Does anyone know a good gunsmith to glass bed a tang- action and otherwise beef up a 72 kodiak to take consistant charges of 150 to 200 grains of triple 7 ? Thanks

Where do you live ? and if you don't have a .72 caliber at present why are you looking for a gunsmith ?

Illinois and I just purchased one.

I don't know why you would want to shoot triple 7 at all, much less 150-200 gr loads of it. But what makes you think the gun will even regulate with those loads? Why not shoot it the way it was made to shoot - and regulated to shoot?

Brent

Someday my goal is to take it after Cape Buffalo. I think 80 grains would just make them mad.

I think you will be lucky to hit one with 200 grs because the gun won't regulate. I am not sure it can even be reregulated by a good smith either. A better gun would be smaller caliber and heavy bullet rather than roundball I think. But you might find an original 12 or 10 bore British gun built to be regulated with 5 drams or so. That would probably do some damage.

Brent

Wbyman:
Your .72 can handle considerably more starch than 80 grains. Seems like I was getting reasonable regulation with the 835-grain Fosbury-style conical over 120 grains Goex FFg. You might ask this question on the smithing forum. Also, Jeffeosseo on this board is very familiar with the .58 Kodiaks, if not the .72s, so you might send him a PM.
I personally would stick with black powder though.
Good luck with your buff-swatter. They're lots of fun.

quote:

Originally posted by wbyman:
Someday my goal is to take it after Cape Buffalo. I think 80 grains would just make them mad.

Sorry I can't help you with a smith, but:

I've shot up to 140 grains of Goex FFg in my 54 Kodiak. Yeah, I know the max suggested load is 80 grains, but I'm not too good at following rules. My Kodiak needs a really tight patch to hold the second ball in place (during recoil of the first shot) at 140 grains. My Kodiak is regulated for 80 to 85 grains (with round ball) and shoots way high despite max sight adjustment with over 100 grains. Regulation is still fair at 110 grains. It shoots even higher with conicals. With 110 grains of BP and round ball, I fold both sights down and just use the flat of the back of the sight with the two adjusting screws as a frame. Its works for close shots. If the .72 is similar, you will probably want a smith to do something with the sights, such as a really tall front blade. Or just fold down the back sights, like I do. And I guess I'd try the heavy loads for regulation before I changed the sight.

I'm curious about beefing it up, as I have no idea if its needed. Do you just feel it needs it? Extra insurance? Hear of the need from someone?

And I guess you could just leave the sights the way they are and get really really close to that buff.

I have heard of stocks cracking in the tang area and other problems when fed high charges. I have also heard of glass bedding the tang area and shooting loads up to 180 grains of black consistently, but I don't know if that is true.

quote:

Originally posted by Brent:
I think you will be lucky to hit one with 200 grs because the gun won't regulate. I am not sure it can even be reregulated by a good smith either. A better gun would be smaller caliber and heavy bullet rather than roundball I think. But you might find an original 12 or 10 bore British gun built to be regulated with 5 drams or so. That would probably do some damage.

Brent

It is true that it is unlikely for the two barrels to shoot together with any load other than the one which the gun "prefers". But the Kodiak has TWO REAR SIGHTS, one of which can be zeroed for the right barrel and the other for the left, with whatever load you choose to shoot. These two sights are intended to be used this way, as the makers don't put a lot of labor into regulating a double that sells for the price of the Kodiak. Regulation alone could cost more than the retail price of this rifle.

If you want to know what it takes to kill large African game with a ML, I recommend the story in the old Lyman BP Handbook by Val Forgett, who took a couple of .58's to Africa and shot flatnose 600-grain Minie balls in them. Load data and performance on game is all included!

quote:

Originally posted by El Deguello:
But the Kodiak has TWO REAR SIGHTS, one of which can be zeroed for the right barrel and the other for the left, with whatever load you choose to shoot. These two sights are intended to be used this way, !

That sounds very strange, but its not the first time I've heard it on a forum. Where did you hear that? My Kodiak is well regulated at the recommended load. It would seem odd to me to have to flip up/down one of the sight blades between shots. The sights could very well be used that way, and I considered the possibility when I bought my Kodiak, but it just seems weird.
Anyway, I'm interested in who told you that the sights were intended to be used that way. Pedersoli sales rep?

quote:

Originally posted by boreal:

quote:

Originally posted by El Deguello:
But the Kodiak has TWO REAR SIGHTS, one of which can be zeroed for the right barrel and the other for the left, with whatever load you choose to shoot. These two sights are intended to be used this way, !

That sounds very strange, but its not the first time I've heard it on a forum. Where did you hear that? My Kodiak is well regulated at the recommended load. It would seem odd to me to have to flip up/down one of the sight blades between shots. The sights could very well be used that way, and I considered the possibility when I bought my Kodiak, but it just seems weird.
Anyway, I'm interested in who told you that the sights were intended to be used that way. Pedersoli sales rep?

I believe I read this in a magazine article by one of the "experts", so cannot vouch that it is indeed true. I found that my Kodiak in .54 (1/66" twist) will only shoot round balls into reasonable groups (as one would expect), and it will only give reasonable regulation with one load: 85 grains of Swiss FFg or the MV equivalent of a substitute powder. I never tried to use the rear sights separately for each barrel, because when hunting I would probably forget which was which anyway! I put a 2.5X scope on mine, and it now shoots as shown:



This is 4 shots, R - L:, R - L @ 100 yards, 85 grains of Swiss FFg and .535" Hornady RB's w/.015" T/C prelubed patches.

quote:

Originally posted by El Deguello:
I believe I read this in a magazine article by one of the "experts", so cannot vouch that it is indeed true. I found that my Kodiak in .54 (1/66" twist) will only shoot round balls into reasonable groups (as one would expect), and it will only give reasonable regulation with one load: 85 grains of Swiss FFg or the MV equivalent of a substitute powder.

Thanks for the reply. I've never measured the twist of my 54 Kodiak, but its advertized by Cabela's (where I purchased mine) as a 1:48 twist. I wonder if they have changed?
With patched round ball and 80 grains of Goex FFg, I get the right barrel printing 1 inch right and 0.5 inches lower than the left barrel at 50 yards. I plan to up the charge on the right barrel to see if I can improve a bit. But with the limited shooting I've done, regulation seems pretty good.

I emailed Pedersoli with the sight question. If I get an answer, I'll post it here.

Good hunting!

quote:

Originally posted by boreal:

quote:

Originally posted by El Deguello:
I believe I read this in a magazine article by one of the "experts", so cannot vouch that it is indeed true. I found that my Kodiak in .54 (1/66" twist) will only shoot round balls into reasonable groups (as one would expect), and it will only give reasonable regulation with one load: 85 grains of Swiss FFg or the MV equivalent of a substitute powder.

Thanks for the reply. I've never measured the twist of my 54 Kodiak, but its advertized by Cabela's (where I purchased mine) as a 1:48 twist. I wonder if they have changed?
With patched round ball and 80 grains of Goex FFg, I get the right barrel printing 1 inch right and 0.5 inches lower than the left barrel at 50 yards. I plan to up the charge on the right barrel to see if I can improve a bit. But with the limited shooting I've done, regulation seems pretty good.

I emailed Pedersoli with the sight question. If I get an answer, I'll post it here.

Good hunting!

No, I believe (may be wrong!) that the .54 Kodiaks sold by Dixie Gun Works have 1/66" twists, and the Cabela's version is a 1/48", like the .50 and .58's are, from both places! Mine has the straight "English" style grip, and the Cabela's rifles seem to have pistol grip stocks. There may be other differences as well.

Sounds like your rifle is shooting pretty well with 80 grains. Try 85 grains and see what that does for your pattern.

El Deguello,
Those are amazing groups at 100 yards. I bought my dad a .50 Kodiak (trail guns armory version) and it will only shoot roundballs, but they group well, and only using one of the sights.

I'm pretty sure impossible regulation was the reason for two different sights, either that or it's a poor man's version of a folding leaf express sight...

Wbyman:

Did I miss something here?????

Your first post didn't say anything I can see about this being a double barrel. IS IT????

Try: www.octobercountry.com
they build these big bores up to 4 bore last I checked.

I'm building a .72, but, had a two yr delay and am trying to find someone around here to help get the stock shape started so I can continue.

I had these barrels made to my specs in WV, but, darned if I can find the papers on who the barrel maker was. This one is: 48" twist, 38" long, and I had a foot cut off the full length for a 12" pistol barrel to make a set.

I had both muzzles relief bored to assist in loading. The barrel maker said to consider a max load in this barrel to be: 250gr FFg, and 1400gr slug.
BUT: "start lighter and increase the charge until you can't stand the recoil and I'll bet you'll be less than max by quite a bit." Somewhere, maybe October country I saw a velocity chart, seems like it showed some over 1600fps with 1200gr slug and 200gr FFg. Am trying to remember and wouldn't promise this is correct. you'll just have to check their site out for yourself.

I bought a Lee 1oz 12ga slug mold, took the bottom plate and the center cavity setup out and had the bottom of the mold drilled out to .735" with a slight groove cut every 1/4" for grease groove's. Left the top radius as it came. Sure makes a fine looking slug of 1115gr.
Needed to make a new bottom plate to close that off. And plans are to make extra bottom plates with various thickness slugs to go into the mold to shorten the length to vary the weights. I haven't gotten that far, have only cast full sized slugs and I sure like them with the fine hollow cavity tip formed by taking the sprue plate off and sticking the spout of my Lee ProPot IV down in the hole. Once it sets up, I twist the mold sideways and this makes a fine looking hollow point of: 1/8" deep and 3/8" dia.

So far I haven't been able to get the stock made, so I haven't tried any shooting yet. I'd sure like to learn how yours turns out and the results. I have in mind once it's finished and I've learned how to load and shoot this thing to use it for elk as where I hunt sometimes each season I can get some fairly close shots. Within 75-100yds.

Far as the glass bedding part. I've done a bunch of it in other stocks, some I've had turned to my specs from blanks and glassbedded them just fine, tangs included. So far the biggest is my 1917 Enfield rechambered to .300Win/M. Turned out fine and is holding up swell.

I relief cut the stock several times the depth/size the parts need, at times I even drill holes down into the wood too. You can also insert some steel pins, or cross steel plates if you'd like to add extra strength.

You might consider making a steel part to insert down into the stock thru the wrist area and under the tang with a threaded hole for a fair sized bolt/screw to mount directly into this reinforcement. Glass bed it all and dress it down and no one would ever know or guess it was reinforced. Just do a nice tight fit around the edge's of the tang and it'll cover it nicely.

Use 10-20 min two part epoxy and put a little bit at a time into these areas. Make absolutely sure you have enough release agent on any metal parts and you'll be fine. My first glass bedding job ended up with the stock and gun being ONE piece for ever. Don't do it like that, very hard, embarassing lesson. This stock is way too nice to destroy just to take the gun out of it.

Just don't fill the whole thing up in one pass. Do it in several dose's, and in only one area at a time just in case you don't get the release agent like it should be and have to break the stuck part loose, see the above screwup.

Try cutting some slots in a piece of wood to fit various metal items and practice bedding them until you learn. It's not too hard to do and it's fun to learn. Main thing to keep in mind is the mess and release agent!! Use rubber gloves and put two or three pairs on so you can shed one when the sticky gets out of hand. This epoxy only costs about $3 a tube so you can afford to waste a couple tubes learning how.

WD 40, or various oil's, vaseline if worked into the parts right all make good release agents. They also make special stuff for this. Look in the catalog at: www.brownells.com

Good luck,

George