Forums.NitroExpress.com

Howard,
If I were going to build a double rifle to hunt with overseas, anywhere but here, I would purchase some different brands of brass and measure the head thickness. If it doesn't vary too much then I would chamber it accordingly for the thickest rim thickness and not look back. If you find that the different case rims do vary a lot in thickness, then you are going to have to pick one to use and I would still lean in the direction of the brand with the thickest rims. At least that way if you have to buy ammo overseas it will fit in your gun and the action will close on it.
I have been having troubles with rim thickness myself recently. I am building a .405 Winchester on a 12 gauge action just like your 16 gauge shown. As you are probably aware, the .405 has a rim size that is not shared with other cartridges. I had a new box of 50 Hornady brass cases and I wanted to be able to use my Lee Auto Prime to put the primers in them. The machine has a set of shellholders that just fit the machine and I found one that would work for most of the cases. The rims were tight fitting for thickness but I could get them in and primed except for about four or five out of the 50 cases. I had to relieve under the holding flange a little bit in order to be able to get those odd cases to go into the shellholder. I also found a case that has lengthwise serations or deep scratches down the total length on the shell walls. I have never seen anything like that before, and these were brand new brass form Hornady. I was going to load it but thought better of it. I am now going to load it as a dummy round to reset my dies with ,if needed. The scratches are deep enough in the case walls that they could possibly make it fail during firing.
The 450 #2 has an expanded case volumne and does operate at less pressure than the standard 450 3 1/4 Nitro Express, but as you mentioned, it does take some extra powder to get the same speed.
I think your AYA is an excellent choice for your 450 Nitro and you should have no trouble getting it to weigh in at the right weight. If you decide to part with the 16 gauge let me know, it is just what I am looking for to do a 45/70 on.
Many people look down on the Spanish doubles such as your AYA, but that is because during the years after the second world war, they sometimes had problems with their steels being too soft and the guns would wear out too quickly. You won't have that problem with this AYA. It looks like it has "all the bells an whistles" on it, and the best part is that it is well made and still tight on face. You will have to be just a little careful with the reloading though, those sideclips can tend to "bite" you if you get in too big a hurry. I didn't believe that when I was given the same advice, but I soon found out otherwise.
I think that the 470 is a good choice for African big game and it seems to be the most popular caliber used over there, making it maybe the easiest to buy ammo for. I also like the 500 Nitro and I suspect that the recoil difference will be unnoticeable when shooting at game. Since playing with these doubles I have become a big fan of the Elmer Keith formula for shooting big game. You can't really overkill anything, and it pays to have all the horsepower you can get when faced with a mad animal that is likely to bite you bad if you don't kill him quickly. If you are going to be loading your own ammo, I would go with a hardcast LBT flatnosed bullet with a large meplat, that thumps them! Bob

Post Extras