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Thanks tarawa, I certainly intend to keep it going throughout the entire process as several others have done (including Bramble) in these fori. I travel a lot though, so it will necessarily be in fits and starts.

Bramble, I'm beginning to feel guilty about the time you are spending replying to my posts, especially in light of what happened with your last post. I can't adequately express to you how much I appreciate your input as it has literally gotten my project off the ground but I would feel badly if you now feel burdened by the responsibility of continuing to provide timely replies to all of my questions. I've seen the wisdom in your replies and have incorporated ALL of your advice into my plan, as it stands. So, if you're willing to continue, I can assure you your energies will not be for nought. You will have a bit of a respite soon as I'm leaving on a trip at the end of this week.

Having said all that I'm glad you agree with what I've been thinking all along, that is, that the action for these calibres pretty much can't be too heavy. It will always be easy to shave weight off the buttstock and at the muzzle but adding weight between the hands is problematic. This, in itself, is sufficient reason to go with a new lump as it will allow weight to be retained or even added to the chamber area of the barrel resulting, as I've said before, in a more proper rifle barrel coutour instead of inheriting the shotgun barrel coutour. Speaking of barrel contours, all of the barrel makers only offer standard contours suited for bolt-actioned rifles, with distinct steps in diameter and straight tapers. The classic double rifle barrels I've seen generally display more delicately eased diameter transitions and finely concave tapers, something of a hybrid between the standard rifle barrel and a shotgun barrel. In your experience, do the barrel makers understand this distinction and have you seen them supply such contours?

Is there a forum member out there out there who owns a classic, large bore dr who could supply this thread with some barrel diameters? The calibre wouldn't matter at long as it is "biggish". What I'm looking for would be the OD of the breech; the OD and distance from the breech at a point at the end of the chambre where the barrel begins to neck down; the OD and distance from the breech where this transition generally ends and the long taper begins; and then ODs, say, every 4" from this pont to the muzzle. I could then interpolate between these measurements and massage the numbers upward (unless, of course, it is a .600 being measured) to compensate for the differences in the the starting OD (the breech), the chamber length, the calibre, and the barrel length between the gun being measured and mine. Armed with these figures, I could make a full-scale barrel countour diagram, from which, instantaneous dimensions could be measured at any point along the barrel. Btw, my barrel diameters, at the breech, will be about 1 3/8". I would be interested to know what the breech ODs are of other .600s.

This may be a stretch: Is there a member out here who knows the Rockwell hardness of their action?

I hope not to tamper with the hardness if I can help it. Too hard would clearly be just as worrisome as too soft. I certainly don't intend to do any color case hardening as I prefer the coin metal finish with the engraving I have now. But I would like to check and compare the hardness nevertheless. I think I will X-ray or magnaflux as well.

Touching on your other points, Bramble, I will bush the strikers if the standing breech is thick enough. (I didn't disassemble and do my survey today as I had hoped but tomorrow for sure.) I'm assuming, for the moment, it is. Do you think I could add component strikers and do away with the dogtooth strikers altogether? I also will be restocking for all the reasons you suggest plus the existing L.O.P. is way too short for me.

Here is a nice link for anyone interested in fabricating a shoe lump in a manner similar to the one suggested by Bramble in a previous post. It shows a gunsmith cutting a trough wih a fly cutter colletted in a lathe. It's for a different application but the process would be similar.

flycutting a channel

Thanks, everyone, again.

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