Terry,

The Custom Shop manager was talking about this cartridge at SCI in Reno last January. At that time they didn 't have reamers or barrels, although they did have a barrel or 2 on order. Winchester has a proclivity of listing things for sale that are not quite there yet.

I took Dr. Don Heath of African Hunter over to discuss the cartridge with them hoping that would help them get started.

They are on my list to revisit in Jan '05, maybe they will have made progress and maybe not.

jim

That is a big dollar price for what appears to be a tweaked factory gun...I fear CZ will eat their lunch, and a bunch of good young gunsmiths can build a 404 for $3000 that will knock your eyes out....

If Winchester had a brain cell working they would simply sell it in factory persuasion like CZ is going to do and be competitive, but they seem to have strayed aways from the folks that made them....They have a habit of playing catchup, hireing the wrong bean counters methinks!

The CZ's will be out soon, so why bother with a Winchester that will be twice as expensive as the CZ's.

The ones I saw looked good. I might have killed something for the .450 Rigby I handled.

Bill,

Is CZ for sure going ahead with the 404, 450, and 505? I spoke with them back a couple of months ago and they would only confirmed that the 505 would be in production.

When do you think the new calibers (404's, 450, or 505) will be available? Will they be American stocked version? or is there anything different or new on these new calibers verses the 550 Safari (American)?

I hope they are cross bolted and come with a barrel band swivel...

And finally, what is a 450 Rigby ie similar case to? and performance?

Thanks,

JJS