Shit! Rich looks like my father! Rich you gotta cut that mess of your face boss! You'd look a hundred years younger with a clean face! Hell! You look almost as old as RIP!

Nah...wear them whiskers with pride

Red shirt and long, snowy beard, I thought he looked like Santa. Better not shave nor use any "Just For Men" until after X-mas. The Oak Ridge Boys or ZZ Top may be needing a stand-in for their road shows too.

The wife loves my whiskers...

Mine does not compare to Rich's though.

I just look like an unshaven bum

thanks, and I just had a barber (hedge trimmer) cut six inches off of it!

You guys are okay, I don't care what the rest of the AR members say!!

Rich
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Mine is like Riches, filters out the
powder if you blow a case. Ed

LOL..
Rich,
in the express, i can get 2180 with the 715gr casts... you should be able to get 550 mag with low pressure, or, well, just lets say "cortizone" shots as a warm up!!

Jeffe,

The beauty of the big(ger) case is any given MV/ME numbers are at much lower pressures. But, the 550 Gibbs can run right up on a 585T-rex's numbers, same with the .577BME. From classic 577NE 3: numbers, to the Nyati or T-Rex. Recoil is THE ONLY limiting factor. I like yours for the standard action viability.

Rich
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Rich,
yep.. while the finite measuremetns aren't "the same" my 550 flanged is very close to a flanged gibbs case.. which deilvered 700gr at 2050 at reasonable pressures..

i might need to redo that one!
j

I gotcha Jeffe. Somewhere, I have an offer from Jamison, when he starts up the presses again for us, to make me 100 cylindrical flanged cases with the 550 Magnum bunter, basically a .577/550 NE 3.13". I AM going to get a double someday, and that will be my choice for chambering...a rimmed 550 Gibbs Magnum.

Rich
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Do you guys know whether Jamison ever added the bigger presses he was talking about? Surplus medium bore gear - I believe they were Bliss if memory serves.

things not considered...

Loading these big fifty-plus diameter cartridges makes you rethink everything. Simple things like powder funnels aren't big enough to use. I had to sneak into the kitchen and get a funnel Mamma had in the cabinet. I'm loading with an electronic scale, so powder charges starting at 125 grains and topping out at perhaps 150 grains will present a problem when I set up the measure. Double charges of 60-75 grain settings. But WOW!! is this thing fun to trip the trigger on!

I got a picture on my nephew's cellphone this morning about ten, but he took it in hi-res, and it wouldn't send it to Boomie. We'll try again tomorrow.

Up the ante to 130 grains of N170, N165, and N160 and see what the chrono tells us.

Rich
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Absolutely impressive!! making a 475 diameter bullet look like a .22 is BIG!


nice rifles Rich! Which ones get the nod for Africa.



Considering the firepower involved wouldn't it have been better to take the pic in front of the diesel?



You claimed to have a gut! Your gonna have to hit the beer a lot harder.
Come up for a fishing trip and/or bear hunt, we'll help you out and put you on a Canadian "Vitamin B" diet. Then you'll have a gut.

Are you sure you don't have some sort of Diesel fetish going on here? Should I be an enabler?
Okay, action video will include the diesel...two Silver Bullets in action. Today we get some 550 in action footage for Boomie to post. Like, two and a half hours.

You tie a bear up to a tree for me, and I can make that trip up Canada for a field test. You provide the Screech though...


Rich
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Weird...

Just got back from chronographing the 130gr loads of N160, 165, & 170. The chrono said they were
(the N160 & N165) about 125 to nearly 200fps slower than Friday. It was raining then, could that have been a factor? The Chrony has these cute little grayish dot pattern "splashes" on the top and sides, could that have been the burning/burnt powder granules mixing with the water? Could those "splashes" have been affecting the velocity readings? I was pleased with the initial numbers, these are a bit discouraging.

My nephew took some video footage with the digital camera, I'll send it to Boomie so you can see "Santa" in action.

Phase II, as soon as I get a sizing die made will involve the 881gr bullets and a small supply of 600gr jacketed SP's.

regards,

Rich
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You said it was raining on the first test?
Maybe moisture has a lube effect on soft
lead. These are not heat treated, right.Ed

Rich looks like he had fun...

50 yards, the "little holes" are from my 505 Gibbs and a couple from the 416 Rigby. I'm working the nephew into the 550. A couple 416's, a couple 505's and then two rounds with the hammer.
He ain't flinching, and that is the deal.

Rich
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Good Stuff!! How's your Kopf feeling after all that heavy metal?

macifej,

no soreness, no redness, no swelling, ten rounds in about seven or eight minutes, after a five minute warm up with the 416 Rigby and 505 Gibbs CZ's, four rounds apiece of full house loads.
I am using two recoil reduction pad systems from www.superiorshooting.com One is a strap on chest unit, and the other (brand new) is an elastic loop that slips over the butt stock and has a velcro patch that you attach the recoil pad to. All I can say, is it really does the job.

Don't bail out on us, take your issue straight to Saeed.

Rich
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Rich you make shooting that 550 look downright pleasant! Your videographer might need a little basic training though. Looks like he or she was more excited that you. That's an awfully fat barrel - what size is it?

Did yo have another you wanted posed??? I only got 1 Rich.

THE nephew was 21 in May, just finally getting him into big guns. He has a Remington Custom Shop (circa 1978) 375 H&H. He shot his first 416 Rigby and 505 Gibbs a couple weeks ago. Earlier he shot the 550 for the first time.He used my Nikon CoolPix 5400 to take the video. Next trip out we will have it on a tripod, and the footage will look decent. First attempt. The recoil was nothing!

Rich
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Rich...you can update the title to 550 Gibbs Pics and video

Goodonya for training him up in he ways of big bore

Need some/ help advice here, I'm in need of a .550 barrel and was interested in what is available. Manufacturers, twists etc. Will be rebarreling either a ZKK 602 or a CZ 550 for the .550 Gibbs. Rodney.

Pac-Nor is the show for now, although I am talking to Krieger about it.

Rich
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Guess pacnor is the go to go for both the .550Gibbs and the .577BME. Trying to put together the pieces for these projects now, especially for the .550Gibbs of which I'm about ready to start. These will both be a big hit. R.

thanks

Send the action to Pacnor -
they have the 550 magnum reamer, and can have the 550 express reamer in a matter of days, based of shipping..

I don't know, but I would expect Rich owuld allow the reamer to go to Pacnor, for the 550 gibbs

www.custombrassandbullets.com is the source for all your 550 related stuff

jeffe

I'm really liking this .550 Gibbs. Can't get much if any bigger in a non-rebateded/ belted cartridge! Unable to do this without the right support, will be calling on some of the posters here very soon. Thanks in advance. R.

Jeffeosso is correct, the reamer can go to Pac-Nor for AR members, and as a thank you to Chris Dictor (sp?) for making these barrels.

Rodney, PM me when you get ready and I'll give you my home phone number so you can chat about it.
NOTE: 600gr JSP went 2400fps average for 3 shots in front of 130gr of H335.

Rich
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GOOD NEWS JUST TRAVELED FASTER!!!

The 550 Gibbs broke 2400fps with a 600 grain JSP about an hour ago. 130gr of H335. Woo-Hah!! I think that load will work next month on a Bison.

Tomorrow we go for 2500 to 2600!

Rich
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Rich,
Buddy... and you are doing this at VERY low pressure
The 550 express can do 2300 with a 665 ... neal can do nearly 2500 ...

We didn't try the 600grainers...

jeffe

I am making 750gr bullets out of the cast 881 grainers from the NEI mould on the lathe one at a time. Had to make a kake-kutter out of some 1/2" ID seamless tubing yesterday. Pan lubing and cutting them out, wipe the extra lube off and start at 2100fps data from Ed. The nice/spooky part about the 2400fps loads, they did not seal, and left a smudge on the outside of the case mouths.
The computer says 119 ft/lbs of recoil at 27fps.
I can live with that.

God Bless Ed Hubel and the load work he has done. I know where to start, and what powders work.

Rich
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Rich, I love my long barrels, that extra
7-8 inches on the smaller case 550 Mag,
got me to the magic 2600. You should get
that easy even with shorter barrel. Now
the same barrel gun took 3 years to get barrel,
get gun ready, and I did the testing in
less than two days!!I only step out back door
to chrono, go in reload, back out in few minutes, shoot a few again.Ed

I thought about that(stepping out the back door and stapling a target to the back fence; but the neighbors are pretty chickenshirt about that here. It's what I get for building a house in a yuppie subdivision!

Fifteen minutes one-way to test, but ten to twelve rounds of full house stuff is enough for a day for me.
I have been doing about four four-shot groups with the Rigby, and about that many with the 505, then setting up the big boy. I figure between noon and two pm today I sent about four pounds of lead and jacketed bullets and about 250,000ft/lbs of ME downrange.

That LongTom of yours is great for velocities, but it might be a bit too much of a good thing hunting buffalo next year.

I very much appreciate your' blazing the trail, it saves me about 75% of the work.

Rich
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That is one asome rifle the recoil for just one shot would probably black and blue my shoulder if it was still there at all.

I own and shoot the CZ 550 458 American Safari
Lott with a Laminated stock. It goes fast enought for me.

jro45,

look at the video of me shooting the 550 Gibbs that Boomstick posted. That was a 715gr bullet at nearly 2300fps, and the recoil is very manageable...that in a ten and one-half pound rifle, and no brake. I'm five foot-fourteen inches tall, and about two-forty. The gun just does not kick that much with Tom McCoys recoil pad system.
If your rifle kicks, call Tom at 509-769-3073 and talk to him, or see the video of a guy shooting a 458 from the prone position with it.
www.SuperiorShooting.com

Rich
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Knowledge not shared is knowledge lost...

Rich,

That SuperiorShooting link is dead. Bad link?