Some people have expressed an interest in the rifle so I've attached a couple pictures. The custom work was done by several gunsmiths. The "project rifle" was acquired from GunBroker.com It was originally a No 1 Tropical in 458WM; couldn't believe that I won the bid for $600. When It arrived I found that the wood was to my liking so scratched the idea of a new Turkish Walnut stock.
The barrel was made by McGowen Precision Barrels. It is a 25" Dodecagon (12-sided) pipe with a 1:20 twist, and wears a NECG front ramp. I decided to keep the much maligned Ruger folding rear sight as it suits me well.
It was sent off to Steve Nelson Custom Guns for the metal work. Steve, crafted a new recessed safety and worked on the feed ramp to improve the ejection of those big rimmed cartridges. He also "jeweled" the block, installed the front sight and crafted the barrel mounted sling stud.
I had a Jard 3-1/2lb trigger installed and gold plated. I like this trigger quite a bit, it is vastly simpler that the Ruger trigger.
I had Turnbull Restorations do the engraving and Case Color, they are simply the best and good people to work with.
I had the Alex Henry replaced with ebony that suits me better.
The last image is of the installation of a barrel mounted recoil lug. 2-weeks before heading to Tanzania I was at the range doing some testing and the fore-end disconnected from the rifle. The problem was that the tip of the hanger where the fore-end screw attaches broke off under recoil. The barrel is so fat that McGowen had to shave off some of the top of the hanger to screw the thing on. I called my gunsmith who got it done and I was back at the range 3-days later.
