I am going to build a short 500 Jeff on a PH Santa Babera 98, but I'm wondering about feeding.

Some say that only single stack mags work, othes say you can stagger them in the mag. I'll be using the factory bottom metal, so any info would be helpful.

I plan on running a 500J reamer in 0.250" shorter so loaded rounds fit in the mag without the expense of opening the action up and custom bottom metal (can't get here in Aus).

Any advice is welcome

Steve

TBH I think you should run standard chambering. You can get bottom metal.

Duane Wiebe has done lots of these.

I've been looking, who makes a bottom metal? I still need to get it out of the US and over to Australia which can be tough.

quote:

Originally posted by Aussie steve:
I've been looking, who makes a bottom metal? I still need to get it out of the US and over to Australia which can be tough.

While I have a few lef, bottom metal is jus about ipossible to export. I'd suggest you bend a magazine of out of 1/16" ( or metric equiv) an d simply set it up sort of like a M 70.

No need to fool around with anything but staggered configuraion..Yes...the metal removed from rails gets a little "apprehensive"


I doing one right now and would be happy to send photos to your email with some helpful measurements

That would be great!

I have sent a PM with my email address.

quote:

Originally posted by Aussie steve:
I've been looking, who makes a bottom metal? I still need to get it out of the US and over to Australia which can be tough.

Recknagel make bottom metal for 98’s and it’s available in Oz. It’s not cheap but quality is excellent.

It has a deeper magazine made for 375 H&H length (4+1) and apparently can take a 404J. A 500J might fit but you’re probably going to be limited to 2+1.

Thanks mate, I'll have a look around.

Beretta Oz were importers of Blackburn bottom metal. Blackburn make bottom metal for a 500J in a 98. It will be expensive but a 50 cal build is going to be expensive.

You could also ask Rolf Bachnic as he built several in his time.

I'd certgainly urge anyone contemplating such a build to take into account this is not cake walk. Takes plenty of experience and plenty tooling.

If it isn't worth doing right, best not to do it at all

For me it's a learning exercise, see what I can do, push myself a bit.

I'm never going to Africa unless I win the lotto, I don't plan on shooting DG with it. I have always wanted a .500 bolt action, so I'm going to make one. I'm not looking for pretty rifle, I'm not even going to put open sights on it. I just want to see what a guy can do on a budget, if he isn't a retard and if he pays close attention.


Worst case, I'll build a new mag box and single stack feed them, and load through the floor plate. I'd just prefer to stagger feed so I can load from the top.

I'll have a chat to Rolfe, he is only 20 mins away from me. I'm a bit lucky, I have Kudu, Rolfe and Ross Waghorn all under half an hour from me

Hell...If all you want to to make it go "bang" just install a barrel on your 98 and be done with it as a single shot

I built a 500 Jeffery on a Dumolin action and used the bottom metal it came with But I did modify that existing bottom metal.

I made a couple of simple forging mandrels.
One for the back of the box and one for the front of the box. As I recall the one for the back of the box was a piece of 1-1/8 x 3/8 rectangular bar that I milled down to 1-1/16. this mandrel had a couple of starter angles on it to get it started into the box.

Technique:
Vise the box good and tight in a vise and heat up the back area of the box with a rose bud torch head then drive the mandrel into the back of the box opening, forging it out wider while the box is red hot. It was necessary to drive the mandrel towards the back wall of the box at the same time as there was a tendency for that mandrel to walk forward, once driven thru and back to the back wall reheat the back corners and forge the back corners square.

Next, I used a piece of round bar 1.0 inch in diameter to forge out the front of the box. Simply put it thru the back area heat up the front 2/3 and drive it forward all the way to the front of the box, forging it wider to 1 inch wide in front.

Next I cut the front wall out of the box and tig welded in a chunk of steel so I could re-machine the length of the box to 3.575, then scab off the welds close enough to reduce the handwork somewhat, outside finished with a file and polished.

Next I made a deep pocket floorplate so it would hold 3 down. Seems like the pocket depth was about 5/16 from the bottom of the box.

Due to forging the center to center distance on the action screw shortened a little so I tig welded the edges of the rear screw counter bore and machined that back out to the correct screw spacing. In all actuality this part was only done for aesthetic reasons to eliminate a small gap around the screw head.

After this I polished the bottom of the receiver only so it would show a decent scribe line, dykem, scribe, machine out to the scribe line with a 3/8 ball nose mill down to the rail on each side.

Open the bolt face and extractor to hold a round.

Die grind the feed ramp paying close attention to the lower corners of the ramp, lower and wider to match the newly machined feed opening.

I like the tapered orange Dremmel stones they are conical shaped and as purchased work well.
Work carefully to open the rails, being conical these naturally grind a slight angle on the rail.
Grinding the rails is done at little at a time. The bottom metal is put on the receiver and function is critiqued over and over until a perfect feed is achieved, all the while making assessments and adjustments to the feed ramp and rails.

Due to the fact the rim of the 500 is rebated you will see bolt pass overs as you go along with the process, but you keep working the rails a little at a time and you reach a point where pickup and feed is reliable. Once this spot is achieved don't fool yourself into believing more out of the rails is better as more and more out of the rails will eventually result in a 500 that spews all ammo out the top when the bolt is drawn back hard on the bolt stop. When it works, it works, this is a fine line, sneak up on it.

For ease of bench work make up a dummy chamber that is in headspace, an old take off Mauser barrel or bar stock with a chamber in it, drill it out and chamber it. Turn and polish a radius on the mouth of the chamber to avoid snagging bullets and brass. A 1/16 polished radius is good enough.

If you have the ability to make a wider follower do so. If not you will find it necessary to tig weld projections both front and rear to the existing follower as it will come thru the rails at some point during all of this conversion work. Doing this ahead of time is advisable as it is nice to have the 1st round in held all the way over on the right side of the box.
Approach this with some caution but don't fear it as fear will cloud your judgement as to what is going on. Work time will be in the realm of 20 to 25 Hrs.

In barreling and stocking I highly advise an auxiliary recoil lug on the barrel, soldered or integral really doesn't matter, the grip on the stock will thank you.

Other than that enjoy your build.

So easy even a caveman can do it.

CZ550 or BRNO602, whilst not nearly a 98, would be a whole lot easier/quicker/cheaper.

Hi Duane. Is bottom metal export issues on your end? We have no problem here as long as you have the correct form, even then I have had cases get through before the form!

My how things have changed!

Thank you so much Timan! Really appreciate your help.

Steve

quote:

Originally posted by Juglansregia:
CZ550 or BRNO602, whilst not nearly a 98, would be a whole lot easier/quicker/cheaper.

It would be, but I got a good 98 for cheap

quote:

Originally posted by Rockdoc:
Hi Duane. Is bottom metal export issues on your end? We have no problem here as long as you have the correct form, even then I have had cases get through before the form!

My how things have changed!

Sorry I missed this. Near as I can tell ANYTTHING to do with firearms is becoming either budensome, exxpensive impssible or all three.

Thanks Duane. On top of that freight rates to Aus have become prohibitive. Shame. I really like your bottom metal on my 375.

I've stated it before: Plenty of round about ways to "control" firearms.

When I was acively making bottom metal, a couple Chinese companies made inquiry..The thought makes me gag, but who knows what the future may hold

quote:

Originally posted by Duane Wiebe (CG&R):

quote:

Originally posted by Rockdoc:
Hi Duane. Is bottom metal export issues on your end? We have no problem here as long as you have the correct form, even then I have had cases get through before the form!

My how things have changed!

Sorry I missed this. Near as I can tell ANYTTHING to do with firearms is becoming either budensome, exxpensive impssible or all three.

That's so true