I finally got some good pics!

This started out as a 1917 Enfield action and 6'x2' mesquite log. Denis Olson did the metal work, Mark Pharr the Cerakote, shaped and finished the stock myself, outsourced the checkering. I have another extractor collar that I need to finish in black and install. In the process of doing load development right now. Shot the factory Barnes 180gr TTSX at 1". I posted a few pics and they were huge, so the Google link has everything.

Enjoy!

Google Photos

Looks great!

Enjoy your beautiful new 35 Whelen. Great elk rifle!

Great work. You'll have some fun with that.

Jeremy

I like it. Especially the Mesquite.

Very nice. Rounding the fore arm nose will make it look finished.

Very nice rifle,,love the 35's,
I have just entered the Enfield mode myself,,looking forward too!

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Very nice. Rounding the fore arm nose will make it look finished.

I like the English style sweep up - or at least that's what I call it. I don't like the ones that round back over on the top half of the barrel radius.

Very nice. Great home for that whelen! Now you need some big old 358 bullets and get to hunting!

Nice work!

How heavy was that wood?

Clarence

quote:

Originally posted by ClaMar:
Nice work!

How heavy was that wood?

Clarence

Wood is heavy and pain to work with!

I bought a shit load of this wood 15 years ago in blank lengths, didnt pay squat for them. No body wanted them and pissed and moaned about there use as rifle stocks so I gave them to my uncle who gave it to his toy making woodworking friends.Wish I'd hide them back somewheres. You done a great job on the build.

I am wondering why you chose that big action for the .35 Whelan Cartridge?

quote:

Originally posted by lindy2:
I am wondering why you chose that big action for the .35 Whelan Cartridge?

My original theme was 1920-1930 era cartridges that someone in the US might build onto available US made actions to hunt in Africa in the same time period - so I picked the 404 Jeffery and 35 Whelen. 404 has been done for a while.

I also thought about saving money and reboring the 30-06 barrel, but went with a new one to be sure and get the length I wanted.

Given my 15 year old daughter is going to be shooting the 35 Whelen in Namibia next year, the extra weight will help on recoil.

And besides, it holds 6 rounds down! How cool is that? I guess I could have built a 505 Gibbs, but it would have gotten little use.

Where might I obtain Mesquite thick enough for stock blanks? I did a little google and ebay searching and found basically nothing suitable.

Slabs or logs would be ok as long as UPS will ship.

Thanks!

Heavy wood I like, next build for me is a 450 Ackley on a BBK action. I have the barrel and chamber reamer in waiting.

Very nice build, I really like it.


.

quote:

Originally posted by WoodHunter:
Where might I obtain Mesquite thick enough for stock blanks? I did a little google and ebay searching and found basically nothing suitable.

Slabs or logs would be ok as long as UPS will ship.

Thanks!

Heavy wood I like, next build for me is a 450 Ackley on a BBK action. I have the barrel and chamber reamer in waiting.

I got my log here and they slabbed it and kiln dried it. It's near me, so it was easy to do. They normally don't do anything like this so not sure if you could arrange over the phone. And they don't guarantee the wood quality. I shipped off 5 slabs (that I cut down smaller) to a duplicator and got three stocks back. Never know until you cut into mesquite. http://swtpinc.com/

AH:

Damned nice job you did.
Best part is you left the dog leg! That's classic imo. All four of my rifles are left that way too.

What i like best on these rifles is the safety. Best ever designed far as I'm concerned.

Sure wish I could carve a stock that well. I can finish them fine, it's the first shaping I screw up.

Thanks for sharing your fine rifle with us.

George

quote:

Originally posted by georgeld:
AH:

Damned nice job you did.
Best part is you left the dog leg! That's classic imo. All four of my rifles are left that way too.

What i like best on these rifles is the safety. Best ever designed far as I'm concerned.

Sure wish I could carve a stock that well. I can finish them fine, it's the first shaping I screw up.

Thanks for sharing your fine rifle with us.

George

Thank you! I wish I would have left cock on close, converted to cock on opening.

I love that hammer safety on the Enfield, its positive and works perfect..I especially like it on a DG rifle...Good action and nice job.

quote:

I love that hammer safety on the Enfield, its positive and works perfect..I especially like it on a DG rifle...Good action and nice job.

It may work well, but it makes the gun butt ugly, as does that severe downturn on the tang.

quote:

Originally posted by lindy2:
I am wondering why you chose that big action for the .35 Whelan Cartridge?

When you actually hold a 1917 or 1913 in your hand, you can clearly see it is no larger than a 03/A3 Springfield or some square bridge Mausers. The 'ears', before they are removed, make them look extra large.

I like your stock design, and the forend is fine just like it it, rounding it would look Custom Gun Gildish and not African/English..

NIce caliber and if you ever get bored all you have to do is punch out the chamber to a 358 Norma or 35/338 Win..I always like those kind of options, that way I don't have to buy a new toy. I have one built in and waiting.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
I like your stock design, and the forend is fine just like it it, rounding it would look Custom Gun Gildish and not African/English..

NIce caliber and if you ever get bored all you have to do is punch out the chamber to a 358 Norma or 35/338 Win..I always like those kind of options, that way I don't have to buy a new toy. I have one built in and waiting.

Thanks! It has a 1:12 twist, so it would do fine with the heavier 358 Norma bullets if I ever rechambered it. I'm building a 358 Norma right now on a Sako L61R. New barrel. That rifle is light. I bet it's going to be a beast. I have 225 gr TSXs, 250 gr Northforks, Partitions, Oryxs, and 275 gr Woodleigh to do load development. Working with RL-16 and H4350.

Well done and do like the caliber. Just starting one myself on VZ24 action, Douglas barrel, in the rough stock blank partially with basic action area inletted. Lots of work to do this winter and while living in Alaska some years ago the 35Whelen was often called "the poor man's magnum" for it got the job done be it moose, caribou, or bear.

quote:

Originally posted by Instructor:
Well done and do like the caliber. Just starting one myself on VZ24 action, Douglas barrel, in the rough stock blank partially with basic action area inletted. Lots of work to do this winter and while living in Alaska some years ago the 35Whelen was often called "the poor man's magnum" for it got the job done be it moose, caribou, or bear.

Perfect cartridge for Alaska. I'd have no issues with shooting a brown bear with one.

quote:

Originally posted by Austin Hunter:
I finally got some good pics!

This started out as a 1917 Enfield action and 6'x2' mesquite log. Denis Olson did the metal work, Mark Pharr the Cerakote, shaped and finished the stock myself, outsourced the checkering. I have another extractor collar that I need to finish in black and install. In the process of doing load development right now. Shot the factory Barnes 180gr TTSX at 1". I posted a few pics and they were huge, so the Google link has everything.

Enjoy!

Google Photos

Wow Hard to improve on that!
Very nice work!!

Started some load work yesterday. Added photo to shared album. Same load - 225 gr TSX, 56 gr Varget, 3.320", etc only difference primers. CCI#200 didn't group well; clover leaf on the Fed 210s. Trying 56.6 gr and 57 gr; as well as some 275 gr Woodleighs and 250 gr NFs.

Grouping

Great build!
That result just by changing primers is unbelievable. Weird....

quote:

Originally posted by Dead Eye:
Great build!
That result just by changing primers is unbelievable. Weird....

This is a cock on open conversion. I had some initial misfires which were solved with a firing pin change and softer primers - Feds are softer than CCIs. I believe the CCI had inconsistencies in the ignition. That's the only thing that could explain the difference. I had similar results with CCI vs Fed on 275 gr Woodleighs.

I'm in agreement. The fore end IMO should mirror the cheek piece radius. If the cheek piece was the angular German style then I would agree with the OP. But it is his rifle and what he likes he should go with.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Very nice. Rounding the fore arm nose will make it look finished.

Which type mesquite? What would be your opinion of the quality of the wood? It would compare most closely to what other wood? Thank you.

If I can make another comment on the misfires; most cock on opening conversions shorten the firing pin fall, and when combined with the factory spring, makes for insufficient force to ignite primers.
Cock on closing design is not broken; it works very well and has some advantages. No you won't push the rifle away from you any more than you will rotate it in your hand whilst using the other type. It's purpose is to place all available force in opening the action and doing primary extraction and not cocking. Now I understand that most shooters are not accustomed to it and think it is somehow, not as good.
It is.

I'm one who would never change a cock on closing to the other. Yes it's different to what most are used to today but that doesn't make them bad.

quote:

Originally posted by dfcjr:
Which type mesquite? What would be your opinion of the quality of the wood? It would compare most closely to what other wood? Thank you.

Texas mesquite. Not sure if there is any advantage other than smelling good while working and the hardness and stability of the wood. It is quite heavy, hard to work vs walnut, chips out with thumbplanes.

I love the safety because its fast and easy to crank off, always a plus on a DG rifle, the so called severe drop of the grip is excellent and takes up a lot of bulk in the grip, all in all I like your stock design and for Gods sake don't round it off, it won't look English and Safari like!!

Its unprofessional to condem ones design, its his workmanship and attention to detail that counts IMO...I dislike some stock designs but if the work is first class I will applaud the maker, not suggest he change what he likes.

My final 225 gr TSX load: 57 gr Varget, Fed 210, 3.320", 2,625 fps.

The 250 gr Northforks have some POI at 2,575 fps with 57 gr Varget.

Added some news pics to album link at beginning of thread. My daughter's 8 trophies from Namibia from our trip in June. 40-300+ yards. The springbok was at 300+ yards as was the gemsbok. Kudu running at 40 yards. 10 shots, 10 hits, 8 animals. All heart shots. All complete penetration except the kudu and blue wildebeest, near 100% weight retention on those.

She had 3 days range time with this rifle before hunting with it. She did carry it around on our lease, but didn't get anything. Goes to show a natural, trained shooter can handle a quality firearm under any circumstance. And 6 animals were taken standing off of shooting sticks - first time she had shot off shooting sticks standing except for the 3 days range time. Maybe I should start a safari shooting school? She credits her dad with teaching her. We have video of her shooting off the bench sighting in her rifle. No flinching, complete follow thru, etc. I wish I could shoot this well.

Pretty cool to have you and your daughter use a gun you built to hunt in Africa! Lots of talent... have you thought of doing SDH's gunstock class? Might pick up a few tricks from the old masters.

What a girl! If I were only 60 years younger, I'd come acourtin'.

I'm a M1917/P14 fan myself. My African heavy rifle is built on a P14 action, so I'm curious: who made the M1917? The action is D&T for a receiver sight, but none installed. Why? Whose bottom metal did you use?

I use Dayton Traister cock on opening conversion units, and have never had a problem with ignition. The kit does include a stronger spring.

My .35 Brown Improved Whelen was rebored and rechambered by P.O. Ackley quite some time ago. I never took it to Africa, but it is a pleasure to shoot.

I don't care for the dog leg bolt handle and consequently all my Enfields have had new bolt handles installed, but that's just my taste. One of them worked well enough for me to score four lethal hits on a running Cape buffalo with it.

A very nice project, well planned and executed.