Empire Rifles is indeed gone. Left many folks in a bind as they took deposits & never the rifles; if I remember correctly the bankruptcy filing showed ~12 people who lost between $5k & $15k on deposits.

I have a few of their rifles and really, really like them (my favorite being a takedown with 30-06 and 9.3x62 barrels). All of mine were purchased on the used gun market, but when I had to deal directly with Empire/George Sandmann things definitely got frustrating due to the lack of communication.

I know of several Empires available in 375 H&H & larger calibers if your friend is interested. I would definitely lean towards one based on their proprietary actions or one built on a GMA action. I didn't really like the ones I had that were built on the Italian FN copy.

Like I said, the rifles are fantastic but dealing with the company typically wasn't.