Thinking of re-boring a 405 Ruger to 500 S&W. I picked up a new stainless/laminated rifle at the Tulsa show. Was looking for a 9.3 x 74R because case dimensions would be a good choice, but none to be found.

The 405 Win rin is .073" deep X .543" in diameter. The 500 Smith is .059" deep (.014" discrepancy) x .580" in diameter (.037" larger). This leaves a rim of only .0185" per side to headspace with. I could turn a ring to take up the excess depth, would be really small, might not be feasable.

So, is .0185" per side on the case rim, enough for headspace?

It's that .014" that's gonna get you. That is extreme excessive headspace. Your best bet would be to have the barrel set back one turn, re-bored and re-chambered. The diameter of the rim is of little problem here but, because your re-boring and re-chambering, you might as well have the entire rim section of the .405 chamber turned off or two threads which will clean everything up.

I have a 411 wildcat on a 06 cylinder gas. I end up with about .013" per side and have had no issues. Heck how many cases headspace on the mouth?

Bore the chamber over size for about 1/8 deep and make a heavier thicker ring. Press fit the ring and then bore it and counter bore it to set your headspace.

Sorry, You lost me...Are you talking about a R#1 in 405 Win and reboring/rechambering it to 500 S&W???

In that case it doesn't matter WHAT the original chamber is as long as the case you want to rechamber to is equal to or larger...you MIGHT have to set the barrel back, it depends on the skill of the machinist doing the rebore/rechamber and probably recutting the extractor notch....besides the 405 Win case is MUCH longer and smaller than the 500 S$W so you will end up with the chamber cylindrical section having lands and grooves cut into it.

My 356 Win has just that amount of rim... 0.0185" per side...The 444 M has about 0.022" depending on the case brand.

Why bother with the 500 S&W..there are a bunch of cases that would work, either straight walled or bottlenecked to get you a 0.500" OR 0.510" rifle...50 Alaskan and 500 Martin and the 499 Hubel if you got the hair.

Check out AmmoGuide's 50 cal section.

LUCK

Foobar you need to go look at the size of the rim chamber recesses involved. Otherwise you are lost.

I DID look at those specs...and that's what has me confused...I'm not machinist OR gunsmith and I tend to do things as simple as possible and messing about with a steel ring when going to a larger case/rim or just setting the shoulder back one turn and starting fresh would solve the issue and could be done at the same time as reboring/rechambering.

Your solution would of course work...and might/could be the easiest and quickest in this situation...I've done that to one chamber just to learn the hows and why's AND on 50 BMG cases converted to use 209 shotshel primers...I just don't cotton to that sort of solution...

Doing a threaded "stub" and epoxy/soldering it in and rechambering would make me feel much better. I've seen pressed in fittings come apart in several applications and the results aren't pretty.

To me those are all "make do's" solutions. I've been at this game a long time but I don't have a gunsmiths experience in all matters, so I bow to that experience.

Going to the 50 Alaskan would solve the issue as the 0.548-0.553" case base is larger than the 405 Win rim diameter of 0.543 and would definitely clean up any rim problems.

Hey...just my thoughts FWIW.

LUCK

Have a 50AK on a Sharps clone and a SSK Ruger #1 50-70. Like the idea of using carbide dies when loading the 500 S&W

Thanks for all the insight on what I have contemplated.

Those two will do the job...No need for an extra 50 AK...maybe something a little bigger...

No carbide dies for the 50 Alaskan?? Doesn't matter if you're set on the 500 S&W.

I did a Rigby based 50 cal on a Ruger Tang action and I keep threatening to do a 32-36" 50-140 stub barrel for an NEF Ultra receiver...or one of Ed Hubels 499 HE's.

Lots of ways to get to where you want to go...just pick one and go to it.

LUCK