For Sale 505 Gibbs Project Rifle

[ay2626]

I have a 505 Gibbs built on a Vektor action. I recently purchased and there is a thread on this site about the rifle. She looks real good but has been giving me some issues. I have not been able to get the rifle to feed properly and there is also a chip on the rim of the bolt face. There is also just enough play in the bolt head that the cocking piece may catch on the channel at the end of the receiver (doesn’t happen when cycling the bolt but have experienced when taking bolt out and re-inserting. This rifle was supposedly built by champlin but there is no way that is true and I can’t verify the history of this rifle. I have a pretty large rifle collection and I’m not sure I want to devote my time in trying to get this resolved. Thought I would offer it as a project rifle for someone out there that might have the skill to work on it. Asking $4,500.

 

[Wishfulthinker580]

Man that’s depressing.. Sorry it didn’t work out

 

[John Telford]

Have sent pics to Casey Lewis for comment. He ran the Vektor project.

 

[ay2626]

Have sent pics to Casey Lewis for comment. He ran the Vektor project.

Would you happen to have contact information for Casey?

 

[ay2626]

Just posting a note to close this item for sale. I’m moving forward on some plans to get this repaired.

 

[BigGame]

.505 is a big beeeotch.. and an incredible PITA to get to feed properly. Only a few actions in the world have an appropriate sized bolt face to truly accommodate this round. I had Ed Lapour spend in his words "a bizillion hours into the feeding of my rifle" I might say his efforts have produced a smooth like butter feeding of Barnes flat nose solids before Barnes moved to the rounded bullet for this caliber. A true master of the craft and a great guy!!!

 

[ay2626]

.505 is a big beeeotch.. and an incredible PITA to get to feed properly. Only a few actions in the world have an appropriate sized bolt face to truly accommodate this round. I had Ed Lapour spend in his words "a bizillion hours into the feeding of my rifle" I might say his efforts have produced a smooth like butter feeding of Barnes flat nose solids before Barnes moved to the rounded bullet for this caliber. A true master of the craft and a great guy!!!

The size of the bolt face is exactly the issue that’s making the path forward on the repair a bit uncertain. It’s only 0.70 inch which is marginal for the Gibb’s 0.64 inch rim. That leaves quite a bit of concern on if a repair on the face can hold up. It’s off to a very competent gunsmith to inspect, but I might be looking at the need to just rebarrel to a cartridge better suited to the size of the bolt. He was thinking if I need to go down that path he could make 500 Jeffery work so that it can at least stay in the .50 caliber class.

 

[Pheroze]

The size of the bolt face is exactly the issue that’s making the path forward on the repair a bit uncertain. It’s only 0.70 inch which is marginal for the Gibb’s 0.64 inch rim. That leaves quite a bit of concern on if a repair on the face can hold up. It’s off to a very competent gunsmith to inspect, but I might be looking at the need to just rebarrel to a cartridge better suited to the size of the bolt. He was thinking if I need to go down that path he could make 500 Jeffery work so that it can at least stay in the .50 caliber class.

Good luck and please update us when you have it done.

 

[BigGame]

I recall Ed machined (squared) the front of the bolt face and was concerned about changing the chamber dimensions and then he would have to adjust the barrel and rechamber. He was working with very tight tolerances. After that the lip around the bolt face was slightly slimmer. It still functioned flawlessly but, he would have preferred more metal and mentioned other actions with a larger bolt face. There were other things he machined like the feed ramp and magazine box to get it to where it is now but, it took a lot of hours. I'm glad I paid for the work and trust the rifle now. I am sure a competent gunsmith can assess your rifle and sort any feeding issues. Ed was a guild member and has a lifetime of experience. I lucked out that he took the job and saw it through to perfection.

 

[John Telford]

Did you get this repaired?

 

[ay2626]

It is in the works right now. I’ve sent it off but its going to be a while before I get it back.

 

[John Telford]

Had lunch with Cassey Lewis Friday and his advice was that that it should be welded up with the same material ie en36 . The bolt should be placed vertically in a container of water upto the level of the locking lug to prevent it heating the bolt too much. When Cassey designed the bolt he made the groove diameter to a higher tolerance to make the bolt stronger in case of excessive loads. The cause of the extractor snapping off is due to loading a cartridge directly into the chamber and not from the magazine. The rim needs to feed from underneath.
I hope you get it sorted as it is a fantastic action!

 

[ay2626]

Thank you for getting me this information! I’m sure it will be very helpful in getting this resolved.

 

[7MAG]

I have a 505 Gibbs built on a Vektor action. I recently purchased and there is a thread on this site about the rifle. She looks real good but has been giving me some issues. I have not been able to get the rifle to feed properly and there is also a chip on the rim of the bolt face. There is also just enough play in the bolt head that the cocking piece may catch on the channel at the end of the receiver (doesn’t happen when cycling the bolt but have experienced when taking bolt out and re-inserting. This rifle was supposedly built by champlin but there is no way that is true and I can’t verify the history of this rifle. I have a pretty large rifle collection and I’m not sure I want to devote my time in trying to get this resolved. Thought I would offer it as a project rifle for someone out there that might have the skill to work on it. Asking $4,500.View attachment 438721View attachment 438722View attachment 438723View attachment 438724View attachment 438725View attachment 438726View attachment 438727View attachment 438728View attachment 438729View attachment 438730View attachment 438731View attachment 438732

Send the action to Karl feldkamp or chad Dixon, one of them will fix it.