50 Alaskan by Wild West guns in Canada?

P-J

P-J

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I'm looking for the stainless 1895SBL from marlin to be made in 50 Alaskan. I'm sure Wild west guns in Alaska can do this but does anyone deal them here in Canada? Any help on this would be great, thanks.

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Well you know, After calling around a ton, nobody seemed to want my money or care to deal with ordering this. WWG didn't return any emails or calls about getting a SBL and converting it to 50ak for import to Canada... and well just plain ol nobody cared to do much. I had a few posts here looking for parts got the usual "check the banner, sponsors may have it" answers....

I decided It wasn't that hard of a task to make a 50 Alaskan, and figured "eff it, I'll do it myself"

So, I tracked down a brand new 1895 45/70 SBL. When I got it, it wouldn't cycle 45/70 rounds worth a darn like so many others you hear of so I kept that in mind during the tear down;



Here you can see my fancy Barrel vice..... lol these marlins are so easy, with the dove tail flat and the flat on the bottom for the tube mag, removing the barrel is really as simple as it gets. This didn't leave a mark on the old 45/70 barrel!


Here she is torn down waiting for parts.


While waiting for parts I couldn't find any brass or dies, so I made a 12 guage shotgun shell out of aluminum then chambered it for 50 Alaskan.... simply to Fireform brass in. This worked ok, but I still have 200pc of Starline 50 AK brass on back order should they ever do a run of it again.








Here you can see a 50 Alaskan round beside a 30/30 and a 223 rem... :) Should do the trick'!


My .510" barrel showed up so I trued the lathe to +-.0005" on the centers and spent a few nights getting her looking pretty and Chambered her. The chamber turned out perfect as well as the rest of the barrel!






Here the .510 barrel sits in my custom super fancy barrel vice again.... lol ready for torque up to the receiver and go/nogo headspace checks.




Turns out the hammer still works fine.... accidentally pulled the trigger with the web of my hand under it... haha!


Now I finished assembling it, and then took the action apart about a dozen times getting the round to feed, they are a lot fatter and the internals all needed work to make it run flawlessly.




Now the last thing it did was an experiment, Marlins have a bad record lately for not feeding rounds very well from the tub mags on these 45/70''s, Mine did this as a 45/70 and as a 50 ak. I did allot of thinking and inspecting how the action moved. I realized that with looser tolerances all the "slop" builds up and ends up effecting one thing... the shell carrier... I realized these almost need to be custom fit to the gun, unless Marlin/Remington get better tolerances.... anyways, I tig welded some silicon-bronze onto the surface the lever contacts to move the carrier and simply hand filed it to fit with zero bind a next to no slop. Guess what? My gun works perfectly... any angle, and speed on the lever. Now she runs!


I had to make some dies as nobody had them either, but that was simple enough. Overall the project was a bit of work, and I have about the same into it as buying one in the US... BUT I have it now, there is no way if I waited on others this would be in my hands shooting 500 grain slugs at beer cans in my back yard right now. So in ending.... thanks me, I really didn't get much for help on this. :p I am going to Africa this summer and Alaska next summer (in the orange 1971 chevy 4x4 in the first pic) so she should get some use :)

 
Awesome, I have had the same trajectory, except I never actually got started. Actual preference is to DIY, but even that seemed about as doomed. Where did you get the barrel, for instance? In theory there is a guy in BC who repped WWG for a while. But WWG itself does not want to talk to us.

WWG is not the only entity doing 50s. There are at least 2 others doing Marlins, and 2 others doing 1886s. Then there is the whole 475 thing from Turnbull for either 470s, or the Marlin. I had a thought about doing a 470 before the turnbull came out. I was going to call it the 470 Polar Express. But given that Turnbull has done it, why bother.

As far as getting the 50s in, is there a special problem getting those in from the US? The sniper rifle thing? If there is, the 470 has an additional advantage, above the simply better ballistics, as claimed. But otherwise, can't one simply import these as per usual from the US.

In theory you can get the WWG trigger from the UK version of Midway. It costs more, but it should be straight forward mail order. Woodleigh has bullets for the 50, and they are in OZ, so they might be able to bring them in. Or I guess one could program a CNC to turn some out in 80/20.

I think that the 1886 platform might be a better starting place if a person were starting right now.
 
No problem getting one into Canada, I imported one a couple of years ago. Get ahold of Wild West or Turnbull get it made, have IRunguns or Prophet River to Import it. Tradex has Woodliegh bullets for it.
 
What's cool is that you have the ability not only to build your own custom rifle, but to identify the cause of the original rifle's feeding problem, devise a solution to the problem, and at completion, carry the rifle on your dream trips. That would be much more rewarding than simply buying a rifle off the rack, or even commissioning a custom rifle that is ultimately made by someone else. Well done!
 
I usually never reply to threads.
Needless to say. I'm impressed with your [GUNSMITHING SKILLS].
As an AMATEUR GUNSMITH, [I tip my hat to you].
I'm very impressed with the size of that cartridge.
Now comes the big QUESTION. [have you fired it yet]?
I have a new Marlin 1895 45-70, with the 22" barrel.
With full power loads it quite a handful, a little more it would be unpleasant.
I have to load it down and installed a new Pachmar recoil pad.
Anyways I wish you the best of luck with your beautiful rifle.
If you get to shoot a big bear or Moose, I wouls surely like to see some pics.
Take Care Old Timer Lou
 
Boomer said:
What's cool is that you have the ability not only to build your own custom rifle, but to identify the cause of the original rifle's feeding problem, devise a solution to the problem, and at completion, carry the rifle on your dream trips. That would be much more rewarding than simply buying a rifle off the rack, or even commissioning a custom rifle that is ultimately made by someone else. Well done!
Click to expand...

This, in it's entirety.
 
Thanks guys! :) I've fired 18 rounds through her. All 500 grain lead slugs over ~52 grs 4198, and to be honest It feels great. Once all my brass is fully formed perfectly in this chamber I will step the loads up. I would like my everyday and camping load to be in the 1850 fps range. I assume I'm in the 1650 range now. I have never had a problem with recoil (young and dumb) and this actually feels just fine so far. Accuracy was impressive, but I will throw a scope on her and actually do a 100 yard test here soon. I'm also in the process of getting some 500+ grain bonded jacketed bullets that if they hold up will be my DG projectile. Or I will write a CNC file and get a bunch turned from brass in Calgary.

Brass casing's right now is the hardest part, but Starline will ideally do a run of 50ak again and then all will be good. I have about 50 formed brass, we'll see how they stand up.

I'm sure if one was patient enough they could just order this out of the US and have IRUNGUNS import it. But, I'm not patient and wanted it now :p

Oh and my 71' is in pieces right now so you don't want it Crazy_Davey, she's getting 100% new drivetrain from radiator to lugnuts. All done by me as well, I plan to drive it to Alaska :p
 
Thought about it, problem is I do ok and work allot at my other job. People on some of the Car/truck forums I have builds on say the same.... But for now the patch is treating me too well. We'll see what the future holds :)

I got a package this AM from Matrix cast... 50 cal hollow points anyone? These are impressive.
 
That's one reason why we don't have a lot of WWGs, up here. A lot of us could do some work, but to sell your work you need certs, and you need licenses. You can't screw up an industry, and then expect a lot of people to run to Quebec, Denver, or wherever, and get a cert and run a business. The people who have pushed through have my respect.
 
The problem with Starline is that they won't send 50 AK up here, last time I asked. They will send brass that is under 100 dollars, but they won't split an order. And then there is the whole thing about whether the 100 dollar thing is real anyway. If you have someone to bounce a few shipments off of, it would save a little money. I guess 348 is a good place to start, though going to Africa, it might be nice to have the headstamp that matches your rifle. Overall getting 50 ak is easier/no worse than most traditional African stuff.

Recoil wise, the case for the 50 AK is several:

1) 500 grain bullet is a reasonable size in this caliber, and if you push it as hard as you push the 45/70, you have milder recoil because the 500 will be moving slower. You have to be careful about how hard you shove something in the 348 case, since it has less support. But if you really let loose on the 500, you are going to feel it. The problem with the 45/70 is that it drills through everything in it's DG loads, the 50 is a bit bigger hole so you shove it with the same load, you are going to be felt, but the recoil, and blast should be less;

2) It's a custom rifle, so you can make it so that the barrel weighs more. If you are after a DG rifle, that is going to be normally a heavier beast, than the Guide rifle which is meant to be carried around salmon rivers, etc... almost like a handgun. Personally for the DG role, I would be looking at overall lengths more like what you get in a DG rifle, and all the barrel length I could get, consistent with that role. No muzzle blast maker, sorry, brake.

3) The 50 AK could be seen as the kind of rifle you don't shoot a lot. If you like to do a lot of practice, it might be cheaper to run a 45/70 for that purpose, the 50 AK itself, is not a do everything rifle like some see the 45/70 to be. It is a stopper, if done correctly, or the 50-110 is.
 
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