Here is a rifle I have been working on. It's almost finished. It's a .50 based on a .460 Wby. necked up. There are many names for this and similar rounds, the .510 Wells, the .500 A-Square, and so on. My reading says the first guy to make one was a Montana barrelmaker named John Buhmiller. And he hunted and did control work with it in Africa. Claiming it the best he'd used on Elephant. I doubt this one will ever see Africa at least with me, but regardless, I am calling it my .500 Buhmiller.
It started life as a Ruger #1 in 7mm Rem mag from my friend Ramhunter. The barrel came from Bevan King and was a stainless 1.25" blank with a 1 turn in 14" twist. The reamer and gauges came from Pacific Tool and Gauge in Oregon.
I have been gathering the parts for about a year. I started working on it when I had a spare hour or two a couple of months ago. I have test fired it so far only. The load was 85 grains of 3031 with a 650 grain cast .512" bullet. The 20 cases extracted smoothly and look great. This is not the final load, I have lots of ideas I want to try on it and a good variety and supply of .50 bullets on hand up to 910 grains and down to 300 grains.
There are still some things to be done. I have ordered a Limbsaver pad to try on it, I used one a few weeks ago on a #1 in .375 Wby and was impressed. The forend is not finely fitted yet. I want to coat the stainless barrel yet too, but I 'm not in a hurry for these jobs. I want to shoot it more now!
I modified some Leupold scope blocks to fit this barrel and mounted a 2.5X Leupold Intemediate Eye Relief scope on there with 12" of eye relief. I also mounted an adjustable apreture rear sight you can see at the very back of the barrel against the reciever. The front site is a Williams.
I did make this in my basement and I'm not a gunsmith though I play one on the Internet. Thanks to the guys that helped with the parts and answered my dumb questions. If anyone has load data they'd like to PM me, I'd appreciate it. I see a lot of it listed from various sources online. Let me know what you guys think and if you have any advice, as in sights, finish and so on.
I'm sorry for the poor pictures. I added the one of the muzzle to show the crown and band.
Most of the parts I got here on CGN. The action from Ramhunter, the barrel from Bevan, the cases from Yukonshooter, the front sight from gguthrie, the rear from Klondike_Bob, I don't remember the name of the member that sold me the new Leupold IER scope. Another member gave me the extractor. Lots of hints and tips and advice from the gunsmithing forum here, and especially Rembo. Testing from 375RUM, I sure like that pad.
Take care,
Rob
P.S. Yes, there is an Allen screw tapped through the hanger putting upward pressure on the barrel. Recoil doesn't seem that bad, sure it kicks but not badly offhand. Most of my shooting is offhand, I don't have a bench where I hunt. Seriously, this is not the kind of gun to spend a lot of time on the bench with. Though it will be tested to see what it will do at long range with heavy low drag bullets.
It started life as a Ruger #1 in 7mm Rem mag from my friend Ramhunter. The barrel came from Bevan King and was a stainless 1.25" blank with a 1 turn in 14" twist. The reamer and gauges came from Pacific Tool and Gauge in Oregon.
I have been gathering the parts for about a year. I started working on it when I had a spare hour or two a couple of months ago. I have test fired it so far only. The load was 85 grains of 3031 with a 650 grain cast .512" bullet. The 20 cases extracted smoothly and look great. This is not the final load, I have lots of ideas I want to try on it and a good variety and supply of .50 bullets on hand up to 910 grains and down to 300 grains.
There are still some things to be done. I have ordered a Limbsaver pad to try on it, I used one a few weeks ago on a #1 in .375 Wby and was impressed. The forend is not finely fitted yet. I want to coat the stainless barrel yet too, but I 'm not in a hurry for these jobs. I want to shoot it more now!
I modified some Leupold scope blocks to fit this barrel and mounted a 2.5X Leupold Intemediate Eye Relief scope on there with 12" of eye relief. I also mounted an adjustable apreture rear sight you can see at the very back of the barrel against the reciever. The front site is a Williams.
I did make this in my basement and I'm not a gunsmith though I play one on the Internet. Thanks to the guys that helped with the parts and answered my dumb questions. If anyone has load data they'd like to PM me, I'd appreciate it. I see a lot of it listed from various sources online. Let me know what you guys think and if you have any advice, as in sights, finish and so on.
I'm sorry for the poor pictures. I added the one of the muzzle to show the crown and band.
Most of the parts I got here on CGN. The action from Ramhunter, the barrel from Bevan, the cases from Yukonshooter, the front sight from gguthrie, the rear from Klondike_Bob, I don't remember the name of the member that sold me the new Leupold IER scope. Another member gave me the extractor. Lots of hints and tips and advice from the gunsmithing forum here, and especially Rembo. Testing from 375RUM, I sure like that pad.
Take care,
Rob
P.S. Yes, there is an Allen screw tapped through the hanger putting upward pressure on the barrel. Recoil doesn't seem that bad, sure it kicks but not badly offhand. Most of my shooting is offhand, I don't have a bench where I hunt. Seriously, this is not the kind of gun to spend a lot of time on the bench with. Though it will be tested to see what it will do at long range with heavy low drag bullets.
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