Ray,

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Parkerizeing is very classy indeed if you do it on polished metal, reminesent of rust blue..and its very durable and rust resistant

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I don't know if I would go quite that far, but a it (parkerizing) provides an excellent base for black T or GunKote!

ASS_CLOWN

LAWCOP,



Do you actually hunt with the Bruce MacArthur brake? I KNOW that they work better than practically any other brake, very efficient design, but with that additional efficiency comes a SIGNIFICANT increase is NOISE!



I would think that you would be able to get to MOA accuracy without the need for a brake on an 8 pound 375.



ASS_CLOWN

Ray,

Thanks for your comments, I am following this thread just keeping my mouth shut, and hopefully listening and learning. I would like you to clarify a couple of your comments if you would.

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Short cuts that can save you production costs are a sweated on front sight and island rear sight like the Holland and Holland (LW makes that barrel the works with that sight), Timney triggers, left side flag safty, no fE tip, round bull sack grip as opposed to a steel grip cap...

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no fE tip, is this a typo or are you refering to the forearm tip?

Island rear sight? I assume this is similiar to the old folding express sight? Please elaborate. While we are on the sight subject is there something wrong with a quality durable peep sight with the target relical tossed?

And finally stock, this is the biggest cost overun and what I see as the biggest hurdle. Yeah there are a lot of guys that can whittle up a gunstock. Most I would trust are expensive and slow. Stock on this is important in my mind, it needs to both fit well and be fitted correctly so it won't split. My question is would the McMillian CZ Express, done correctly be a good choice? I am not a big plastic stock fan but they are durable and quality, and in the target price range. I would prefer using a good cross grained laminate but I haven't found a good choice to date ( I am still looking ) boy do I regret the rape and plunder that happened to Fajen, I guess those were the good old days. Stock is my biggest concern on this right now, I have access to several very good stockmakers, but the issue of slow and expensive pops up. I have done a couple of my own, and am capable of this with properly turned blanks, but I am slower than the custom stockmakers, and my meticulous attention to detail is only going to going to make this worse.

Comments about overhead and consumables: All of our shops are already set up, paid for and really make no impact on whether this gets started or not, we will simply be using resources and capability we already have. It doesn't mean we won't have to buy a chamber reamer, or materials but our out of pocket setup is minimal. My guess is it would take around $250,000 to purchase and start from scratch where we are ATT. No if I had to start from scratch this wouldn't even be under consideration, I have a lot better avenue of returns for that kind of investment. This will be because all of us like and understand what we are getting into and it really is a labor of love more than a good business plan. I am working on spreadsheets and cost analysis as we speak, and real decision will be determined after the first rifle is built, and I evaluate lessons learned. And none of us are planning on leaving our day time jobs so to speak for this ( why our shops cost us nothing but depreciation right now ).



I have been talking with my smiths and I am going to fund at least one of these, my choice of actions has been weeded down, I am not going to play with any old actions, not because of techincal issues but cost and future availability. Simply it takes a lot of machine time to clean these up, and not that that scares me, the fact that once I have this all set up on tooling and supply of older actions will dry up. I think the first will be built on a BBK-01 action. I haven't decided exactly which caliber at the moment.

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Is this possible, maybe....calibers you need to make...505 Gibbs, 500 J, 404 J, a big 450 of some kind, and a 416 Rigby...

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The 404 Jeffrey was already under consideration, as is the 416 Rigby as we already have that chamber reamer. What do think of the 470 Capstick? It was a considered cartridge also. And a 458 Lott can't be discounted but CZ is already doing these.

AC,
I have a custom rifle by Bill Dowtin, and the parkerizing on that well polished rifle is one of the prettiest finishes I have ever seen...prior to this one I also would not have believed parkerizing could be pretty...