[dirtyjim]

the circus is in town so i needed something in case one of those pesky elephants escapes.
the action in a rail marked oberndorf, bottom metal & bolt handle are from sound metal products & the stock is a british express rifle classic from great americans bargain bin. i started working on it a few months ago and finally had time to thread the barrel and chamber it today, hopefully next weekend i'll have time to inlet it into the stock. i still need to finish opening up the rails, finish shaping the bolt handle, get the barrel band sling swivel, silvers pad & a metal grip cap. for the rear sight i'll probably use a necg island base with a two leaf sight but i may run a banded rear sight base.
i'm going to try to have it finished by october, if its not finished it will at least be shooting by then.

a pic of the parts before i got the smp bottom metal
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v36/dirtyjim/big%20bore/375HHproject2.jpg
smp bottom metal & square shank bolt handle
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v36/dirtyjim/big%20bore/375hhbottommetal.jpg
barrel mounted
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v36/dirtyjim/big%20bore/375HHproject3.jpg
another pic of the action & bottom metal
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v36/dirtyjim/big%20bore/375HHproject4.jpg

i need a bigger lathe
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v36/dirtyjim/big%20bore/375barrelinlathe.jpg

smp bottom metal next to argie 1909 bottom metal for comparison
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v36/dirtyjim/big%20bore/375hhbottommetal1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v36/dirtyjim/big%20bore/375hhbottommetal3.jpg

[Brenden]

dirtyjim, on 05 July 2010 - 09:07 PM, said:

the circus is in town so i needed something in case one of those pesky elephants escapes.

i need a bigger lathe
[

You just need a bigger gun :D . Thats going to be a nice stomper Jim. Give us a close up of that bolt after you get it shaped up and looking good. Its very intresting, I like it. Nice stock choice too, it will compliment the rifle well. Hows the inletting look on those stocks?

Brenden

[akshooter]

can't find where you got the stock?

[Rojelio]

Nice Project! What barrel are you going with?

Roger

[sonic1]

nice start ...
link for stock..
http://www.gunstocks.com/

[ken98k]

Should be a nice rifle when you get finished.

[Ron]

I assume the definition of "smp" bottom metal is "self made part"? If so, then I'm in awe. The bottom metal alone is quite a piece of metal smithing.

[Rojelio]

Ron, on 07 July 2010 - 06:37 PM, said:

I assume the definition of "smp" bottom metal is "self made part"? If so, then I'm in awe. The bottom metal alone is quite a piece of metal smithing.

Sound Metal Products (Duane Weibe).

[dirtyjim]

Brenden, i've had three stocks from great american and they were all from their bargain bin. the inletting on them has always been usable. in the action area and barrel channel they all requred quite a bit a material to be removed and they were slightly deep in the bottom metal area.
on one of them i wanted a trim german style rifle so i just shortened and slightly angled the magwell and front pillar to work with the deeper inletting. on the other i had to shim the bottom metal up about 1/8" then bed it in place. hopefully this one will be better.



Roger, its a a&b barrel. i know they get a bad rap but i also know several people who have had great luck on big bores with them.
this rifle will mainly be shot offhand at 25 yards & i'm not looking for extreme accuaracy.

i have one more chamber to cut then i'm going to donate the reamer to the co-op

[Brenden]

Thanks for the info Jim. I've been looking at their stocks, just wanted some feedback. Doesn't sound like any major issues; all can be addressed with a good wood rasp :)

I'm on my 4th A&B, and I can't find any accuracy problems. My .308 and 338-06 are one hole guns and I'm not the best shot in the world either. Needless to say, for the money I paid, I received more than I expected. I'm anxious to see how this 375 turns out. It’s a beautiful start.

Just out of curiosity, did you stick weld your bolt on? I'm still waiting on the final shaping :) I like that bolt design.

Brenden

[dirtyjim]

brenden, i tack the handle where i want it with my mig then have a local shop tig weld it on.
i've done them with a stick, mig & flux core wire and untill i get a tig i'll keep tacking it in place and have the local guy finish it with a tig. i did a springfield bolt handle with a stick once and it came out good but wasn't worth the time i had in it.

i started inletting the stock and so far the only problem i've ran into is the rear tang area was cut about .200 to deep so it will have to be bedded. i guess that was one of the reasons it was in the bargain bin

[dirtyjim]

its inletted into the stock now, i'm going to order most of the parts to finish it next week. i still need to order the rear sight, front sight insert, banded sling swivel, silvers pad & a grip cap. i also need to figure out the dimensions for my banded rear sight base so i can have it made. i was going to use one from recknagel but all of theirs are slightly to big or slightly to small.

the stock has a lot of mineral streaks that should come out when i finish it. right now the forearm is 7 1/2 inches long in the short british style. it may end up being just a tad longer when i install the ebony tip. the exact lenght of the forearm depends on the rear sight base that i haven't had made yet.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v36/dirtyjim/big%20bore/375HHproject5.jpg

i still need to sand some of the file marks off the bolt handle.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v36/dirtyjim/big%20bore/375HHproject6.jpg

i realy like the look of this big fat bottom metal
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v36/dirtyjim/big%20bore/375HHproject7.jpg

[Rojelio]

That's a sexy looking rig. It's coming right along.

Roger

[diggerdanh]

dirtyjim, on 25 July 2010 - 05:26 PM, said:

i realy like the look of this big fat bottom metal

Same here!

[Bob58]

Nice - can we see a picture of the feed ramp?

[dirtyjim]

bob, i'm still working on the feedramp and rails. as soon as i have them finished i'll post a couple pictures.
since i don't have a mill yet i had to be a little creative opening up the action. i used a drill press with an x-y table and a carbide burr to open up the bottom of the action. it actually worked better than i thought it would.
i'm still tweaking the rails and ramp a little at a time. the ramp is very close but the right side rail still needs a little work then i'll focus on the left side rail.