.458 winchester silk purse from a sows ear project

[425SCHADE]

More information on this rifle please.
I have also draw filed barrels to remove the built in safety brochure on them.

Hi marcosfal;

The rifle is a Remington No.4 in .22LR I inherited and was in very poor shape so it received a full restoration. The metal work was filed, scraped, sanded and stoned as required, then cold blued. Nothing too fancy as the rifle didnt warrant it (bore is corroded to basically an unserviceable state).
New semi-finished timber fitted and oil finished.

 

[ChrisG]

I have about half the barrel sanded out and most of the pits removed. The rest of them the rust bluing should hide decently. I am only sanding to 320 grit because anything finer and I have had problems getting the acid solution to go on evenly even after it has been thoroughly, obsessively degreased. Did some work on the front sight. It had a straight knurling on the front that wasn't even and a little rusty. So I filed it off and replaced it with stippling to reduce glare.

 

[Shootist43]

That works!!

 

[ChrisG]

So after hours and hours of carefully sanding down to 320 grit... I have a Whitworth with the bluing removed where it can be rust blued and most of the pits removed. The ones that remain are light enough that they will be hidden by the rust bluing.

 

[mdwest]

Looking excellent!

 

[sestoppelman]

Great thread!
Your Whitworth is an early one like one I got a while back. Mine, also .458 is just a couple months earlier, SN is 1000024 and those rifles started with the 1 so mine may actually be no 24.
Mine has the same features as yours, the 3 folding leaves whereas the later ones like my .375 had one fixed and 2 folders. You also have the early style barrel band and front sight as does mine, not many around of this vintage.
Sad to say mine came with a nice factory walnut stock that was damaged inside from recoil. I have made those repairs but it also needed feed and ejection work which I gave to a 'smith to do, its on its way home now. I dont share your skillset!
Whatever you do when you put it in wood, bed the hell out of it with good bedding, it really needs it. Mine was not bedded from the factory as it should have been and as my .375 Whitworth was, in two places. The main recoil lug area was bedded as well as a second lug screwed to the bottom of the barrel up in the barrel channel and bedded there, I recommend doing that. This is a good feature and after many rounds my .375 is still holding up well.
Were it me I would not be in a big hurry to plug those rear sight holes, you might want them someday and they dont hurt anything, put fillers in and forget they are there.
Following your thread with interest.

 

[ChrisG]

Great thread!
Your Whitworth is an early one like one I got a while back. Mine, also .458 is just a couple months earlier, SN is 1000024 and those rifles started with the 1 so mine may actually be no 24.
Mine has the same features as yours, the 3 folding leaves whereas the later ones like my .375 had one fixed and 2 folders. You also have the early style barrel band and front sight as does mine, not many around of this vintage.
Sad to say mine came with a nice factory walnut stock that was damaged inside from recoil. I have made those repairs but it also needed feed and ejection work which I gave to a 'smith to do, its on its way home now. I dont share your skillset!
Whatever you do when you put it in wood, bed the hell out of it with good bedding, it really needs it. Mine was not bedded from the factory as it should have been and as my .375 Whitworth was, in two places. The main recoil lug area was bedded as well as a second lug screwed to the bottom of the barrel up in the barrel channel and bedded there, I recommend doing that. This is a good feature and after many rounds my .375 is still holding up well.
Were it me I would not be in a big hurry to plug those rear sight holes, you might want them someday and they dont hurt anything, put fillers in and forget they are there.
Following your thread with interest.

Good information! The stock is going to have metal reinforcement bedded in behind the recoil lug, behind the tang and a rod down through the wrist to reinforce it. I had contemptated soldering a block to the bottom of the barrel to bed into the forend. The rifle is way too light so I am going to probably have to add weight to the stock to get it up to around 10 lbs. Serial number is 100194 so it is likely the 194th one off the line if the serial numbers started at 100000. Thank you!

 

[sestoppelman]

I have no plans to load mine to max or anywhere near, no plans to hunt with it and as you say, hurtfully light!
Even 350 and 400 gr bullets at 2000 or so fps, smacks me pretty hard. I may add some weight to mine as well, just to tame it a bit.

 

[ChrisG]

I have no plans to load mine to max or anywhere near, no plans to hunt with it and as you say, hurtfully light!
Even 350 and 400 gr bullets at 2000 or so fps, smacks me pretty hard. I may add some weight to mine as well, just to tame it a bit.

I fired 3 rounds of 500 grain@ 2,125 fps offhand before I pulled it all apart and it gave me a recoil headache. I have never had a gun do that to me offhand before.

 

[sestoppelman]

I fired 3 rounds of 500 grain@ 2,125 fps offhand before I pulled it all apart and it gave me a recoil headache. I have never had a gun do that to me offhand before.

Same thing happened to me once years ago with my first .458, an old model Ruger 77. It came with 3 rounds fired out of a box of factory rounds. I sold it with 6 rounds fired from that same box.
When I hear guys say they love shooting a .458 Win or Lott from a Ruger No. 1, I break out in a cold sweat!. I figure I am just a big wimp or they are dead from the neck up!

 

[sestoppelman]

This is how my .375 Whitworth came from the factory, it was purchased new by me in 1984.

 

[ChrisG]

This is how my .375 Whitworth came from the factory, it was purchased new by me in 1984.
View attachment 413205View attachment 413206

I might do something similar with this one although I will probaby solder the block to the barrel. My Winchester. 375 had a similar block bedded into the forend.

 

[sestoppelman]

A tight dovetail cut would be good too I think, staked in. I wouldnt use screws either, probably blow thru into the bore with my luck!

 

[ChrisG]

A tight dovetail cut would be good too I think, staked in. I wouldnt use screws either, probably blow thru into the bore with my luck!

Yeah I don't drill and tap barrels. For one thing, they are usually reall tough steel so I have a fear of breaking a tap off in them. The second thing is a fear of blowing through. This one especially doesnt have a wole lot of meat on it. I will make a nice 1"x 7/8"x1/2" block and solder it to the bottom of the barrel.

 

[sestoppelman]

Dimensions of this one on mine is 3/8" D x 5/8" W x 1" L.

 

[Badboymelvin]

I fired 3 rounds of 500 grain@ 2,125 fps offhand before I pulled it all apart and it gave me a recoil headache. I have never had a gun do that to me offhand before.

If it gave you a recoil headache - just imagine what it'll do to whatever it hits!

 

[Badboymelvin]

So after hours and hours of carefully sanding down to 320 grit... I have a Whitworth with the bluing removed where it can be rust blued and most of the pits removed. The ones that remain are light enough that they will be hidden by the rust bluing.View attachment 413128View attachment 413129

ChrisG,

While you're getting a stock sorted - if you do want to shoot it in the meantime (to get used to it), you can fit a Hogue stock with the full aluminium bedding block pretty cheap.
I have one fitted to my Zastava and I absolutely love it.
It's held up to the recoil fine and speaking of recoil, my reloads are pushing 80ft/lbs.
It may not be the prettiest stock out there, but I've hunted in some pretty horrible conditions and it's never let me down.
Just throwing it out there as it may be an (temporary) option for you

Watching this thread with great interest!

Russ

 

[ChrisG]

If it gave you a recoil headache - just imagine what it'll do to whatever it hits!

For sure! I am also thinking that 7.5lbs is WAYYY too light for a .458. I had a Ruger M77 Hawkeye African in .416 Ruger that from the factory came at 7.75lbs. I added lead filled copper pipes to the buttstock and the forend to get it up to 9.5 lbs then added a 1.25" thick recoil pad. That made it much easier to shoot. And that was only a 400 grain bullet at about 2,300fps. But I could stand to shoot enough of those off a bench to get it sighted in. Not even close with this one.

 

[deewayne2003]

ChrisG - Love the project and you certainly have the skill set to do it right; so I am wondering why you haven't mentioned fitting a mercury recoil reducer in the stock?

As you said "7.5lbs is WAYYY to light for .458" - Sounds like adding a recoil reducer to the stock would be killing 2(or even 3) birds with one stone= Recoil reduction, added weight & better balance.

Meanwhile for test firing, until you get the new stock in- You can unscrew the recoil pad on the plastic stock and stuff it full of weight & packing material to keep everything tight and re-install the recoil pad.

 

[ChrisG]

ChrisG - Love the project and you certainly have the skill set to do it right; so I am wondering why you haven't mentioned fitting a mercury recoil reducer in the stock?

As you said "7.5lbs is WAYYY to light for .458" - Sounds like adding a recoil reducer to the stock would be killing 2(or even 3) birds with one stone= Recoil reduction, added weight & better balance.

Meanwhile for test firing, until you get the new stock in- You can unscrew the recoil pad on the plastic stock and stuff it full of weight & packing material to keep everything tight and re-install the recoil pad.

I am actually going to be adding weight in the form of lead filled copper pipes, hard epoxied into the stock, both foreand and butt until I get the gun to balance correctly. Mercury recoil reducers have always been a little gimmicky to me. I understand how they're supposed to work but it seems to me all the do is reduce the overall recoil and dont do much for the impulse (the initial rate of acceleration rearward). Lead weight epoxied in will reduce both. The idea is to bring the whole gun up to about 10 lbs nd balance it so it still handles well.