hangunnr

Glad to hear your barrel finally found it's way home... Hope it was worth the wait. hangunnr

I wouldn't accept adding washers under the action of a rifle as a permanent method of floating the barrel. The action and recoil lug should make full contact with the stock. With that said... The gun may shoot fine for awhile with the whole action floated from the stock, but in the long run the action screws will bear the brunt of the recoil force which will eventually damage the stock. I will admit that I've shimmed under the recoil lug on a couple rifles to float the barrel while trying to determine if the barrel shot better with or without the contact point common on some factory rifles. If it was determined the barrel shot better the shims were removed and the barrel channel opened up to properly float the barrel. hangunnr

I'm all packed up and ready to roll.... See you tomorrow evening Strut. hangunnr

Todd, If you can run your bullets across a chronograph and get an actual velocity I can tell you exactly just where that bullet will be at extended ranges. The charts that are published are nothing more than guesses generated with one particular rifle. Different guns will give widely different results. hangunnr

A proper repair would require some draw filing and copious amounts of blending and polishing. Is it worth it for a working gun....IMO no, but that's a decision you would have to make. A bead blast will not cover up a scratch. The use of a Scotchbrite pad would be a OK but the entire barrel would have to be done to make the finish even. This won't remove a deep scratch though, just blend it in. I've rejuvinated a couple stainless barrels with a Scotchbrite pad (red one). One trick I use is to add some oil to the pad. This seems to give a little more of a satin finish than a dry pad alone will give. hangunnr

Get rid of the washers. You're only causing future problems. hangunnr

".....I think there is room for us OTPG guys to hunt with guys like Bob.......and share his drinks...." Bill, you and I are gonna hav'ta have a little talk next weekend... You are coming on the 28th aren't ya? Great jobs on the elk guys. I'm gonna do that one of these days... What camo pattern is that on your pants in the last picture? It durn makes you vanish... hangunnr

Sounds like you're set. I use one of T/C's fugly rubber grips on mine to help with the recoil. Here's a little thing I put on mine to keep the trigger guard from busting the fingers on the grip on a hard kicker. It's from Limb Saver and it's intended to be used on bows to help soak up vibration. It works great for this though. As far as the 458 is concerned... Accuracy is there but I just puked my second forend this past weekend.. I haven't been able to keep the pillars secured in the synthetic material. A buddy on another forum came up with the idea of threading the pillars into the forestock. I just made these threaded pillars up this afternoon. My new stock should be here by the weekend so hopefully this'll take care of the problem. Time will tell.... hangunnr

What bullet weight are you using and what kinda velocity are you getting? hangunnr

I don't know if I'll use one of mine this year or not. Did you get your hands on the Encore barrel? If so, how's it shootin? hangunnr

Glad to have you here at Realtree Dave!! I know the boys at SP like your holsters. hangunnr

From the provided link. ........."has duped hunters out of millions of dollars by selling them a product that doesn't work." If these guys intend to sue every maunfacturer out there that sell do-dads that don't work they're gonna be some very busy beavers... Like so many products related to hunting if the hunter thinks a product is working for him he's happy, this rarely has anything to do with whether or not the product actually works... hangunnr

Thanks for the report. One question though... What caliber did you get? hangunnr

Got all the 458WM ammo loaded today. Ya'll got 100 rounds to play with... ....and yes Strut......the 500gr are full strength... ....and for those interested in the numbers... That's 37,000 grains of bullets sitting on 7820 grains of powder. The combined muzzle energy would be somewhere around 388,770 ft/lbs.... Looks like fun don't it.... hangunnr

Added a range report and some new pics... hangunnr

I'd say you're well ahead of the curve if you've got a factory stock rifle shooting factory ammo into 1/2"-1-1/4" at 100yds. As far as inexpensive ammo vs premium ammo... I think that was pretty well covered. hangunnr

Stumbled onto a great deal last night. Was rummaging through a local gunshop and found this Ruger M77 chambered for 458 Win Mag. What else could I do but bring her home... As you can see the metal is gonna need some attention. There are some rust spots. I was a little worried about the condition of the metal below the stock but was thrilled to find it perfect. For what I paid for this rifle it'll get a refinish job. The reloads I had weren't as stout as some of the 12ga slug guns I've shot. Don't get me wrong, there is a pretty good thump but not anything serious...I didn't have a screw driver small enough to adjust the sights so no recordable groups were shot but I'd hazard a guess at holding about 4" at 40yds off hand. The gun was shooting about 12" high at 40yds. The trigger is a typical Ruger but that can be fixed. ---------------------- While out, I did chronograph 3 loads through the Encore pistol barrel. The 300gr Remington bullet averaged 2417fps. Quite abit slower than the 2550fps that the barrel manufacturer quoted me. There is however still some room for more powder so the velocity may well increase. The 400gr Barnes averaged 2030fps with an extreme spread of only 3fps!!! It's no wonder they shoot into one ragged hole at 50yds from the pistol barrel. I'm hoping these work well out of the rifle too. It would be sweet to only have to make up one load. The 500gr Barnes slipped out of the barrel at an average of 1738fps. Recoil off the bench is......exciting.....to say the least. Shooting from a field position from a set of shooting stix is a non event though.. Anyone that's going to attend the first annual OTPG Blastoff in October will have the opportunity to run some rounds down range through these 2.......if you feel so inclined... hangunnr

Yep, that came out about a year ago. I sent my Performance Center gun back for the replacement. hangunnr

OK, so now we know the chambering. How about what model the rifle is? hangunnr

I've not shot that particular ammunition but IF your revolver shoots them well I see no reason why they wouldn't be adequate for close and personal deer hunting. hangunnr

How about a little more information about what type of rifle you've got to work with. hangunnr

487.8 miles.... I'll be there..... hangunnr

I'll pull it out of the stock later this week and show the details. hangunnr

They are available right from Pachmayr. http://www.lymanproducts.com/pachmayr/index.htm Unless your Encore originally came from the factory as a PISTOL you cannot convert it from a rifle to a pistol. You may convert a pistol to a rifle but not the other way around. hangunnr

Fine looking group. One question though.. Just how high above the black center dot did you have to aim to get that impact point? [ATTACH]531[/ATTACH] hangunnr