G'day all from Ian (aka watto) in Oz.

Firstly congratulations on a fantastic site! I have just joined and this is my first post. I live in a rural area called Lindenow, near the town of Bairnsdale in eastern Victoria. I have a baikal 45/70 sxs on order which is supposed to land here in the next 2 or 3 weeks, after chasing one for 2 years approximately. I had ideas of pretty well immediately doing a re-chamber to .450 Alaskan, but have since been advised that the action probably would not be strong enough. So then I came up with what I thought was a pretty crazy idea of using the Baikal barrels and the action of a Fausti 12g sxs and having a good gunsmith addapt them together. While researching the idea I came accross this site and here I am. The 12g looks to be in excellent condition and I have spoken to Mialls Gunshop in Frankston Vic, which is about a 4 hour drive from my place and they have said they can do the conversion for me. The thing that prompted me to write was the previous post in this thread that seemed to suggest that the regulating system did not work. When I contacted Mialls, who I believe do a fair amount of work on traditional doubles, they stated that the had been playing with a 30/06 Baikal sxs and had it putting both barrels virtually through the same hole. I did not think to ask the range, but for that cal I would suspect it would be 100yds. They suggested the conversion would be probably about twice the cost of the new rifle ($1,300Au) making the overall cost a little over $4k including the 12g. If I am going to that expense (maybe not straight away) I am open to other suggestions as to more traditional calibers than the .450 Alaskan. My main hunting is for Sambar deer in the nearby hills, and I will use the double when hunting in heavy cover areas. I would also like to do a Buff hunt up the top end at some stage, and also before I become too feeble, maybe sell my yacht, sell my car, send my wife back to work and do the African thing that I have dreamed about since I was about 12. My current rifles are a Ruger 22/77 Hornet, an SMLE No3 .303 sporter and a .300 WSM Tika T3 Lite in mat s/s. I have previously owned a Pedersolli percussion DR in .58, but could not get it shooting well no matter what loads I tried. I also nearly purchased a .50 Alaskan DR which I believe ended up going to Darwin, so one of you blokes up there may have come accross it.

All the best, Ian.