SteveH
.300 member
Reged: 26/12/03
Posts: 118
Loc: Hillsboro, Oregon
|
|
What do you guys think of this gun and caliber?
Thad Scott Rodda 500/475
-Steve
|
tinker
.416 member
Reged: 12/03/05
Posts: 4835
Loc: Nevada
|
|
Is that a stock repair in the wrist?
the floorplate doesn't seem to fit up well to the action metal, has it been restocked?
Has it been rebarreled (even if a very long time ago)?--those barrel reinforcements don't match the contour of the standing breeches...
Looks rough.
Price seems high.
--Tinker
--------------------
--Self-Appointed Colonel, DRSS--
"It IS a dangerous game, and so named for a reason, and you can't play from the keyboard. " --Some Old Texan...
|
400NitroExpress
.400 member
Reged: 26/11/03
Posts: 1154
Loc: Lone Star State
|
|
I don't know for sure what that thing is, other than you probably don't want it. There was never a .500/.475 cartridge. The seller says this gun uses a .470 case with .483" bullets. No, I don't think it's been rebarreled. The proof marks on the flats are for the .475 3 1/4", which uses .483" bullets, and is based on the .450 case. I'm pretty sure that this rifle is just a .475 3 1/4" that had badly pitted chambers which somebody cleaned up with a .470 reamer, resulting in a wildcat. Call it a ".500/.475" and presto, it isn't a buggered gun anymore!
The "barrel reinforcements" aren't that at all. Those are the wings of the shoe-lump assembly. Rodda seems to have used shoe-lump barrels almost exclusively. No, the wings don't follow the contour of the fences perfectly, but that's just the way Rodda's look.
That thing is gonzo over priced.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------
"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."
|
SteveH
.300 member
Reged: 26/12/03
Posts: 118
Loc: Hillsboro, Oregon
|
|
400,
Where did you find the proof marks? Are there additional photos some where?
Thanks!
-Steve
|
400NitroExpress
.400 member
Reged: 26/11/03
Posts: 1154
Loc: Lone Star State
|
|
Steve:
A friend of mine asked me what that gun could be, so I called. The seller is a touch shy of exact details, but did say that the proof marks included ".475EX" which yields three possibilities - 475 3 1/4" NE, .475 No. 2, and .475 No. 2 Jeffery. The gun is set up for .470 cases, so the latter two are not possible. The .475 3 1/4" NE was never popular and was not widely chambered. The only makers I've ever seen multiple guns from in this caliber are Charles Lancaster, Cogswell & Harrison, and R. B. Rodda, with the vast majority coming from the latter two. I'm pretty sure this rifle was originally a .475 3 1/4" as it is marked ".475EX" and Cogswells and Roddas are unique in being common in this unusual caliber.
Given a DR with usable bores but buggered chambers, where possible, cleaning up with a reamer for the next size up case is the shortest and cheapest route from a useless rifle to one that can give good service again. You see these in various calibers from time to time, sometimes reproved, sometimes not. In recent years, I can recall an Evans .400/.360 Purdey that had been reamed to use the .375 Flanged Magnum case necked to the existing .366 bore, and a Rigby .450 3 1/4" NE that was simply rechambered to .500/.450 3 1/4" H & H. Both of those were re-proved.
BTW, there's another Rodda .475 3 1/4" boxlock for sale on Westley Richards' web site. Champlins has . C & H. .475 3 1/4" sidelock.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------
"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."
|
Raff
.300 member
Reged: 12/01/04
Posts: 182
Loc: Texas
|
|
Steve;
I own a DR with non-standard chambers. Run, don't
walk the other way. Way overpriced. About impossible to
resell when you are tired of it.
Raff
--------------------
.
|
SteveH
.300 member
Reged: 26/12/03
Posts: 118
Loc: Hillsboro, Oregon
|
|
Thanks Guys!! I've drooled over that sidelock on Champlin's site before. The One on WR's site is a beaut as well.
The Rodda struck my unschooled eye as a bit rough as well. I'd never heard of that chambering either. Probably wouldn't have bought it in either case, bu I'm glad that I asked about it here.
-Steve
|
mickey
.416 member
Reged: 05/01/03
Posts: 4647
Loc: Pend Oreille Valley, Idaho
|
|
Does it seem like Thad Scott has a lot of these types of rifles?
--------------------
Lovu Zdar
Mick
A Man of Pleasure, Enterprise, Wit and Spirit Rare Books, Big Game Hunting, English Rifles, Fishing, Explosives, Chauvinism, Insensitivity, Public Drunkenness and Sloth, Champion of Lost and Unpopular Causes.
|
400NitroExpress
.400 member
Reged: 26/11/03
Posts: 1154
Loc: Lone Star State
|
|
Naw. 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------
"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Edit
Reply
Quote
