| CJF |
| (.300 member) |
| 14/09/20 03:23 AM |
Re: John Dickson 500 BPE hammer gun
|
Quote:
That is a beautiful rifle!
Congratulations on taking the plunge!
If you don't have cerrosafe or a good way to make a chamber cast, you could simply use a small dowel or popsickle stick with a nice square end to feel down the chamber and mark the length.
It will surely be a 3" 500 but nice to confirm before loading.
The components and a good selection of bullets are all very accessible here so it will be no problem getting her to sing.
Couldn't think of a better first double rifle.
So a year has gone by and I've only just cast the chamber with cerrosafe. Honestly, this was the first time I've done a cast and I put it off for a quite awhile due to fear I'd damage the rifle or have the cast stick in rifle. Finally tackled it last weekend and here's what I'm seeing:
1) case length is 3"
2) freebore or leade is 0.36" long. I was surprised at how stark a ring or shadow this shows when looking through the barrel, when in reality it is a totally smooth taper to the rifling's start
3) rifling has 6 lands (0.090" wide) and 6 grooves (0.171")
4) chamber at base 0.573", at mouth (before leade) 0.541"
Bore seems smaller than the 0.510" I was expecting. More like 0.502-.504.
Brass and dies are on order from Graf's, along with a selection of black powder (there was a 4lb minimum.)
Any feedback on either the bore measurement or recommendations on projectiles? I'd like to initially try buying projectiles to see what works, before getting a mould.
Regards,
Chris