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Who is a good gunsmith in the USA with experience in opening the Mosin Nagant magazine for bigger cartridges?

I need to have the following rifle rebarreled in my .405 Grenadier caliber. It will be easy to find someone to do the barrel, bolt, and stock modification. But modifying a Mosin Nagant magazine is not the sort of thing that most gunsmiths will have done.

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After sitting idle for too long, I have moved fast forward on this project. The above photos should now be labeled "BEFORE".

At this moment, the rifle is with Tom Jackson of Davenport, Iowa. I sent him a new bolt handle, sights, and some dummy rounds topped with various bullets by Swift, Hornady, Hawk, and Woodleigh in weights of 350gr and 400gr. The bullets were seated on the cannelure, and overall lengths were all well below 2.9" with room to spare.

Tom installed the items and rebarreled the rifle with a McGowen .405 barrel I had sent his way. Most importantly, Tom opened the magazine to accommodate the fatter cartridges.

I should have the rifle back in a few weeks, after bluing. But for a teaser Tom sent me this video showing how it feeds everything he throws at it. These are four dummies topped with a mixture of different bullets and weights.

http://vid712.photobucket.com/albums/ww1...zpsqkfwrxzn.mp4


Now it's getting interesting. Expect an update on this very soon. I already have some loads I am just dying to try out.

FWIW - A .405 Winchester with a 400 grain bullet loaded to standard overall length has a usable case capacity of about 52 grains of water. The .405 Grenadier with a 400 grain bullet loaded to 3.0" overall length, cannelure 1/4" beyond the mouth, has a usable case capacity of just over 53 grains of water. Yes, with heavy bullets loaded out the Grenadier holds the same, or even a bit more, powder than the .405 Winchester.

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