9.3 - you're right, his was an 86. Through the 50's the 71 seemed to become more popular for all the other wildcats on the .348 case.
; Another point, Harold made his 450gr. cup-pointed 'solids' from steel core .50 browning bullets, cutting them off above the cannelure, then loading them reversed, cupped-base forward. This gave a slight ogive with a cup point. He noted they provided for exteme cavitation in the bears he shot even though they were solids and that he failed to recover any bullets from bears as all exited. His speeds were in the 1,700fps to 1,900fps range.
; Published data for the .50 Alaskan for use in the M71's or stronger actions that runs cast 485gr. bullets to 2,009fps + the 600gr. A-Square solids to 1,739fps. I'll bet that kicks in a m71. These are lever gun ballistics. They are held to 44,000PSI or less. The 485gr. load actually is in the 40,000PSI range.
; Best powders for top velocities will be H or IMR4198 and Reloader #7. I prefer H4198 as it is an extreme powder, not effected by cold or heat. Reloader #7 has shown to be very accurate for me in both .45 and .50 calibres.
; The big British cases usually have to be driven at factory levels to get proper regulation of the sights. That means full power, all the time.
; If flexibility is to shoot a wide variety of loads accurately for a wide variety of game, then the double rifles fail in that definition. They are normally a one load gun but I understand that lighter bullets can sometimes be found to shoot.
; BTW .375 Ruger - Harold made up the .50 to get more power than his .450 provided. At that time, the .450 Alaskan was running 400 through 500gr. bullets up to around 2,000fps. Due to the way FPE formulas work, bore size means nothing to the product of foot pounds energy. Harold, as many other real big game hunters knew, bore size makes a big and noticable difference on dangerous game. That is why a .50 developing 4,000fpe is more effective than a .338 producing 4,000fpe.