Thoughts about the faux .425 Westley Richards

[EDG]

Some African countries require that the headstamp on the brass match the caliber nomenclature on the barrel.

How would you meet this requirement if your brass is marked .404 Jeffrey?

[Der Gebirgsjager]

How's about a short, thin, closely fitting sleeve of aluminum tubing cut lengthwise and slipped over the barrel at the appropriate location, cut down inside stock, blackened, and stamped with ".404 Jeffery". Easily removed later.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

You can judge a country by its jails, and I'm reminded of the experience of a friend who was deprived of a driving licence in the UK, and went driving in the northern Highlands of Scotland with a Saudi Arabian one, which is perfectly legal for a month. He was stopped for a minor infraction by a policeman, one of our own homegrown tribal primitives, who looked for a moment at the licence, written entirely in Arabic, and said "Aye sir, a perfectly guid document, but I see it is oot of date." In Africa you might be dealing with someone who gives the Third World a bad name, or someone who has been to West Point. There is a big difference between labeling a cartridge .425 when it is, and labeling a rifle .404 when it isn't.

These are rimless cartridges, and it is likely that the primers can be seated a few thousandths deep. If you thin the rim from the rear, by lathe turning or rubbing on abrasive paper, I think you could remove and re-engrave the cartridge designation, and fireform the cases to the right headspace. It would be a finicky job to stamp the new name with letter stamps, but someone with a pantograph engraving machine, equipped to put a message around the edge of medals etc., could probably do it quickly and easily. Alternatively you could do it on thin sheet brass and solder it to the head. Not with ordinary soft solder, which would anneal a part of the case you really mustn't. But there are low melting-point solders that would do it, and the join should be imperceptible on the beveled edge of the head.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Well, perhaps the problem needs to be restated or clarified. I have to assume that EDG doesn't intend to shoot
.404 in a .425 rifle. One would assume from the post that one is meant to be used in the other. So the rifle is actually a .425 and the ammo is actually .425, and it seems that EDG wants the markings of both to agree.
.425 brass can be made from .404 brass, so you end up with .425 marked .404, in which case I have to believe that the rifle is actually a .425 and the ammo is actually .425 made from .404. If that is the case, I'd have to go with making the rifle agree with the ammo as the easier solution. But yes, mislabeling the rifle could be creating a dangerous situation for someone not in on the secret, as could working on the case head lettering. Ideally EDG will buy an original style controlled feed Winchester Mod. 70 in .458 Win. Mag. and ammo marked in agreement.

[Skipper]

Custom headstamp

http://www.qual-cart.com/Custom%20Headstamp.htm