| Birdhunter50 |
| (.375 member) |
| 15/05/15 12:26 AM |
.577 NfB double
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Gentlemen,
I thought some of you might be interested to see my latest project gun. It is a .577 NfB rifle built on a 3 1/2 inch magnum 10 gauge frame. It has 27 inch barrels on it and the stock was done by me out of a beautiful piece of Franquette walnut.
The gun weighs 12 pounds 8 ounces and pushes a 650 grain bullet out at 1800 FPS. Recoil is brisk but not uncomfortable, it has a Pachmayr Decelerator butt pad on it. I also extended the rail on the trigger guard down to meet the steel gripcap. Sling swivel studs were fitted fore and aft.
The stock was custom built for the owner, it has a 15" length of pull, drop at the comb is 1 3/8", drop at the heal is 1 5/8", there is 1/4" castoff and the toe is pitched out another 1/4". The checkering is borderless 24 lines per inch, and I was well pleased with the way it turned out. I spent two weeks of my spare time doing the checkering on the two pieces of the stock. Altogether, I am pretty happy with the way it turned out. Bob
| Waidmannsheil |
| (.400 member) |
| 15/05/15 07:10 AM |
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Very nice work.
Waidmannsheil.
| AkMike |
| (.416 member) |
| 15/05/15 02:59 PM |
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That does look really nice. The fit of the wood is nicely done Bob! Congrats! Is this the one headed to Florida?
Now, how's it shoot? Targets?
| CHAPUISARMES |
| (.416 member) |
| 15/05/15 03:40 PM |
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Quote:
Very nice work.
Waidmannsheil.
+1
| Taylor416 |
| (.300 member) |
| 15/05/15 06:12 PM |
Re: .577 NfB double
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Very nice work mate, whats the set up with the barrels? rifled barrels inserted into the 10 gauge or shot gun barrels cut off past the chamber area and rifle barrels attached??
cheers
Chris
http://forums.nitroexpress.com/images/icons/cool.gif
| gwh |
| (.333 member) |
| 16/05/15 01:16 PM |
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Very nice
| Mauser416 |
| (.300 member) |
| 17/05/15 12:05 PM |
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That is indeed a work of art Bob.
The lines of the gun as a whole flow nicely from muzzle to recoil pad. Barrel taper and profile are also spot on in my book.
I would have preferred a splinter forearm but even with the beaver tail this gun still looks good.
The checkering is well executed and laid out in a tasteful manner. Practical but still pleasing without being overly decorative.
The grip cap also adds a nice touch.
I especially like the contrast between the blued barrels, locking lever, action bar and trigger guard against the silver color of the receiver.
Was that the receiver's original finish? I guess electroless nickel would give a similar appearance?
Did you use the front sight with the fiber optic insert?
I am sure the owner i quite pleased with the finished product.
One of these days you need to publish a coffee table book showing the before and after of the fine guns you've created. The Beretta 45-70 you had sometime back was another beauty.
| Birdhunter50 |
| (.375 member) |
| 17/05/15 11:33 PM |
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Re: .577 NfB double
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Eric,
The action was originally nickel plated and I left it that way. The front sight has a small orange fiber optic bead in it so that it will show up in any light. I thank you for the nice comments. The book idea is something that I briefly considered but it would take too much time. I'm covered up with work as it is and I don't need another project right now. Maybe when I retire, if ever, I will consider your book idea.
I once had a customer who wanted to know if we would take photos of the whole process from beginning to end. I told him it would cost him an extra $100.00 and we would only do it if the wife would take on the job. Long story short, she agreed and we did produce the pictures he wanted, but what a pain in the butt that was. She did all the picture taking and editing and sent all of them to him as they were produced.
If you can imagine having your wife looking over your shoulder while you are doing a critical cut or other process, then she sees me doing something that looks interesting so she stops me to take a picture or two, what a pain that was, and definitely not worth the extra $100.00! But she was proud to be "helping out", and because of that I have a whole series of pictures of all the processes that go into making one of these double conversions. So I guess it was worth it in the long run. Bob
| Birdhunter50 |
| (.375 member) |
| 18/05/15 12:12 AM |
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Taylor 416,
The rear of the barrels are cut off at 2 1/2" to 3 1/2 "long to form the monoblock, then the chambers are bored out to give it straight parallel sided walls. The barrels are then turned to the proper profile including shouldered stubs at the rear that closely match the bores of the monoblock. The mating parts are then tinned with solder and installed. Some people turn partial threads on these parts but I have found that not to be necessary if you get a complete adhesion of all the parts with the solder.
I have developed special techniques that allow me to do that and get a 100% fit and fill of the solder into the joined areas. I use Brownells Hi-Force 44 solder which has a holding strength of up to 28,000 pounds at 100% mating. Each barrel stub has appoximately nine square inches of area to be soldered so that equals 252,000 pounds of holding strength per side. I also use it to install all my spacers and the ribs which are completely soldered to the barrels, this makes a sandwitched and reinforced unit out of the barrel assembly which is hugely strong.
Many guys use soft solder on the ribs because it is easier to do, but I feel they are missing the boat, so to speak, when it comes to making a strong barrel set. Using the Hi-Force 44 through out the whole process makes the barrel set much stronger and better able to resist the forces trying to seperate them. Because the ribs are also firmly attached to the barrels, the contures can be made somewhat lighter because each barrel and the attached ribs are helping to support the other barrel during the firing of the gun. Hi-Force 44 costs more and is somewhat more difficult to clean up, but it is worth it to me because of it's extra strength. Bob
| Birdhunter50 |
| (.375 member) |
| 18/05/15 12:13 AM |
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GWH, Thanks!
| Birdhunter50 |
| (.375 member) |
| 18/05/15 12:16 AM |
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Chapuisarms, Thanks!
| Birdhunter50 |
| (.375 member) |
| 18/05/15 12:51 AM |
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Mike,
Thanks for the nice comments. No, this is the second one I built, the other one is already in Florida. This one is currently residing in Canada on a bear hunt. I delivered it last week to the owner who was coming through on his way up there to hunt with a friend. As far as targets go, I don't think I have any left but I'll look. It seemed to be very hard for me to shoot really small pairs with it because I was shooting it over a standing rest. It is even a bit hard to tell when you've got it where you want it because of the weight of the gun and the fact that the rear trigger was set substantially harder than the front trigger.
I remember that I shot one right / left pair at 25 yards that I could lay my hand on and the pointer and middle fingers rested naturally on the two holes. That would have made them about 1 1/4 inches apart center to center. The guy who owns this was only wanting it close enough to hunt with and I certainly got him that and more. The center to center measurement at the muzzles would have been about the same 1 1/4 inches apart, that would make it shooting pretty much parallel.
The gun actually weighed 12 pounds 9.6 ounces empty, and even at that the recoil was brisk to say the least. The first time I fired one of these I had a friend with me as an observer. He is a big guy, 6'4" and about 260 pounds. I have a bad leg so I asked him to stand behind me about a step and a half an catch me if I started to go over backwards. I leaned into the gun and touched off the first shot and I did have to take a partial step backward to keep from going over.
When I got done firing both barrels I asked him if he wanted to try it. With wide eyes he told me that he didn't think so, and he implied that I was crazy for shooting it myself. The recoil from these very large bored guns is different than magnum recoil, it is more of a heavy shove, and it is something that anyone can learn to deal with. I have offered several friends chances to fire one of these and they almost all refused. The only guy who would shoot it was a smaller framed guy who was ex military, he shot it with no problems at all and declared it a BLAST! He probably doesn't weigh over 170 pound or so and is almost a head shorter than I am. Bob
| Birdhunter50 |
| (.375 member) |
| 18/05/15 12:53 AM |
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Waidmannsheil,
Thanks for looking at it. Bob
| Birdhunter50 |
| (.375 member) |
| 18/05/15 04:11 AM |
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Several people have asked whether or not this gun was regulated. It was regulated with 650 grain hard cast bullets at 1800 F.P.S. I usually don't save shot targets from the past, I either send them with the gun or burn them, they tend to accumulate and nobody is interested in them anyway.
This time however, I did save the last regulation target that I fired with this very special gun. The customer told me that all he was interested in was to get it good enough to hunt with, and I think I did that for sure.
I will try and post a copy of it here with this post. The last right /left pair fired show up as redish pink. The top hole was the first shot fired and I pulled it and called it at the bench as being a pulled shot, then I shot the last pair. They measured 7/8 " C. to C. Bob
| DarylS |
| (.700 member) |
| 18/05/15 06:13 AM |
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Looks perfect, Bob - with a bit of movement of the rear sight to the right.
| Birdhunter50 |
| (.375 member) |
| 18/05/15 07:32 AM |
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Daryl,
Yes, this was just the last regulation target. I shot it a bunch and adjusted the sights some more after these were fired. Bob
| Bidgee |
| (.375 member) |
| 18/05/15 10:23 AM |
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Nice work Bob, that is a firearm I would be proud to own.
Cheers
| Birdhunter50 |
| (.375 member) |
| 18/05/15 11:49 AM |
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Bidgee, Thanks for the nice words. Bob
| adrian500ne |
| (.224 member) |
| 04/06/15 02:10 PM |
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What a beauty
| Taylor416 |
| (.300 member) |
| 05/06/15 09:54 PM |
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Birdhunter50
Hi Bob,
love your work mate, very nice.
cheers
Chris
| AZDAVE |
| (.275 member) |
| 05/06/15 10:23 PM |
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Re: .577 NfB double
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Nice work that will be a great bear gun
| Birdhunter50 |
| (.375 member) |
| 06/06/15 12:11 AM |
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AZDAVE,
It already is, I delivered it to him just in time for him to take it on a bear hunt up in Manitoba, Canada. He killed two bears while he was there but only one with this double. The one he shot with this gun was coming straight in to the bait at 30 yards and heading right for him, while he was up in a 13 foot ladder stand. He shot it dead center right behind the shoulders, the bullet took out four inches of the spine, angled back and came out one of the hind legs.
Everyone in camp was impressed with the bear and the gun. They all wanted to shoot it, so after the hunt was over he let any of them shoot it who wanted to try the gun out. He told them all up front to always pull the front trigger first because it was set lighter than the rear one. Everyone who wanted to, got to shoot the gun. Then the last man up put two fingers in it and promptly doubled the gun!
The owner emailed me right away and together we figured out that there was no damage to the stock.
I am enclosing pictures of the bears this fellow shot. I also have a video of the gun being doubled which I will have to try and get on here if I can figure out how to do it. It is hilarious and I doubt if that fellow will ever forget and he will never do that again.
The first two pictures are of the bear he shot with this gun, the other one is the first bear he shot with his 50 Alaskan because he didn't have the double with him at the time. They estimated this bear to be between 500 and 600 pounds. He said the strongest scale that they had in camp was only a 400 pound scale. He and another big guy lifted it up while it was on the scale and they could only lift it enough to get the needle back up to 400 pounds! He measured six feet six inches from nose to the base of his tail and 60 inches around the middle. He measured twelve inches between the ears. He has not been officially score yet but I will know latter how that went. Bob
| rigbymauser |
| (.400 member) |
| 06/06/15 01:21 AM |
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Thatīs a dead bear!!.
Thanks for sharing BH50
| DarylS |
| (.700 member) |
| 06/06/15 03:12 AM |
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Nice Bears - what part of the country?
| felix |
| (.224 member) |
| 06/06/15 06:47 AM |
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very nice work!!!!
| GPJ12345 |
| (.300 member) |
| 08/06/15 03:13 AM |
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Hallo Bob
It really is a great project you completed. As usual the fine craftsmanship is outstanding. Thank you for sharing , it is a delight to look at such beautiful doubles build by a master like you. Looking forward to all new builds still coming. Will you consider making available a photo report of the completed project for us novices to get more insight in the building procedures?
Regards
Gert
| Birdhunter50 |
| (.375 member) |
| 11/06/15 02:05 AM |
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Gert,
The total process is too long and complicated to do a complete report here. I'll tell you what I will do for you though, you send me you personal email address and I will email you some pictures my wife took of another gun I built and the machining procedures used to build it. A past buyer wanted a visual record of what I was doing and paid her to document each step with photography. The photos are pretty much self explanatory. Bob
| GPJ12345 |
| (.300 member) |
| 11/06/15 03:34 AM |
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Hallo Bob
This is much appreciated, I will remove a rock from your path someday...
Kind Regards
Gert
| Birdhunter50 |
| (.375 member) |
| 11/06/15 06:41 AM |
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I thought some of you might like to see this video of this gun being double discharged. The owner had just completed a bear hunt in Canada and all the guys with him wanted to try shooting it. This video is of the last guy up, and he puts two fingers in the gun, even though he had been told to only fire the front trigger. Luckily the gun was not hurt, but I can't say the same for the shooter.
This gun weighs 12 1/2 pounds and you can see where he almost looses control of it completely.
Bob
https://youtu.be/EPX3kaIPvIs