My almost .425 WR

23 April 2014, 03:32

Atkinson

My almost .425 WR

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..

23 April 2014, 05:57

capoward

quote:
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??

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)’.

23 April 2014, 06:36

boom stick

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.

23 April 2014, 07:12

Rockdoc

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

23 April 2014, 07:44

SR4759

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.

23 April 2014, 08:13

big will

Did Savage try chamber one of their rifles in.425 caliber?
And what happened to it.

23 April 2014, 08:42

delloro

savage chambered the .425 express, as I recall.

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/...+joins...-a017000058

23 April 2014, 08:50

AfricanHunter

quote:
Originally posted by Atkinson:
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 sent you a PM, think I have bullets also.

23 April 2014, 13:03

ozhunter

Really enjoyed my 425WR and used Hornerber brass but the Burtram was not bad also.

23 April 2014, 19:59

Atkinson

Rockdoc,
I am thinking you mean Bertram, Woodleigh makes bullets not brass?

24 April 2014, 00:04

50 Calshtr

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

24 April 2014, 01:31

Sarg

quote:
Originally posted by ozhunter:
Really enjoyed my 425WR and used Hornerber brass but the Burtram was not bad also.

Cool pictures as always Ozhunter .

Like Em both, but that Big old Lion is great !!

That second bolt idea is the way to go !

24 April 2014, 01:42

igorrock

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.

24 April 2014, 02:35

Huvius

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!

24 April 2014, 03:26

Rockdoc

quote:
Originally posted by Atkinson:
Rockdoc,
I am thinking you mean Bertram, Woodleigh makes bullets not brass?

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

24 April 2014, 06:15

viperidae

quote:
Originally posted by delloro:
savage chambered the .425 express, as I recall.

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/...+joins...-a017000058

I believe the .425 Express used the .423 bullets of the .404 Jeffery.

26 April 2014, 07:06

Atkinson

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.

26 April 2014, 21:01

Dr L. S. Wirthlin

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

27 April 2014, 14:05

bison-j

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

27 April 2014, 15:05

boet

Anybody played with 44mag bullets in the 425WR? Just a thought

27 April 2014, 23:24

50 Calshtr

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

29 April 2014, 13:40

Idaho Sharpshooter

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

06 May 2014, 06:11

lb404

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.

07 May 2014, 20:47

Atkinson

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!

07 May 2014, 21:20

lb404

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.

09 May 2014, 00:35

viperidae

quote:
Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
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

I have wished for a FN / Interarms / Zastava coffin plate for a while.

09 May 2014, 02:02

Huvius

quote:
Originally posted by viperidae:
quote:
Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
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

I have wished for a FN / Interarms / Zastava coffin plate for a while.

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.

09 May 2014, 10:58

eagle27

quote:
Originally posted by viperidae:
quote:
Originally posted by delloro:
savage chambered the .425 express, as I recall.

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/...+joins...-a017000058

I believe the .425 Express used the .423 bullets of the .404 Jeffery.

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.