Shipped 5-23-07, arrived 5-25-07.

Max: Have you got yours yet?

Gerard: Let me know.

Rest of the world: Please don't swamp McGowen Rifle Barrels with too many orders for .395 barrels until after the Memorial Day holiday Monday.

I'm calling first thing Tuesday morning and ordering a couple of dozen of them!

Ron,
I'm west of the Mississippi River, so will give it a day or two. Glad to hear you received yours.
A friend is visiting over the holiday weekend and I've interested him in the .395. Come Tuesday, he's supposed to order his barrel. I have a concern with him, though. He's thinking of building his up on a .325 WSM case! I'm working hard on talking him into the Ruger case. Oh, and on a push-feed, no less.

quote:

Rest of the world: Please don't swamp McGowen Rifle Barrels with too many orders for .395 barrels until after the Memorial Day holiday Monday.

Glad to hear that the project is proceeding apace!

Come on Ron, post some pictures of these.

Keith

Ah, yes, pictures:

Gerard's barrel, lying on my dining room table on an old US Army blanket, West Point 1972 issue. It is 26 inches long as is.

Here is the breech end of the same barrel, marked "SS" to denote stainless steel, "395" to denote caliber, and "28" must be the length of the blank before cutting to 26".

One can see the width of the lands in this shot, six grooves, and get an idea that it is a 12" twist. .395" groove diameter, .387" land diameter.

The muzzle at 26" is .710" diameter.

I suppose McGowen is so good that one could try just crowning this at 26", as it has already been cut down from 28" after the rifling and contouring, then cryo treated. Or, as usual, cut off an inch or more for 25", 24", 23".

There is a little dust from the paper packing material in the bore. I would not dare try to clean Gerard's barrel. It looks perfect to me.

quote:

Originally posted by Charles_Helm:



Glad to hear that the project is proceeding apace!

Thanks, Charles.
The pace has been set so far by an east coast carbide rifling button maker who took 3 or 4 months to make a button. That was not a New York minute.

We'll gitterdun.

And then The .395 will gitterdun, any thing, any where, any time.

A BTT before this thread disappears:

.395 Tatanka Dakota 76 African, by rebarreling the .423/.338 Lapua. A switch-barrel.

.395 GSC Pre-64 M70, by rebarreling the .375 H&H. Second switch-barrel.

.395 Ruger Max Ruger M77MkII, by rebarreling a 7mmRemMag, or 300WinMag. Third switch-barrel.

And someday, a fourth switch-barrel, the Satterlee Stainless Magnum Mauser (serial number SSMM00000000001) will be built from scratch for the 500 Mbogo and .395 Tatanka. Number one action of the billion likely to follow, when this thing catches on.

If the Satterlee action can feed a 500 Mbogo, it will feed a .395 Tatanka slicker than greased owl crap, and then we shall be crapping in high cotton for sure.

Surely enough wildcatting for me, for a while. What fun.

I still like the idea of the .395 RUMSVELD(T)...

Kind of hard to find a CRF RUM to build on, though, and if you do someone wants to make a 404J out of it.

Do you think the .395 on the RUM would be a decent Ele round like the .416 and .423 rounds, or better left to buff?

Still paying off taxidermy from the 2005 trip so I guess I sill have to continue to sit out.

quote:

Originally posted by Charles_Helm:
I still like the idea of the .395 RUMSVELD(T)...

If you insist on a (shudder) rebated rim, at least you will have cheap brass as a consolation.

Kind of hard to find a CRF RUM to build on, though, and if you do someone wants to make a 404J out of it.

Hey, the 3-round RUM box holds 3 down comfortably in .395 Ruger Max too.

Do you think the .395 on the RUM would be a decent Ele round like the .416 and .423 rounds, or better left to buff?

Charles,
What do I know about elephant killing other than what I have read, and having helped haul the meat of one Botswana bull back to camp for brownie points with a PH and his millionaire client? I can only say this: if a .375 H&H can do it, then a .395 Ruger Max, .395 GSC, .395 Tatanka, or a .395 RUMsveld (assuming the latter feeds well) ... any of these .395's can do it even better.

BTW spell it without the "t" and pronounce "d" like a "t" as the Afrikaaners do, right?

Thank you for playing along on this holiday.
You have goaded me into trying some .395 Ruger Max dummies in a variety of actions. All of these work great:

Ruger M77MkII stainless 7mmRemMag: holds 3 down and feeds well.

Winchester M70 Classic Stainless 300RUM: holds 3 down and feeds well.

Winchester M70 Pre-64 300H&H since rebarreled to .375 H&H: holds 3 down with room to spare and feeds well (holds 4 down in .375 H&H)

CZ 550 Magnum .375 H&H: holds 5 down in .395 Ruger and has 1.2" of bullet nose room in the 3.8" box. This will allow long seating of even the 1.9" long .395 GSC to work through the box for a "supersonic whisper" configuration.


O.K., while waiting for the Satterlee action, I should go ahead and build the .395 Ruger Max on a CZ 550 Magnum action and give it .3000" of parallel-sided freebore and fire the high BC SP bullets through it for 1000-yard work, right along with the .395 Tatanka and .395 GSC.

But once again the .395 Ruger Max shows why it is "The Max" besides being named for prof 242:

It can be chambered in 3 different actions: box lengths 3.4", 3.6", and 3.8".

A 1:10" twist barrel would probably be advisable for the lesser velocities of the .395 Ruger Max shooting 1.9" long .395/340-grain SP bullets.

Initial developments with 12" twist barrels now available:

.395 Ruger Max: 3.4" box
.395 GSC: 3.6" box
.395 Tatanka: 3.8" box

Gentleman of the .395 Family: CYA (Choose Your Actions)

The race is on to be the first kid on the block to own a .395.

Thank you sir! It is not so much about the rebated rim as the cool name...

You are definitely in the lead to finish the first .395 along with Prof242.

I ask about Ele because the .375 is considered a bit marginal and the .40+, especially the .45s and up, are thought to be better.

I have the Interarms fraternal twins in .375 H&H and .458WM, so not sure why I want to split the difference with a .395 but it sounds entertaining.

Now back to reality!

quote:

BTW spell it without the "t" and pronounce "d" like a "t" as the Afrikaaners do, right?

Missed this -- the "t" is a variant spelling and probably superfluous.

Charles,
We shall hold a council of The .395 Family. If there are no objections, we may accept a black sheep into the family and allow the .395 RUMsveld to be initiated.

You might become a Made Man in The .395 Family.

Every family has a black sheep. A rebated rim among the non-rebated. Live and let live.

quote:

Every family has a black sheep.

Being the black sheep of the family has always been one of my ambitions.

Charles,
Gotta admit, ".395 RUMsveld" does have cool factor, in a black sheep kind of way.
".395 RUM" brass is just "a scratch away."

This will have to be voted on, however, and it must be unanimous. There are only three voting members, and acceptance would not give you voting rights, until you ordered a barrel from McGowen, or got another barrel maker to make your barrel.

I am making up the rules as I go along.

quote:

I am making up the rules as I go along.

Take your time voting so I can sell some extra body parts to raise money.

Let's see - Parts List:

Reamer
Model 70 Classic RUM Action $???
McGowen .395 Barrel stainless or not to match action (do you really need the RUM action if you add a drop box? Can you get the RUM box in the drop config?)
McMillan Safari Stock (catchy camo swirl??? or not?) $450 or so?
Drop box for stock $400? $600?
sights
GS Custom Bullets
RUM brass

Then a gunsmith to put it all together and someone to load test and develop...

Hmmm....as the monkey said when he peed on the cash register, sooner or later this is going to run into some money!

I wonder what Charles Askins would have said , tha same guy tha twrote the ".30-06 is dead" and made his 29-06, i thin he would have bought an 39-06 and an .39-8mm Rem Mag

Charles,
I'm voting to let you in. However, as Ron said, no voting rights until you buy a barrel. Oh, one more thing...at the family picnic you will have to walk three paces behind us and only get leftovers.

quote:

Originally posted by prof242:
Charles,
I'm voting to let you in. However, as Ron said, no voting rights until you buy a barrel. Oh, one more thing...at the family picnic you will have to walk three paces behind us and only get leftovers.

Charles,
It was unanimouse. The black sheep will be accepted if you dare: .395 RUMsveld.

Better let the new owners of McGowen Rifle Barrels get the machinery and tools set up in Montana before you order a barrel.