This seems like the right place to post this, I hope so anyway. I have long wanted a 460WBY, I don't need one by any means. I found on GB this item #721728315. In the description it says it was built on a Remington Eddystone pattern 17 action. The other particulars are in the ad. I messaged the owner and he tells me it was built around 30 years ago by Robert Snapp in Michigan and bears his name on the barrel. I've only owned factory rifles in my 50+ years of shooting and I've only read about this action. Could someone tell me how extensive the action would have been modified? The price seems fair, no iron sights but those are easily added. Thanks in advance.

Those actions were designed for the 276 Enfield which had a .535 base diameter and the 1917 was modified for the 30-06 so it had a bolt face of .473. And first the British used them in 303; all were made in the US. I know, too much info. The 460 has a base diameter of .580 and a chamber pressure of around 60K psi. So, some milling out of the feed rails is needed; length is 3.65; so some mag box work is needed.
That is a lot of potential back thrust.
Will it work? Of course it will. Will it last as long as a new MK5? Who knows? I use them for standard magnum calibers.

I believe the big bore A-Square rifles (500 A-Square and 577 T-Rex) were built using P14 or P17 actions, that should answer the strength question.

These actions have often been used for big cartridges, more so years ago when there were fewer large actions available.

As DPCD noted the feed rails and possibly the magazine box had to be modified. If headspacing is correct and the action has no visible issues (I read years ago that the Eddystone actions were more prone to develop cracks, but I haven't seen anything recently about that) my main concern would be how well it feeds.

quote:

Originally posted by sjmci:
(I read years ago that the Eddystone actions were more prone to develop cracks, but I haven't seen anything recently about that) my main concern would be how well it feeds.

It wasn't the receivers that were the problem. If memory serves some brainiac engineer decided they should start installing the barrels with power tools (air or hydraulic driven)to speed up war time production and they over tightened the barrels to the point that they cracked the receivers. I don't think that run change lasted to long.

It only takes an idiot with a hand tool a minute to fawk something up. An idiot with a power tool can do it in seconds!

Bob Snapp is sort of the go to guy for Martini cadet conversions. I very fine mechanic and I suspect is he worked on that gun there is no cause for concern.

Eddystone sometimes got a bad rap and Remington Enields are held in high esteem. Remington made the Eddystone,,so go figure

The conversion you're thinkin about is not for the faint of heart. One hell of a lot of highly precise work to make a reliable shooter

Highly precise work like I do!
Ok, now that you have stopped laughing up there in the frozen tundra, one comment.
I never even attempt to unscrew barrels from the P14s and P17s I work on. On which I work. I part them off, just in case I got one of those ones that Speer is talking about. I never had a cracked one of any make, but I do have a cracked Rock Island 03. I took it into work one day to show the boss and he said, "You aren't going to file a warranty claim are you?" 100 years late.

Thanks for all the info. I'm going to talk with the seller again and I might hazard a bid on it. Thanks again.

good action to build such a beast on -- no question about it -- the question is in the skill of the builder -- and how well bedded and xbolted ... 600 overkills have been built on the same aciton, and i've built other monsters on them

I've pulled off countless P17 barrels with no problems. The only barrels which I part prior to pulling are the Lee Enfield rifles. The only reason I part those is because never have and refuse to make an action wrench for them. I have never put a custom barrel on a Lee Enfield either.

enfields take 30 seconds to part/cut a relief groove one the BARREL at the face of the action .. these are square threads and torqued on the face of the action, which means that parting before/at the action will usually result in an easy to remove barrel ... i posted a couple pics of me doing this several years ago

Bob Snapp is a good builder.

HAR!!!! None of us looked up this item..I did..I's ALREADY a 460Wby. So..I'm not sure what was the point

It was pretty clear to me that the rifle he is bidding on or buying is already a 460.
His question was how extensive was the modification to get it there...

Well, the original owner went to a great deal of trouble and expense over simply buying a Mark V Weatherby. (Unless the gunsmith made it for himself and sold it.) The problem with it is, it's going to be very had to sell owing to the fact that it's on a non-desirable action. It's also in a non-desirable caliber. It's also a very non-desirable price for something that's difficult to move to begin with.

The common 460 Weatherby joke is:

"For sale: Weatherby Mark V in 460 Weatherby Magnum. Like new condition. Comes with 19 rounds of ammunition."

Yes I saw what he wanted to know.

Well..Snell...I stand humbly corrected...But, we got an in depth lesson about barrel removal!

quote:

Originally posted by Duane Wiebe (CG&R):
Well..Snell...I stand humbly corrected...But, we got an in depth lesson about barrel removal!

Didn't mean to correct anybody and you are right we got the lesson from a multitude of experts.

Speerchucker I like that statement, how true, "gun for sale like new hardly ever shot"

quote:

Originally posted by Duane Wiebe (CG&R):
Well..Snell...I stand humbly corrected...But, we got an in depth lesson about barrel removal!

Tom has fallen victim to my scatterbrained tendencies of going off on a tangent on every other post and he's started doing it himself now Duane. You put one retard like me in a crowd and pretty soon they're all doing the bird dance!

When I grow up I want to be just like you. Today's lesson; tangent control.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
When I grow up I want to be just like you. Today's lesson; tangent control.

Easy there big fella. The world can only take so many nuts and you don't want to start attracting squirrels!

I took a 1917 Enfield to a local 'smith to get the barrel removed. He didn't make a relief cut, which had me thinking "huh?", but hey, he's the professional. He used an internal action wrench, which also had me scratching my head. His first attempt did nothing, so he gave that cheater pipe hell...and broke my action. Left side feed rail snapped. They had it welded. Even welded the little holes for a side scope mount, but also told me it won't take bluing because of the welds. That is a huge bummer.

Back to the OP: you MUST look for Butch Lambert's 1917 Enfield in 416 Rigby. Anyone who doesn't like that rifle needs another hobby.

quote:

Originally posted by LongDistanceOperator:
I took a 1917 Enfield to a local 'smith to get the barrel removed. He didn't make a relief cut, which had me thinking "huh?", but hey, he's the professional. He used an internal action wrench, which also had me scratching my head. His first attempt did nothing, so he gave that cheater pipe hell...and broke my action. Left side feed rail snapped. They had it welded. Even welded the little holes for a side scope mount, but also told me it won't take bluing because of the welds. That is a huge bummer.

Back to the OP: you MUST look for Butch Lambert's 1917 Enfield in 416 Rigby. Anyone who doesn't like that rifle needs another hobby.

just sad ... takes nil time to roll up one's parting tool and cut down a bit ... and, usually, the action comes off BY HAND

Exactly; it takes less time to part the barrel off and yes, unscrew it by hand, than it does to screw on the action wench and tighten the barrel vise, for which I use a 30 ton press. Your local 'smith" is a "______". I had a word in there that was prejudicial, so to cut down on the hate mail I get, I left it out. Put in your own word for dumbass.
Oh, he used the wrong welding rod too.

Just curious, how do you "part a barrel", and what does it do to the barrel and action?

quote:

Originally posted by buffybr:
Just curious, how do you "part a barrel", and what does it do to the barrel and action?

Basically its the force of the barrel shoulder against the action shoulder that keeps the barrel tight. By making a relief cut into the barrel .010 inch ahead of the action shoulder and .100 inch deep the pressure comes off the two shoulders and the barrel can be screwed off by hand. Most of my customers want to keep the old barrel, unmolested so they can sell it at a gun show, so I'm generally forced to take them off with a proper wrench and barrel vise. I never have any trouble taking them off. Set everything up, sit on the wrench, they unscrew.

Inside action wrenches disappeared from the scene 20 years ago. Too much force on them will ruin a receiver, permanently! The only place they are still used is in the bench rest circles where some guys are only installing their barrels hand tight to keep stress down. Old Pawpaw Lambert can probably explain the proper use of inside wrenches better than I. The threads on the barrel have to be cut to class 4 and the barrel wheeled on and off a few million times with a regular wrench to get a perfect thread fit before using them. Supposedly there is a bit of science to shooting hand tightened barrels. But it was lost on me.

parted barrel by Rod Henrickson, on Flickr

About parting a barrel. If the action is round it is natural to place the action in the lathe chuck in order to the job. It is also a good idea to put the parting tool in the inverted position and run the lathe in reverse. If not, as the pressure is revealed between the action and the barrel, the tool will turn the action toward the barrel and get caught between the two!

In my experience that does not happen. I only use this method on Enfields; others are not torqued as tight and with as much bearing surface, which is part of the problem. For example, 03 Springfields of the same era are easy to remove; the surface contact with the receiver is less than half that of an Enfield. Won't hurt to do it that way though. More than one way to skin a cat. Not that I have skinned many.

I always leave a .010 or .020 inch wide washer of barrel material, as I've shown in the picture to keep the barrel and receiver locked together and tight until after the turning is finished. After cutting the groove, one or two THAWACKETTAs on the side of the receiver with a light plastic hammer takes off any remaining pressure and the action screws right off.

quote:

Originally posted by speerchucker30x378:
I've pulled off countless P17 barrels with no problems. The only barrels which I part prior to pulling are the Lee Enfield rifles. The only reason I part those is because never have and refuse to make an action wrench for them. I have never put a custom barrel on a Lee Enfield either.

There is a very large and important piece missing from your life. Regards, Bill

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Leeper:

quote:

Originally posted by speerchucker30x378:
I've pulled off countless P17 barrels with no problems. The only barrels which I part prior to pulling are the Lee Enfield rifles. The only reason I part those is because never have and refuse to make an action wrench for them. I have never put a custom barrel on a Lee Enfield either.

There is a very large and important piece missing from your life. Regards, Bill

Guys like you and Elwood Epps always used to worry me a little bit Billy. But I'm older now and I'm not scared of the boogy man anymore. Still, when I drive to Vancouver, I get fearsome edgy and I start to hear banjo music in the back of my mind about the time I get to Sparwood. Seems to pretty much pass after I blow through Hosmer, though. Could be gas. Might be crab lice. Or maybe just some sort cosmic disturbance. LOL

The recoil lug on a 700 Rem is wonderful! You can go down through it with a parting tool with no pangs of guilt(or marks on the barrel or action) and replace it with a vastly better after market. If the firearm is not worth the investment, it likely does not deserve the time and attention.

OTOH, Rem 700 barrels are not screwed on tight enough to require that method.