thoughts about the .425 Westley Richards...

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

talk about a cheap approach by a factory to build a DG bolt rifle a century ago, the 425 WR is it!!

The 404 Jefferys had come out a year or two earlier, on a true Mauser Magnum Action.

WR had nothing to compete. They opted to go cheap, and use a standard 98 Mauser action. They trim the 404 back two tenths of an inch to 2.64" and neck it up .012". The 404 J spawned the RUM series.

The 338 RUM. for some reason known only the marketing dept, chose the WR length.

Anyway, WR also chose to rebate the rim to standard .473" size to use the standard bolt. Poor choice.

WR ended up having to fashion a pair of ears at the rear of the receiver to get the cases to feed. Nobody ever copied, and most gunsmiths would not chamber one, so they disappeared after WWII.

I spend some time on the www.accuratereloading.com forum. I have been blessed to hunt Africa three times, so big bores are an addiction. Their classifieds showed a set of dies, form and trim dies, and a chambering reamer for the 425 about four months ago. Asking price: $600. There was zero interest. A gunsmith finally suggested that the price would have to drop about in half to sell them. The seller did that, and as soon as I saw that, I bought them for his $300 price.

Sooooooo, now I am in process on one. Most expensive brass out there, until you get to big double rifle territory.

I kept thinking, and looking; and the light goes on. Since I will be building on a military mauser action, the frame rails will have to be opened up, and other work done. Why not just use 404J or RUM brass and open up the bolt face. It eliminates the feeding issue. I have nearly 500 new BELL 404 Jefferys cases. Fifty 425 WR will be a lifetime supply.

James Kobe is an ACGG Master builder, and has agreed to do the metal work for me.

With that, I need a mold. N-O-B-O-D-Y makes a mold for a .436" diameter boolit.

Except, Accurate Molds does. They specialize in one-offs. He also says 3 weeks turnaround. I sent him a PMO for $121, for a two cavity brass mold to my specs on October 7th, iirc.

The mold came today, and it is perfect.

For those of you with an interest, check out www.accuratemolds.com The design is on page nine, 44-410EU.

Rich

[EDG]

With the .404 rim you cannot use the M98 Mauser stripper clips...

[rr2241tx]

Congratulations Idaho Sharpshooter! You saved yourself a lot of grief by changing rim sizes on your project. Hope you take this one with you on your next safari.

[Mk42gunner]

Sounds like a well thought out "wildcat" if using factory dimensions on everything except rim size does indeed make it a wildcat.

Robert

[EDG]

Considering it will be non standard why not just use a shortened .404 Jeff case and chamber. Bullets and brass are more common and it will fit a M98 after being shortened.

The only good reason to own a .425 WR is if you find a good rifle. Dies are not a good reason to spend all that money and wind up with a wildcat.

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

EDG,

of course they are! If you are a rifle crank of the first order, it makes perfect sense. If you re-read my post, the 404 J is what I am basing the rifle brass on. Three-leaf Express Sights, and a Leupold 2-7X scope will preclude using the stripper clips anyway. It will disappear in the conversion to double square bridge bases.

BTW: the only good reason to own any rifle, bigger than a 30-06 is because you want one. It's why I own three double rifles, and about fifteen bolt rifles 375 H&H and larger caliber. You need to come out to SW Idaho and shoot my 550 Gibbs some spring.

I have been lucky enough to make three trips to Africa. From Elephant and Cape Buffalo on down to a Caracal. This rifle and an OM 70 in 300 H&H are going with me next trip.


Rich

[Huvius]

The 404 Jeffery was not originally offered on a Magnum Mauser action but built on "cheap" standard M98 actions. Jeffery (and anybody other than Rigby) did not have access to magnum actions until 1912.
I often hear the argument that WR kept the bolt face of the 8mm Mauser in order to shave costs. This must be completely wrong as they incurred great cost in modifying the standard action to house the side clips you have referred to, at least on the better grade 425s. Also, there is the argument that a smaller cartridge base exerts a lower bolt thrust but I have never been able to wrap my head around that and at the pressures these cartridges run, bolt thrust shouldn't be an issue as the case walls adhere to the chamber at 10,000psi which is reached pretty quickly.
It was not unusual to see 425's with the bolt face opened up to use the 404 brass or rifles with an extra bolt with the opened bolt face. In fact, I thought about going with an extra bolt for my 425 but I shoot it rarely enough, it didn't seem worth it.

[FergusonTO35]

:popcorn:

[Hamish]

Somebody needs a nap,,,,,