 with .423" bullets, and a .425 with .435" bullets all ably demonstrating the idiosyncrasy of cartridge nomenclature. | |||
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