Hard to believe no one has ever tried cutting the Rigby case back to 2.85" and chambering it in a standard amgnum-length action.
I'm sure you'd still get way more speed than necessary out of that sucker.
You wouldn't even have to set the shoulder back.
How long is that neck, .5" or so?
Think Winchester Safari Express, 458 WM rechambered, drop box, three rounds down....
(Or same deal from 416 Rem Mag, if you so prefer.)
If this has been done, I'd love to hear about it.

Actually, I think it has been done, but not sure what it's called.

On the other hand, there would have to be work done to the rails, bolt face, extractor and magazine, or won't feed, and that adds alot of cost to the project. With CZ-550's avaiable as 416 Rigbys there is no reason to persue the project, and even the Ruger would be the same cost as a garden variety magnum length action that had the magazene and rails properly worked to feed the round and the barrel job.

I agree with Paul.

In terms of the big bangers, I think the introduction of the CZ in 416 Rigby and also the low cost Weatherby Synthetic in 30/378 and 338/378 has changed the whole scene for big banger actions/rifles.

The Rem Ultra case also allows big power to be easily obtained on either the Model 70 or Rem 700 actions.

Mike

If you can think of it, someone has done it! There's NOTHING NEW in internal combustion firearms ideas!!

That so?
I'd love to hear someone's already made a 2.5" .475 on a Rigby case. Save me a lot of trouble figuring it out.
Fact is, just cause someone's done it, if it's sitting in their attic somewhere, doesn't do me a bit of good!
Sometime's you just gotta be the second.

Jack Belk has/had a 2.5" 416 Rigby reamer. I smith could use that to cut the body of the chamber, then go back with a necker/throater in .475". Getting the dies made could be a chicken/egg problem though. If you could fireform some brass, then they could be sent to a die maker to make the dies. Trouble is, you'd need a set of dies to set the shoulder back to fireform the brass. You could have the smith cut a bump die using the chamber reamer.

Designing a 2.5" .475" on the 416 case wouldn't be that hard, just set the shoulder back, keep the shoulder angle under 30 degs, a neck of .40" would be about right, and that's about it.

With the CZ 550 actions being cheap to buy you could stick with the full length 470 Mbogo. I`ve never really found any advantage in working an action that is for the 2.5 inch case over the longer bolt throw. It`s like having a Remington 700 in 338 while the bolt throw is still good for 375 length cartridge. You could load it down to your comfort zone and have mild working pressures to go with it. Brass is available through Quality Cartridge and dies from CH4D.
Take good care and the best of luck,
Dave

Dave,

My guess is that the bolt throw issue came about because of the Model 70 and probably the M98 and Magnum Mauser.

In Australia we shoot roos and pigs like you fellows shoots woodchucks. Pig shooting and roos in the spotlight will often involve a lot of repeater action. Three of the most common calibre/guns combinations I have used are 270, 300 Win and 375 in Model 70s. If you do a lot of firing then you do notice switching between the two actions.

I have often wondered if this is the reason Winchester chose the 458. Since the Model 70 was CRF they could not use the full length bolt stop and magazine for all calibres like Rem 700 could do since that would have canceled out to some extent the CRF guard against double feed. Although a longer ejector blade should solve that problem.

Mike

Mike 375, you're partly right on my count, at least.
This is about using a K98 action. It already is what it is.
CZ 550's are great for rebarreling, too, no doubt.
Not sure what you mean about Winchester choosing the 458 WM.
As opposed to what? They already chambered for the 375H&H, so I'm sure they could've done a Lott or some such, but the short mag was the rage. They put their name behind it, and got stuck, as I see it. Shame, too.
Not that I think it's an aweful cartridge, just that most folks would prefer the full-length case on that caliber.

Bwana-be,

Perhaps Winchester saw the 458 as partnering the 30/06 etc and I guess they would have known that they were going to bring out a 264, 338 and 300.

I am guessing that had they done the 458 Lott then they would have seen a problem in mismatched bolt travel since they would not have seen the 3785 H&H as the partner rifle but rather their 458.

By the way, I am only guessing

Mike

Yah, whonth'hell knows what marketers are thinking?
For whatever reason, they thought the short mag would sell more rifles, and maybe it did, which is what they were after.
"Performance" to a rifle company means how fast the rifle goes off the shelf, NOT how fast the animal goes down!

I think you will find that Gil Van Horn developed a 2.5 inch 475 based on the Rigby case. I'm not 100% sure but when talking with Ryan Breeding I think he mentioned it. You could contact him at www.rbbigbores.com and ask him. If you want to go ahead with the project make up drawings with a reamer company and start with the Mast Technologies 416 Rigby cylindrical brass without the headstamp. You could size the brass down with a single pass through the full length sizer die. You will probably have to shorten the cylindrical brass before you do this so it doesn't become too long in the reshaping. CH4D or one of the die companies should be able to make reloading dies for you from your drawings. At this point you should be off to the races. Keep in mind that you need .004 taper per lineal inch of case for reliable extraction. You will not have any problem creating a large enough shoulder for headspacing.
Good luck with your project,
Dave

Thanks Dave.
I'll look into it. I know Van Horn did a 2.6" 45 on the Weatherby, same as 460 A-Square, I think, but hadn't heard of either .475 or Rigby 2.5".
I wouldn't mind one bit if someone had already done something like it, save me some experimenting, or at least give me a jumpstart on fine-tuning it.

If you're serious about your .35 cal, tell me what kind of performance you're looking for. I do love a hot 3.5, but that seems, er, excessive (did I say that?) The 404J case gets over 3k with a 250gr bullet; that seems like an excellent long-range plains rig to me, without the feed work.
[Not that any bit of wildcatting has to make sense to anyone but the maker!]