At auction today I bought a rifle that I have searched for for awhile. It has 4 things going for it and one against.
1. My favorite BPE caliber a .500BPE #2.
2. It's a Westley.
3. It's hammerless.
4. It sports damascus barrels.
The bad. Looks like it's been restocked. Doesn't look terrible but not great either.
Nice looking rifle. Does the .500 BPE #2 have the 3" or 3 1/4" case? Will you be shooting it with black powder, or a smokeless for black substitute load? What bullet would be appropriate for the Damascus barrels?
3" I've always loaded it smokeless for black and used cast bullets.
Mike,
It looks more like a refinish of the original stock, during the fitting of the pad. It looks like a great rifle, I wouldn't worry about it.
Mike
Der Ami look at the top of the panels right behind the action. The top lines are way off.
Mike
You going to reshape the stock if the inletting is OK?
After you stabilize the cracks?
Nitro
Most likely. Will think hard about having it "regrained" to a higher looking grade of wood also. A pretty girl deserves a pretty dress.
I would like to have them but will have to see if my skill or lack thereof is up to it.
The price of grain painting is pretty steep. As I recall, the price by one of the leading practitioners for grain matching a buttstock extension was around $800.00. That would go a long way toward just restocking with a better grade blank. And the fake grain painting is just a surface finish that can get scratched off on a hunting gun.
It is much better having wood higher than the surrounding metal rather than lower, so long as the inletting is sound, as noted by nitro450exp. I think it would look a just fine if it was simply re-profiled, and refinished with a nice alkanet stain and oil finish to make it look more its' age. And those cheeks look like they have enough extra material for you to practice doing drop points.
Keith I was thinking the same on the extra material. I'll have to see about the grain painting once I check out the stock. I'm not a fan of blond wood. I'd be satisfied if I could get it looking like a nice dark walnut.
Mike,
Maybe you can see something with the rifle "in hand", that I can't see in the photo. It is common, if sufficient care is not taken, for lines to be altered in refinishing, but not additional wood.
Mike
Lovely rifle....gotta love those Damascus barrels!!!
Love the wide rib and the damascus pattern. Looks like a ton of fun.
Steve
forgot to add that it weights 9.2lbs and has 28" barrels
Metford rifling. I slugged the bore today .508. Anyone know of any cast bullets around the 340 grain weight? Can find .510 in 300 grain but can't find anything in 340grain.
That's going to be great fun.
I, too, would be interested in where paper-patch bullet moulds in appropriate weights can be had for the .500#2BPE.
Currently I'm running nitro for black with 460gr PP bullets, but the BP loads were very much lighter, and the NFB could stand being a touch lighter too, more like 440gr.
I know how to check twist rate for normal rifling but when I use the same method for the metford I can tell that I'm getting skips where it's just going straight down the barrel. Anyone have a good method for getting twist rate with Metford rifling?
Mike, kind of heresy but have you considered the skirted (not saboted) 50s for ML. They come in all kinds of weights in the range you are looking for and can use heavy loads of black.
To check your rifling twist, you could push a tight fitting oiled patch through the bore on a wooden dowel rod. You would put a pencil line on the rod at 12:00, and then push it through with a live center from a small lathe. The live center will permit the dowel rod to rotate along with the rifling. If the length of your bore from end of chamber to muzzle is 25", and the index mark on the dowel rod rotated one full turn, that would indicate a 1 in 25" rate of twist. Half a turn over the same distance would indicate a 1 in 50" rate of twist.
You could also mark the rod at the point where you started pushing at the beginning of the rifling, and then mark the point where it made one full turn, and then measure the distance between those two marks.
Keith that's the way that I tried but because of the very shallow round bottom grooves it skips. Even with a very tight fit.
Took it out for a very quick 2 shots at 50yds. Happy with a 2" group to start with.
Congrats on your new find. It always makes me smile to see the targets on big bores...no spotting scope is necessary! Now that you have it in hand, what are your thoughts on the stock?
What's your general location in Alaska? I lived there for about 10 years in Palmer and above the Arctic Circle. Worked all over the state.
I live in Sterling. I've already refinished the stock but can't upload photos to my photo storage site anymore.
I guess that you are right... I would have it restocked. Otherwise a nice piece.