My Dream Rifle will become a reality- 4 Bore Falling Block

[Bigbore.729]

I have been in awe of this monstrous cartridge ever since I learned of its existence. The first time I read about one, I told myself "one day". Well, it's finally "one day". I am now the proud owner of this barrel. Krieger has one in their inventory and told me they may never make them again due to them hardly ever getting orders. Good timing on my part I guess.

This will be one expensive endeavor, but well worth it in my mind as it truly is a dream rifle. The rifle builder I have in mind is Bailey Bradshaw. He specializes in falling block actions and is a phenomenal builder. The plan is for a red pad, English Walnut, color case hardening, and rust bluing for the barrel. I can't decide if I want his side lever or the traditional under lever design. Either way it will make for a beautiful heirloom.

The bit I'm a little disappointed in is the groove diameter. A true 4 bore has a bore diameter of 1.052" where is this is .950" making it closer to a 5 bore. The thing that makes me ok with this is, even back in the BP days when 4 Bore saw real use, their bore diameter was greatly varied with many of them in that .950" diameter range. I don't think anything on the receiving end is going to be able to tell that there is a .102" difference anyways haha And trust me... trying to find a barrel maker that can do a 1.052" barrel has proven impossible.


Next on my list is acquiring the 3.5" brass from RMC. The brass is $45 A PIECE so it will take some time before I can purchase.

After that it will be sourcing a mold. If anyone knows of a good custom mold maker that can make me a mold for a 1750 grain slug, please link them!

After that it will be talking to Mr. Bradshaw to lay out a plan and selling my project car so I can fund this endeavor.

If this build is something that interests you and you want to see a no BS "this is what it costs" total, let me know and I will update with an itemized list with my total investment as I gather parts and pay for the build. I will update with a picture of the barrel in hand once it is delivered.

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So far:

Barrel- 29" ×1.34" zero taper = $575 after shipping.

[elk hunter]

I like big bore rifles but, I think that the fun of shooting a four bore would be realized in very few rounds per session, as in one or possibly two. When you squeeze the trigger on that one you will know something important happened and you were directly involved. You will be wanting a standup bench to sight it in and test loads.

Post pictures as the build progresses if you can.

[cub45]

Your shoulders will tell you many years later that it might not have been such a good idea.

[45workhorse]

Pictures!
Videos!
When you get it all together!
As for the shoulders, just bumps in the road of life!

[Bigbore.729]

I am used to huge recoil from my 12 Gauge from Hell. Mild load for this will be 12 drams of 1F max load is about 16 drams. Don't know if I will ever go that hot as it will be a pretty light rifle for that at 18-20 pounds. 14 drams sounds about like a more reasonable load.

[Bigbore.729]

Pictures!
Videos!
When you get it all together!
As for the shoulders, just bumps in the road of life!

Will definitely have plenty of pictures and videos. I hope I can convince Mr. Bradshaw to record or take pictures as he builds the rifle as that would be a great thing to put innthe case with the rifle.

[Nobade]

Just for fun have you seen Colin Stolzer's vids on the building and shooting a 2 bore cartridge rifle?

[Bigbore.729]

Yes sir! Mr. Stolzer is an amazing smith and extremely generous for answering some of my 4 bore related questions even with him knowing someone else was doing the build.

[Nobade]

Yes sir! Mr. Stolzer is an amazing smith and extremely generous for answering some of my 4 bore related questions even with him knowing someone else was doing the build.

That's good to know. He does seem like a very talented individual, good to know he's a good guy too!

[jonp]

I thought the single shot 12g with turkey loads was a handful. Ok, downright painful. This is in a different league altogether. I can't wait to see the video of you shooting this. Do you need Federal Approval for launching a super sonic cannon?

Colin Stolzer's prices seem very reasonable for a custom rifle

[Bigbore.729]

I got really bored on a sleepless night and modeled a cartridge case and slug in CAD and 3D printed it out and threw some paint on it to get an idea of what I'm getting into as I've never actually seen a 4 bore in person. My lord I never thought my 12 Gauge from Hell would be dwarfed. I am so excited 😅

The slug I modeled would be approximately 2000 grains there abouts of pure lead. Here it is compared to my 726 grain .729" mono

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45-70 is severely outgunned and .22lr is looking like a novelty

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The brass I modeled after is made by RCC. It's 4.25" long. Why it's not 4", I have no idea. They are likely who I'm going to go with for brass as I can get 50 for the same price as 10 from RMC

[Bigbore.729]

I thought the single shot 12g with turkey loads was a handful. Ok, downright painful. This is in a different league altogether. I can't wait to see the video of you shooting this. Do you need Federal Approval for launching a super sonic cannon?

Colin Stolzer's prices seem very reasonable for a custom rifle

Yes, he is incredibly reasonable. I inquired about a 4 bore muzzleloader. At the time I couldn't afford it, but it was very reasonable.

[Bigbore.729]

The barrel came today!! 12 Gauge from Hell in bore fore scale.


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[45workhorse]

:popcorn:

[rondog]

https://youtu.be/4Yj4IL0Q754

[EMC45]

https://youtu.be/4Yj4IL0Q754


Always a classic. I like when it knocks the guys "turban" off.

[Bigbore.729]

What alloy would y'all reccomend for this bad boy?

[W.R.Buchanan]

This gun will weigh 20 lbs ? Right? Black Powder?

They made them back in the day and people used them,,, so it sounds like a doable thing.

Pure Lead on your boolits. What are you going to shoot with it?

Randy

[Bigbore.729]

This gun will weigh 20 lbs ? Right? Black Powder?

They made them back in the day and people used them,,, so it sounds like a doable thing.

Pure Lead on your boolits. What are you going to shoot with it?

Randy

Likely closer to 18lbs being a single shot. The closer to 20 the better.

In theory, this would be used on large dangerous game, but in reality it will be used for extreme plinking.

[iomskp]

John Saunders of Century Arms ( John shut up shop some time ago ) made or had made some of these light artillery pieces, I played with one of the last ones in his gun room, very well made and presented ( no shooting involved ) I decided there and then no way in hell would I ever want to pull the trigger on one, that being said best of luck with your build.

[Beerd]

"extreme plinking", I like that! [smilie=l:
..

[tai95]

That is pretty cool. Does it get classified as a DD once built?

[JSnover]

In theory, this would be used on large dangerous game, but in reality it will be used for extreme plinking.
That's awesome! Instead of soda cans and golf balls you can spend a day shooting 55 gallon drums and bowling balls.

[VariableRecall]

I'd love to see more of this project as it comes along! Talk about an ambitious build!

[Bigbore.729]

That is pretty cool. Does it get classified as a DD once built?

No. The cartridge predates that ruling on top of being BP

[Bigbore.729]

Working on my cleaning kit. It's the little things like this that can be easily forgotten when tackling a heckin big project like this. It will be a while before I can send off the barrel to the maker, so I'm doing little stuff to make life easier down the road. I picked up a Harbor Freight 7x10" lathe specifically to do this project. I have never used a lathe in my life and I gotta say, this harbor freight piece of junk has been making learning a chore. I'm slowly getting there though. The brush is a stiff nylon that I cut down and inserted into a fitting I made. The threaded inserts were turned, threaded, and pressed in to the brass tubing with a little heat. I then faced them once cool and locked in place. I made a bushing for the roller bearing and it's press fit into the rod with heat as well. I then polished everything from 220 grit to 600 and finished it off with polishing compound. It took a shine pretty good. I still have to make the English walnut handle and the jag, but it will be towards the end of the week when my 1" brass stock will be delivered. The jag will be around .930" in diameter. Once this is all done, I'll make a nice case for everything.

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[Bigbore.729]

The jag is done. Took a long time, but I'm sure I can do it again faster with better results. This was a huge learning experience in how my lathe operates. I had major problems keeping it concentric, likely because the 1" stock wasn't chucked perfectly. I managed to get it concentric by threading it, and boring and threading a smaller piece of brass. It got me perfectly round, but I lost the dimension I wanted by a few thousandths. I might give this another go, now that I got an idea of what I'm doing. Still, it polished up nice and looks pretty. Now I need to make a handle to fit on the bearing and make a case.

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[Bigbore.729]

Video on the cleaning kit
https://youtu.be/u7YTq0YufZU

[tai95]

No. The cartridge predates that ruling on top of being BP

Thanks for clearing that up. Too many rules out there to keep everything straight. I wasn't sure if because of it being a new build even though it's BP if that would change anything.

The cleaning kit looks amazing too. You have made a piece of brass into a little functioning work of art.

[Bigbore.729]

No worries, nothing like a bunch of BS laws to make it impossible to tell what is and isn't legal.

And thank you! It's definitely turning out better than I expected

[Bigbore.729]

So, I turned this 4 bore solid to get an idea on what bullet design I want. I won't be making bullets myself as my lathe can't hold the tolerances like a swiss lathe can. I'm still not sure if I want brass or copper solids yet. I'm definitely having a mold made for lead though. Here are the specs for the solid here, .950", 1.48" long, 4.8 oz / 2100 grains. I was aiming for an even 2000, but my math may be off. Or it could be my scale. I tried weighing it on my digital powder scale, but it maxed it out, so I used my wifes food scale. Will weigh it at work on a calibrated scale.



.22-50, .45-70, and my 12 Gauge from Hell solid for scale

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[Bigbore.729]

So, to fund this project I was planning on selling my kit car. By some strange cosmic coincidence, I was scrolling through Facebook and got to the kit car group, and none other than Bailey Bradshaw himself posted in the group, looking for the kit car that I happen to have. What are the freaking odds of this!? So, I talked to Mr. Bradshaw and after some discussion, he'll be delivering me my 4 bore when he comes to pick up the car �� I am freaking ecstatic. What a world.

[waksupi]

Fun stuff! A friend finished building a double ten bore recently, and we shot it the past couple weekends. He got it regulated to shoot under 2" at 100 yards. At 16.5#, it's a handful to shoot, but the weight deals with recoil nicely. I would need a shooting staff to shoot it much, but he used it off hand on our trail walk last weekend, and only missed one target. Plays hell on the targets, though. He bought a 8 bore double this past week that should be fun. I look forward to seeing your finished product!

[Bigbore.729]

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Just picked out the wood for the 4 Bore from Mr. Bradshaw's inventory!

[popper]

Sits between 20 & 30 mm CANNON used in AA/aircraft? No way for me.
KS 23M Rus version

[Polymath]

TR Roosevelt wrote a book about hunting in Africa. One of the guns was a 4 bore, Good read, informative, not PC. Often the shooter of the 4 bore had a gun bearer standing behind him to hold his shoulders and to keep him from fly backwards on his butt.

https://archive.org/details/africangametrail02roos

[M.A.D]

You now touching off a 4 ounce bullet is going to hurt..... even at 1050 fps....... Fun , But painful ....... On a second note, Pretty sure CBE in OZ still does a 4 bore mold...

[Mr_Sheesh]

It's great when you get told "DO IT!" like that, person building for you wants your kit car; that's just great :)

[Bobbers]

Looks like a fun project, but now my shoulder hurts. Have fun with it.

[FergusonTO35]

No worries, nothing like a bunch of BS laws to make it impossible to tell what is and isn't legal.

And thank you! It's definitely turning out better than I expected

My understanding is that over .50 bore does not automatically classify something as DD. The fact that your gun is a replica of a historic dangerous game rifle and not used with "anti-personnel" ammo (exploding, incendiary, gas, etc.) should make it Title I. Can't wait to see the finished product!

[Barry54]

Where’s all the updates on this? How did it turn out?