.505 Gibbs

I think Ardent has a loaner RSM (from Stickhunter maybe?)... he has pics in an article on his website at morrisonarms.com.
 
My late Brother had a love for the big bore rifles and built several, among them a 505 Gibbs on an Enfield action.
He used it on his second Yukon Bison hunt and was thrilled with its power.
His comment over the phone after the hunt.... " It could have been a single shot rifle instead of a repeater. "
He was a long time user of Woodleigh bullets and had a very high regard for them...
 
I had one on a enfield action with a custom barrel. I loves it, a 525 grn bullet over 140 grns of IMR 7828!

But I needed a roof more!
 
Recoil? What with those dinky little 525s, try 570s over 89 grs of 3031 in a .500 NE . . . and harp both triggers! Oh by the way, the recoil pad should be a minimum of a 100 years old and about as soft as a piece of poplar screwed onto the back of the walnut.:d
 
;)

Hoyt nailed it I have Stickhunter's .505 here on loan, have shot it quite a bit. It has enough recoil to cause your body to leave your head behind temporarlily, but this is not to say it's mean. The recoil is reasonable, mind you for those who's current comfort zone is .300 Win Mag etc, it is a significant departure at somewhere around four times the recoil of a .300. It gets your attention, however focus on the target, pay attention to your shooting position, and it's just another rifle. If you've ever had a flinch proceed with extreme caution as it could very well ruin your shooting for a long time. I had a flinch from .375 H&H when I spent too much time at a bench testing loads once that took me about a year to shed, and .375 is exceeding mild in comparison. Relax, think of your target, pull trigger and absorb generous energy into thy shoulder. Smile.

Here's the write up, including penetration tests of .375 H&H, .450 Rigby, .470 Nitro, and .505 Gibbs on stacks of spruce planks.

http://www.morrisonarms.com/2014/11/beautiful-nightmares-and-the-stopping-rifles/

And a live shoot of the same chamberings from the shooter's perspective, and a little 7x57 with "conventional" recoil at the end for comparison. The perspective is guilty of making the recoil appear quite dull, all except the .375 are lively but perfectly manageable for those accustomed to .375 level recoil for a good while.

 
I'm not recoil shy, but I'm ashamed to say that I've yet to shoot any full power loads through the 505 Gibbs that I loaned to Ardent. I did get a chance to put some 416 Ruger loads (400gr @ 2400fps) downrange over the weekend, and recoil was very tolerable. I fired them from a standing position and was also wearing as PAST shoulder pad. I didn't find the recoil at all uncomfortable or jarring, but I wouldn't want to be putting down a string of shots from a rest either.

The 416 is a Martini & Hagn Mauser 98 that I feel *very* lucky to have fetched --- it's a beautiful rifle that fits me like a glove (it's purely coincidence since I wasn't the original owner, but the iron sights swing into alignment like no other rifle I've tried). I need to get some proper pictures, but these will have to do... and so that I don't derail the OP's thread, the last picture shows a 505 Gibbs beside the 416 Ruger. That 50 cal is impressive in any arena!




 
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