Teedubya
12-21-2014, 12:56 PM
124979124976Finally...after a year of planning, machine work, and tweeking we finished our first sample BAR semi auto (sporting rifle) in .458 Winchester Magnum. This one's not for sale so this should not be considered an ad, but we've collected enough information and knowledge that we may do a short run of these in the future. The toughest part of this project is making the new barrel and gas block. We've converted BAR's to .416 Taylor and other smaller rounds, it's fairly simple by re-boring an existing .338 barrel. There is not enough material in a .338 barrel to allow re-boring to .458, so a new barrel has to be fabricated. The locking lugs on a BAR are integral with the barrel, not the receiver, this makes things a lot more complicated. The other area of concern is the tang of the butt stock, we were concerned that this could be a point of failure due to recoil. After re-enforcing the stock internally we've put a fair amount of 500 Gr Hornady SP's through it and everything seems to be holding up. Butt stock contains two 4" mercury recoil reducers which really helps, plus the softer semi auto action helps. Magazine had to be adjusted slightly to feed properly but so far we're running 100%. Rapid firing 4 rounds of 500 grainers as fast as you can get back on target will put a watermelon eating grin on your face for sure.