A Second Bolt Rifle

[pitted bore]

My second bolt rifle in 450 Bushmaster is operational. The little Springfield is no longer lonely in the safe.

This one was assembled on a Post-64 Winchester Model 70 action dating from about 1972. This is one of the push-feed actions, which some match shooters preferred to the pre-64 models. The original chambering was probably 270 or 30-06. The action was rusty and pitted when my gunsmith acquired it about 30 years ago. We didn't clean it up more than removing the rust and replacing some rusted springs.

The stock is a take-off from a Remington Model 40-X match rifle. I bought it about 17 years ago when there was a glut of these on the market from the military. This one has a Freeland adjustable match buttplate. The forened still has a hole it its underside from the mount for the hand stop. My gunsmith milled out the stock to fit the Winchester action without too much difficulty. He did such nice job that we decided not to use glass bedding.

For a barrel I ordeered a McGowen .451 pistol barrel in medium varmint contour to finish at a 26" length. My smith has played with barrels from several top manufacturers, and is greatly impressed with this barrel, his first McGowen. The exterior was highly polished, and we left it that way.

I picked up the rifle on Tuesday, 10 May, and mounted an older Leupold fixed 12X scope.

The principal motive for assembling this one was to get away from the problem of the iron sights when testing various reloads. It weighs about 4 pounds more than the Springfield, which will make shooting a little less bruising.

My two boxes of Remington ammo arrived today, so I started things off with a couple of sighting shots and then a 3-shot group at 100 yards, which measured 7/8". That's a long way from some of the better efforts with an AR that have been shown on these pages, but I should be able to shrink this somewhat with any luck.

I know, the thread needs photos. Maybe tomorrow.

--Bob
edited for spelling

[Hoot]

...snip...

For a barrel I ordeered a McGowen .451 pistol barrel in medium varmint contour to finish at a 26" length. My smith has played with barrels from several top manufacturers, and is greatly impressed with this barrel, his first McGowen. The exterior was highly polished, and we left it that way...snip
--Bob

Way to go Bob! OK, from the order date to you door. How long did it take for the McGowen?

Hoot

[BD1]

Ready to try some accuracy testing with cast boolits? I think I still have a box of them around for you.
BD

[pitted bore]

OK, from the order date to you door. How long did it take for the McGowen?

Hoot-
I submitted my order late on Friday, 21 January 2011. They shipped it & billed my credit card on 28 Feb. I'm not sure of the arrival date - probably 3 March.

Just in case I forget to provide this later, here are the barrel specs:

• Barrel Material: 4140 Chrome Moly
• Caliber/Twist/# of Grooves: 45 Pistol, 24" twist, 6 groove
• Barrel contour: Shilen #7LV
• Finished Length of Barrel: 26 inches

I cleaned it with my usual Montana X-treme Copper Killer after the 5 shots and it's copper free about 14 hours later after about 6 patches. Based on this very limited experience, it seems to be a barrel that does not like to foul.

--Bob

[pitted bore]

Here are some photos of the new 450 Bolt Gun: A couple of side views, a closer view of the less-than-pristine action, and a front view attempting to show the width of the forearm. With most Windows browsers, left clicking on the image will show it full size without the scroll bars. I don't know about Mac or Unix browsers.
--Bob

[Archie]

That is Awesome!!! I like the looks very much. It will cause a few scratched heads, when guys look at the 30 year old looking gun with a couple-year-old cartridge capacity. Of course the shiny barrel is a tip-off. That is a very serviceable weapon that will knock the deer on their kiesters!

[pitted bore]

Archie-
This rifle weighs about 12-13 pounds, so I'm not likely to be toting is around in the deer woods. The 450B hunting rifle in the safe is the 1903 Springfield pictured on another thread. This one is mainly for some ammo trials off the bench, which the wide flat forend will help with. Except for the barrel, this rifle was assembled from very used parts, with some gunsmith care in assembly to help accuracy. I hope it lives up to its appearance, and not down to its relatively inexpensive cost of parts,

Fortunately, I have access to a good smith that tolerates my abberant ideas and notions. I'm really looking forward to custom rifles that others may come up with, like the SKS that vz58 is working on, and wvcruffler's M1891 Argentine.

[wildcatter]

Hey Doc!!

Yeah, you wouldn't want to hunt with it, that is shooting deer, cause that long gun can just reach out and knock them in the head..wink.

You're shore gonna give us some top end speeds with that cool-beans rifle.

Should have your loads surveyed by next week..

..t

[pitted bore]

You're shore gonna give us some top end speeds with that cool-beans rifle.

Should have your loads surveyed by next week.

T-

I seem to recall reading (calguns thread ? ) that at some point you worked with even longer barrels.

I'm looking forward to finding out what your instruments show about the pressures and velocities of the samples I sent. Again, thanks!

--Bob

[Archie]

I would drag that out into the deer woods - at least once... Some time on a long sit that was not slated to turn into anything but. Don'g forget a bipod or a set of shooting sticks, because you won't be able to hold that at your shoulder for very long

I have a nice .223 that sits on the shelf for the same obvious reason. That is actually how I got into the Black Guns - a way to have a tote-able .223 with a quick follow-up shot capacity.