With an insane workload this year, I have had little time to spend at the range. I have already worked out my solid and soft loads for Tanzania, and using the 300 gr. Hornady s.p.over my standard load as recommended by Bobc resulted in a great practice load that regulates to virtually the same point of impact as the 400 gr. Woodleighs. I have solved some of the problems I had with my Rodda 450/400 3".(reported in previous threads) I stripped and refinished the wood and found some figure there that had been obscured by God knows how many layers of old finish. After approx 35 coats of hand rubbed Pro-Custom oil, it is quite an improvement! I replaced the rock hard silvers pad with a red Pachmyer decellerator which made an easy shooting rifle even more tame, I will certainly retain the Silvers for authenticity, but the Pachmyer stays for shooting purposes! I welded up the rear sight and recut it to a wide V which solved the problem of it shooting low, it looks great and is spot-on now. The problem of the rims not clearing the standing breech turned out to have a simple solution, I dissassembled the gun and could never find a mechanical reason for the problem, on a whim, I decided to check the balance point of the gun and found it a bit too muzzle heavy. I took a piece of wire and added 5.5 oz. of weights which I hooked to the swivel stud, Voila! When the rifle was broken open previously, the butt would "rebound" just a bit which made the rims barely catch on the standing breech, the added weight to the butt stopped this. I will remove the pad and bore a hole and fill it with lead to permanantly solve this problem. This made the rifle more neutral in balance and faster to reload. I can only surmise that age drying of the wood and possibly being shortened in the past lost some weight that it needed to be right. Sheesh! everyone said Doubles were sensitive to changes! The creepy front trigger, I am stll working on, with a little stoning it improved from over 7 lbs to around 5.5, but it is still way too creepy. The sear pivot hole appears to be worn a bit oversize and is moving about during trigger take-up which makes it drag. Rather than weld it up and rebore it, I will try to bush it to keep from affecting heat treatment of a part that I do not know how to reharden properly myself. Other than that, the gun is ready for Africa. I was in Collectors Firearms a couple of months ago and noticed that they had a used Willesdon canvas and leather case in the rack, that was stripped internally to bare wood. For the modest sum of $125, I purchased it and began making an interior to fit my rifle. Lowes has 1/4" oak in 1, 2, 3, and 4" widths that are perfect for making the partitions. Buying quality 90% wool pool table cloth and some contact cement and adding about 30 hours of work, some new straps and it came out rather well. I ordered a reproduction trade label from Michael Messina which should arrive soon. Now the old girl has
a proper home!
We finally made it out to the range today and got in some practice. My hunting partner Bob shot it for the first time, and shot well, especially since he is left handed. Shooting off a Stony Point tripod, 3-1/2" groups at 100 yds were common. The optional third leg really makes a differance for stability! We noticed that the range had replaced the 300 yard 18" gong, and since I was feeling lucky, we decided to give it a try. I flipped up the 300 yd. leaf, said a prayer to the Gods of the Hunt, and connected six out of six times! I really got daring then, and shot two offhand and connected on both! I handed the rifle to Bob and he rang steel on four out of four! But wait! It gets better! I had two cartridges left and asked my wife if she wanted to give it a try? Off the tripod, she rang it both times, handed it back and said " I really like to shoot that rifle" Oh Hell, the last time she said that, I lost a lovely Westley Richards engraved boxlock 12 ga. to her! I told her she can have it if I can get a .470 but she said she would have to pass on it at this time. All in all, it was a productive day at the range, I'll probably never shoot that well again!! Only 3 more months till the Selous! Lee.

There's much in your report to be happy about!

It must be nice to be able to work on a rifle of that value with confidence at home.

Consider me an admirer

Congrats! WTG Lee!

Lee,

Where are you going in the Selous? Texas Hunter and I leave on August 29 on a ten day hunt in the Selous (Unit LU1) -- start hunting on September 1. Your two month comment tipped me off since I have a count down in my organizer (surprise, surprise) and we passed T-minus 60 days on Thursday.

Mike

Mike

MJines, I'm getting a bit overeager, leaving sept 21. I will be hunting with Pierre VanTonder for 10 days in R2 and MK1 if I recall correctly.

We return to Houston on September 13. I will try to remember to give you a report when we get back. Overeager, we have been counting the days for four months!

Lee, congratulations on your progress. Glad to hear the hornady 300's worked well for you. It's nice to have a cheap alternative to the Woodleigh's for range and pigs, etc. Bob

Lee:

The indexing problem had nothing to do with the weight of the butt. This problem is pretty basic. The gun doesn't index properly when open (the rims strike the breech face with the gun open in it's "natural" position) because the nose of the sears are too short. This is a common problem with older doubleguns and is a product of gradual wear and successive trigger "adjustments" over the years. The repair is accomplished by adding metal to the nose and recutting the sear.

Adding weight to the butt may alleviate the symtom - after a fashion - but only disguises the problem. The sears are worn and need repair, and that isn't something to screw around with. Since you bought the gun from Champlin, why don't you send it back and let J. J. fix it correctly? Champlin's stands behind what they sell. If it was like that when you got it, they'll fix it. That's why you buy from them.

As a suggestion, call J. J. or Kirk Merrington (a British gunmaker) in Kerrville and describe the problem to them. They'll tell you the same thing I just did.
------------------------------------------------
"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

quote:

Originally posted by lee440:
We noticed that the range had replaced the 300 yard 18" gong, and since I was feeling lucky, we decided to give it a try. I flipped up the 300 yd. leaf, said a prayer to the Gods of the Hunt, and connected six out of six times! I really got daring then, and shot two offhand and connected on both! I handed the rifle to Bob and he rang steel on four out of four! But wait! It gets better! I had two cartridges left and asked my wife if she wanted to give it a try? Off the tripod, she rang it both times, handed it back and said " I really like to shoot that rifle" Oh Hell, the last time she said that, I lost a lovely Westley Richards engraved boxlock 12 ga. to her!

Only 3 more months till the Selous! Lee.

Now folks here is a fine example of why double rifles were fitted with flip-up down range sights! When properly loaded with a load that shoots to the regulation of the rifle, the rifle will shoot to the sights as far out as they are made for! It is evident Lee440 has done his homework with this rifle. Sort of dispells the idea a double rifle is only useful at under 50 yds, HUH? Damn, I knew I should have bought that rifle!

It has always amased me at the supposidly well informed gun writers, and others, even well known gun smiths, who think the flip-ups are simply there for decoration, on double rifles. When one considers the work, and skill involved in building a double rifle, why would anyone place an object on the rifle that did not work, but was so easily proven to be inadiquate? It simply doesn't make sense!

Congratulations Lee440, you've got it down, it seems! Good luck in the Selous!

Thanks, Mac and Bobc for the positive comments! Hopefully we will get togeather one day and you can shoot my "beater". Lee.

Lee, do you have solid loads yet? I was curious how they regulate along with the Woodleigh softs. We'll need to get back out to the range sometime soon to compare notes. Bob