My Gahendra

[Beekeeper]

I think I have posted them before but as dromia is thinking of getting one I thought I would post them again.
I got a Gahendra from IMA and spent over a month rebuilding it
The original stocks were toast due to blood rust and oil rot.
The exterior of the barrel had some serious pitting and would not take blueing well enough to do a satisfactory job
I J&B Welded the pitting and duracoated .
After a lot of back and forth with a friend on the British Militaria froum I will take it to the next time I go to to the desert and fire it.
I was afraid of the barrel interior ( it has a lot of taper from chamber to muzzle that a smokeless barrel does not.
Having only worked with smokeless barrels I was not sure so was going to make it a wall hanger.
Now I think I will give it a try.
Any way here are a couple of pics for dromia of what the IMA Gahendras will clesn up to look like.


Jim

[Southern Son]

Nice rifle. Is it 577 or 577/450?

[The Double D]

Gahendra's are 577/450.

[Beekeeper]

Southern Son,
It is 577/450.
I have one I am working on now that the barrel is beyond help.
I am going to use a 71/84 barrel on it .
The 43 Mauser cartridge and the 577/450 have almost identicle powder requirements and pressures.
It will take some doing as far as getting the barrel to mate up to the Gahendra action but my gunsmith seems to think it will be a good mating and a good shooter when completed.

They are a real great gun to work on and I recommend them to anyone who wants to do a rebuild.
IMA (and I have no affillation with them) has the for a reasonable price for someone that wants to try their hand at it.
A lot of them are not shootable so be prepared to make a wallhanger and if you get a good one it is a plus.
Do not be put off by the looks of them in the advertisement. I almost had a heart attack when I pulled my first one from the box. 100 years of crud awaits you.

Jim

[Southern Son]

We don't have many Large Martini actions floating around down here at the moment. Unfortunately, they ain't cheap, which is a pity, cause I would love to get one. Cases are expensive, too (I think that $5.00 each is the current price).

[Beekeeper]

I think I paid $3.00 each for 20 of them from Midway when I started working on the rifle.
With a lot of people buting them I imagine the price has gone up if they are even still available.

Jim

[bonza]

A lot of people are making .577/.450 cases by reforming brass 24g shotshells. They are made by CBC & sold under the Magtech label. Grafs have them for around $20 for a box of 25.
They are a balloon head design case, so not as strong as the Bertram & Jamison cases, but work just fine with blackpowder & BP-equivalent loads. Interestingly, they are designed to use a Large Pistol primer rather than Large Rifle.