Members, we are currently busy with a DIY bottom metal, 404 Jeffery Magnum bottom metal project. It comprises of the duplication of a 404 Jeffery Magnum bottom metal where we made a drawing CAD ( my friend Willie Koekemoer) Iwan Greyling ( 3D printing ) of the item. When a few 3 Dprints are completed I will take it to a company where they do Lost Wax casting. We will then have a few cast 404 Jeffery Magnum bottom metals to build big bore caliber rifles on standard Mauser actions that will minimize metalwork on the action...Johan Greyling will build the next few 404 Jeffery rifles and .500 Jeffery rifles using these cast bottom metals.
A few photos of the process that had commenced already....
3 D Printer Iwan Greyling use:
Willie Koekemoer with the CAD drawing:
Various stadiums of the printing process:
Fitting on a Standard Mauser action perfectly :
Iwan bought a better printing composition to ensure a stronger printed bottom metal..the next step is to take the printed examples and get them cast..there will be some finishing work needed but not much...at least we have less metalwork to remove from the action...
I do not think it is impossible to print a whole magnum Mauser action...it surely is something Iwan will work on, Willie need to do the drawing..Iwan is currently building a 3 D scanner..which I think will assist this process..Johan Greyling already made wax cast previously of a standard Mauser..but since it is not to difficult to get old Mausers( 8mm) these days to use the action he decided to cast Magnum action Mausers...Johan want to cast the Mauser magnum actions with a double square bridge..
A few photos of the wax cast standard Mauser action, when casting the standard action the costs will be the same as casting the magnum action, Johan Greyling decided that it will be making more financial sense to cast a magnum double square bridge action instead. All the work is not in vain since it will take a few adjustments to accomplish this. We are thinking of approaching a few interested hunters who will want to purchase such a cast action to enable us to cover costs of the first few casts until we can build big bore rifles on order ..this will enable us to commence with an ongoing casting process.
Witold
My apologies if it seems I am hijacking your thread... these actions will primary be use to build more 404 Jeffery rifles , since there are an upsurge and revival of this great caliber, although these new rifles will never have the historical value of a great 404 Jeffery rifle like yours..I am starting re-loading my 404 Jeffery for the coming hunting season, I will be mounting a 1.5-5 x20 Leopold scope on the 404 Jeffery...I will upload photos when this is completed...my 404 Jeffery came about from the same era as yours..
Wittold , you are very kind. Members, recently we ( Johan Greyling , me assisting) build four excellent 404 Jeffery rifles..who are available to members who travel to South Africa to hunt and will take the time to shoot them if wishes to do so. Johan Greyling will not sell any rifle to a person who did not shoot/handle/look at the rifle he wants to purchase. The price is excellent..R26 000 and in American dollars $2090 ....the prerequisite being the person need to shoot the rifle at the gunsmith shop .
From this thread and its content developed a design of a .500 Jeffery I am busy building..the first phase is completed, the 3D printing of the magnum bottom metal/trigger guard. The second phase will follow shortly..making a silicon mold to cast a wax duplicate I can then take to a company using lost wax casting method..phase three will be the actual building of the .500 Jeffery with different magazine configurations...
Very ingenious use of technology , Id sure like to get my hands on some of that bottom metal should you decide to make any available
Regardless impressive work.
Pat, up to now I had too many other projects to complete. But I set my sights on commencing and completing this .500 Jeffery build in the latter part of this year. But I will make a few extra for members who is interested in using it in similar rifle building projects.I for sure is going to use it in my 8 x68S build as well ..to get a few extra feet/second out of my 8x68S rifle ... I will trade these bottom metals for anything rifle related...
I really enjoy the 404 Jeffery and think it is fine cartridge with a very manageable recoil. I have an old British 404 retailed by Army Navy Co-Op Society that only weights about seven and half pounds but the recoil is not unpleasant. I apologize for the pictures not being better but I am not much of a photographer.
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