.458 Build in Progress!

Ok guys Im in to this build and thought I'd share a few of the first pictures. I have a lot of metal work and wood work left to do. Lyman receiver sight is mounted and ready to go. Front ring, recoil lug and about two inches of the barrel have been steel bedded. Rear ring has been glass bedded. Front pillar is installed and glassed in. I still have to fit the banded front sight and the Talley barrel band sling mount. I still have to cut about another inch off the forearm and cut it down for the barrel band. The barrel has been cut and crowned at 20".

For the ones who are not fimilar with the .458 Win Mag.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...y/P9070168.jpg
Left to right: .223, .308Win, .270Win, .30-06Springfield, 7mm Rem Mag, .300Win Mag, .350Rem Mag, .348Win Mag and the .458Win Mag

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...y/P9070014.jpg
Thats a 24" 12ga Remington 870 and thats not a bull barrel on that rifle!

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Donar action (from pawn shop, $125 out the door!) started off an older .300Win Mag with flat reciever and regular trigger.

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A full 1/2" diameter pillar glass bedded with a counter sunk bolt head.

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Base for the Lyman 57 reciever sight ready for action.

One last thing I have to do before I start working the stock is to drill and bed the crossbolt behind the recoil lug. Give me a few days and I'll post somemore as I get it together.

Awesome, working on one myself!

Just got rid of mine. You will have fun with it.

458 WIN MAG?!?!?!

What do you do?.... Tie yourself to a tree to shoot it?!?!

What's the recoil like? I shot a 338 Lapua mag without a muzzle brake on it & I couldn't use my right arm for a week. I thought it would knock me off the bench.

What's that like? Holding a 105 Howitzer on your shoulder?

Good luck with it. Looks pretty good so far.

Frank in Fla

Mine wasn't too bad. I had a good recoil pad on it and a brake on it of my own design that really tamed the recoil. Felt like a 30-06 with a stiff load.

I love the big bores! The worst thing about this one is going to be the weight, should be right on 7 lbs.

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Originally Posted by mbruk

Awesome, working on one myself!

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I also.

Looks good!

I had a 458 for a couple years and it was a lot of fun. Mine weighed 8# with the scope and it was pretty manageable to shoot. Besides, you don't need to run it full power all the time. Downloaded to about 450 Marlin velocities it was very versatile and fun.

Andrew

Pretty cool looking rifle. Where exactly does the cross bolt go through? Behind the recoil lug? To add some weight to it, you could use some Forstner bits and drill out a few areas under the barrel, and add lead weight. Also some more lead in the butt of the stock. The forend weight will help keep muzzle flip down, and the buttstock, to absorb the rest of the punishment er I meant recoil. You ought to be able to get it to around 9lbs that way.

What's the best way to go about installing the barrel banded sling swivel mount and front sight?

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Originally Posted by Shoot-N-Nut

I love the big bores! The worst thing about this one is going to be the weight, should be right on 7 lbs.

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Probably will be a one man gun!! I have 375 H&H synthetic @ about 8 lbs and none of my friends will shoot it again, but it is a lefty. It's really too light and seems like it kills on both ends.

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Originally Posted by thomae

What's the best way to go about installing the barrel banded sling swivel mount and front sight?

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The banded swivel mount and front sight aint to bad to install. You have to locate the spot on the barrel where they will be located and measure it. The bands come in a variety of sizes and they are straight through not tappered, so you have to determin what size you need based on the location on your barrel. I have several tappered reamers I normally use if I have one close enough, if not you have to do some hand work to open it up to fit the barrel. A Dremel tool with a small drum sander works, just take your and go slow and keep checking the diameter with calipers till you get it close enough. You have to clean and degrease the barrel well, I like to use some 800 grit paper to clean the area up. A little 609 Loctite and drive it in to place like a pressed fit. I useally heat the band up a little before driving it on to give it a good tight fit. Ive seen some of the front sights that have a set screw under the sight insert to help hold it in place.

Thanks for sharing your method/technique. That may help me with my build in the future.

makes for an awesome chipmonk rifle..one never knows when one will decide to attack...

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Originally Posted by handirifle

Where exactly does the cross bolt go through? Behind the recoil lug?

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Yea, its just one more little insurance policy against recoil. This stock is all handmade and hand inlet. It was made from a piece of 100 year old walnut that came from my grandfathers old barn, it was some old growth tight grain very well seasoned wood. It does have unique color stripes in it and a little bit of curl. I have to many hours in makeing this stock to risk having it split from recoil!

Ok, stock is fully inlet, glass and steel bedded, cross bolt bedded, banded front swivel mount installed on barrel, custom barrel band fit and ready for finish, recoil pad fit (I started to use a steel butt plate and had second thoughts thinking about a 7lb rifle that kicks!), first coat of oil has been applied to the stock (I cut tung oil 50/50 with turpinetine and really soak the stock inside and out with a sponge to get the oil in deep). I still need to fit and install the front sight and get the metal finished, Im using Dura Coat, a mixture of 3 parts gun blue and 1 part gloss black (it looks just like blued steel), then to get the grain filled and the stock finished and we'll be ready to throw some lead down range!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...psacf89e54.jpg

Wow. Really nice work.
I do have a few questions.
1. What was your thought process on not putting a cross bolt behind the rear action screw? I know there is not much room there, but that is another location that may be prone to splitting.

2. Have you considered drilling into the hand grip/wrist area from the inside and epoxying in a metal rod to strengthen that part of the stock?

3. Also, I thought the purpose of the barrel mounted sling swivel mount was to keep it from hitting one's hand during recoil. Although I like the barrel band you made, with that on the rifle, don't you run the same risk of injury to your forward hand?

4. With two forward sling mounts, are you planning to use a stock mounted bipod or are you setting yourself up for something like the Ching-sling?

Please don't take my questions as criticism; I'm simply trying to get in your head and figure out your thought process so I can work through the same, or similar, issues when I build mine.

I really like the stock you built. I have woodworking skills, but am not up to making my own gunstocks just yet.

Again, very nice work. Thank you for sharing.

The first rifle I ever built back in the late 70's was a 45-70 built on a Simease action. I used a semi sporterized military stock and left the rear barrel band on it to make it like a true carbine style rifle. After all these years I wanted to build another one, the first one is long gone. But evidently its pretty much impossible to get a Savage bolt face to work with the 45-70, several here suggested a .450 Marlin but barrels for them are not readily availible, Brownells carries the .458 barrels in stock no waiting and it has a few pluses over the .450 Marlin (in my opinion) because there is a larger choice of brass and ammo out there for the .458, the .458 can be handloaded down to the ranges of the 45-70 and .450 Marlin and still have the ability to step up to a round that can be used anywhere in the World to hunt anything you want. So this rifle style is pruely sentimental to me. I put the banded sling mount on the barrel to give me a few extra inches, I like to wrap my sling when shooting and as short as this rifle and forearm is every inch helps, that and Im not a big fan of mounting the sling to the barrel band so there is no sling mount on this band. There is a 3/8 by 3/8" steel block thats 1.250" long that is steel bedded behind the recoil lug, the only part you see on the outside of the stock is the 1/4" threaded screws that go into that block which are J&B welded into the block so they wont come out then the heads are cut down flush with the stock. The recoil lug, front ring, barrel nut and a couple inches of the barrel are all steel bedded, there is a 1/2" steel pillar steel bedded for the front stock bolt and a 3/8" steel pillar bedded for the rear stock bolt. The rear ring, sides of the action, rear tang and inside the area inlet for the trigger are all glass bedded with Acraglas with the fiberglass flock added to it, so I dont think the rear cross bolt will be an issue with this one.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. My bad...In the picture, to me the bottom of the barrel band (I presume where it screws together) looks like a swivel mount.

It all sounds good...I am looking forward to seeing the completed project.

Again, thanks for sharing.

Yea it clamps together at the bottom, I used a Ruger barrel band as a model. There is room I could have used one of the Ruger sling mounts that goes in the slot between the two.

Sorry about the bad picture, but front sight fit and installed. Working on metal prep now getting ready to shoot the Duracoat here shortly.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...8_edited-1.jpg

That stock is gonna be a beauty, it also looks like the grain is going to help you keep from splitting at the grip
although I cant see the other side. Gun looks great.... cant wait to see it finished

Larry

that's coming along nicely! can't wait to see it done.

The Duracoat went on nicely, they say you can assemble the gun after 24 hours but I like to give them a couple days, so I'll start getting it together on Monday when Im off work. Duracoat kills me, they make a color called gun blue, but if you want it to match a blued steel color they will tell you to mix it 3 to 1 with gloss black. Now is it just me or is there anybody else out there that thinks if your going to name a color gun blue, it should look like a blued gun? If you know your color is to blue to match blued steel why not just change your color instead of telling your customers to mix the gloss black with it if you want it to look like "gun Blue"? Anyway it works, looks just like a high polished blue job.

or they could mix it and sell you one can at a loses of profit to then selves. wait, I see an error in my thinking!

Yea I hear ya, this way they get to sell ya two colors even though you only need one! Their gun blue color by its self reminds me of the fire blue color you usally see on screws for a case hardened firearm. But I'll say this, you add that little bit of gloss black and out in the sunlight this stuff looks just like a high polished blue job!

Ok, the only thing left to do is to change out the trigger gurad once I can find a steel one in stock, Im still waiting on the front sight hood and I need to pick up a sling (Im going with the old military style). I shot it twice this morning just checking everything out, brass came out fine, which I used the go and no-go gauge that came with the Shaw barrel, stock held together and it didnt blow up in my face so its time to sight it in and work up some handloads for it.
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That thing looks absolutly awesome. great work.

Thanks, Im happy with it. Muzzle blast in that short barrel is awful! My son was standing beside me about 5 feet away and he said he could feel it when it went off! I hope I can get it sighted in quickly, not sure I want to shoot it to many times in a row!

That looks great what's the weight on that

Not as bad as I thought it was going to be, it tips the scale right at 7lbs 14oz, I was tempted to stick my thumb on the scale just to make me feel better about the recoil!

LOL I know a half dozen guys that would use that for a handgun barrel. Get one of them Past magnum shoulder pads. No one will know your wearing it and you will win the tough guy competition!

Wow I'd say your not going to shoot much off the bench ;-)

Great looking rifle, but after reading that you didn't want to sling it from the barrel band, what IS that hanging from the barrel band?

If it were mine, (but of course it isn't) I'd gone longer on the barrel, but it's kinda like my Marlin Guide gun, except with a bolt and on steroids!

Oh yes, one more thing, speaking of the bolt, it's on the wrong side. Sigh....., guess you can't think of everything on a build.;)

The sling mount is on the barrel, I used that instead of using the barrel band that wraps around the stock.



MOA, not much bench time in this rifles future!

Very nice! I shoot cast bullets in mine ala 45/70.

Ok, If I can figure this video thing out I'll post a video of my son testing the 458!

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Originally Posted by Shoot-N-Nut

Ok, If I can figure this video thing out I'll post a video of my son testing the 458!
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Video does not work for me


Drybean

I know let me figure this out, my son posted it on facebook and I was trying to embed it here, but it doesnt work. Im going to have to download it to photobucket I guess to get it to post.

It works now, just click the picture! This was the second time he shot it, so he was still a little sore!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...clip0002-1.jpg