Gentlemen,
yesterday I had the privilege of looking at and handling the famous 458 MS that Joel Dorleac made for Mike Bailey several years ago. In case some of you have forgotten:

http://forums.nitroexpress.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=287223&an=0&page=7#Post287223

The rifle came up for auction at Holts about a year ago and one of the BGRC members was lucky enough to be the winner. It arrived here about month ago and he brought it to our September shoot yesterday.

Let me say it this way. If you think it looks fantastic in the photos, it is nothing compared to seeing and handling it in real. I think that anyone would be hard pressed to find a slicker and more svelte perfect handling well balanced 458 WM in existence. It is dimensionally perfect and the finish is magnificent.
That modified bolt handle is a dream to use and makes me wonder why more gunmakers didn't opt to do that conversion themselves. It makes bolt handle manipulation so much easier.
Another difference which may have been done by Joel is the detent cam behind the root of the bolt handle is not the standard 90 degree vee but rather a rounded cam on the right hand side and a flat on the left which makes bolt operation much smoother. This may have been factory on that model, maybe Joel could let us know. If you look closely in the photos you can see what I mean.
Interestingly when the rifle arrived here in Australia it appears to have been almost un-fired and certainly not used, even the bolt had not really been manipulated.
Unfortunately the owner had not as yet worked up any loaded rounds so I could not get to shoot it but he should have same by the next meeting, I will then report back.
Why Mike Bailey sold it so soon after having received it is a bit of a mystery, although I note that he has not posted on here for some time and my attempts to contact him over another matter have proved fruitless, does anybody know what has happened to Mike?

Anyway, it was a joy to handle and certainly worth every cent.

I should mention here that there is no point of any members getting their hopes up about owning the rifle should the current owner choose to sell it as I am already next in line and he assures me that he won't be selling it any time soon.

Matt.