M71 Winchester-.450 Alaskan

[huntershooter]

I located an old, roached out, loose as a goose m71 a few years ago.

I felt a need for a wildcat, "thumper" rifle- so I shipped it to Ben Forkin for his transformation to a .450 Alaskan.

The m71 was orginally- and only- chambered in the now obscure .348 Winchester.
The .348 case head was was based on the .50-110 case, a long defunct "buffalo gun" cartridge. While the .348 is certainly adequate for any medium/large game in the lower 48 at "medium" range, it is not a "stopping rifle".
The .450 Alaskan was designed as a Brown bear guides "stopping rifle". It was also based on the .50-110 case and was originally chambered to the m71 due to both cartridges having derived from the same parent cartridge.

There was something perversely enjoyable about turning the large, .50-110 cases into .450 cases.
The effort required to cut and form the cases is considerable, especially for a guy that loads pistol ammo on a self indexing press with a case feeder- capable of loading 1K rds. an hour.
I remember it took 3 days (part time) to end up with 200 loaded cartridges.
 
While .450 cases are now commercially available, they are "short neck", my rifle was chambered with the original, longer throat. While the short neck cases will function in this gun, the longer case neck better holds the 400 gr. bullets in place under the substantial recoil. It also affords better accuracy.
Using H322 powder I run a 400 gr. Barnes softpoint jacketed bullet at 2400+ FPS.
Shooting offhand, while an adventure, is quite manageable.
Shooting from the bench during load development and dialing in- was punishing. After 30, 40 rds. it was nearly impossible to NOT "anticipate recoil", aka flinch.

The rifle sports a .45 cal PacNor barrel, has an old, original Redifield receiver sight that I scrounged up. 
I was going to use it on a Bison hunt, but ended up taking a .45/70 SRC.

However; if the Circus comes to town and elephants escape, causing damage and havoc- I am ready.





.450 bore on left, .348 on right


.450, .348, .308

 

[rock185]

  That is a beauty, and definitely a "Thumper".  I recently had the opportunity to shoot a neighbor's Model 71. What nice rifles those are.  

[CXM]

The model 71s were basically a Model 1886 with a more modern name... and superb rifles they are too... All of the 71s I have seen had excellent fit and finish... and all were quite accurate.

I certainly can believe shooting it from a bench would be an "adventure..." People don't like to shoot my 1886s in 45-70!!! Can't imagine what they would do shooting the 450 Alaskan.

Thanks for sharing...

V/r

Chuck

[huntershooter]

I have a few 86's too Chuck. They are slick.
One is a takedown rifle in .33 Winchester (try finding any of that ammo) that is an engineering marvel.
I'd venture having a similar made, of like quality would cost what a new car does. They really CARED about the assembly, fit/finish of firearms back in the day.

Nearly ALL of JMB's designs have always appealed to me.

Forgot to mention- the bonus with this rifle is the manufacture date is the same as mine.

[CXM]

I agree... the 1886/71 was a 'slick' a rifle as ever was.

Some years ago I was able to to get a take down 45-70 carbine... I mostly shoot 405gr cast flat point bullets in it.. not a super high velocity but it seems to hit wild pigs like a jack hammer... last time I took it out, one guy was using a 7mm mag. He sort of though the old lever action was a joke... until he noticed which seemed to shut the pigs down with a single hit. His 7mm would kill the pigs (if he managed to place his shots with his huge Nikon scope)but they usually ran a good way after being hit... Maybe it was just blind luck, but when hit with the big 405gr lead bullet you would hear a "PLOONK" see dust fly and watch the pig go down...

I have used the 45-70 in Trapdoor Springfields with good results...

V/r

Chuck

Jun 4, 2017 12:17:01 GMT -5 huntershooter said:

I have a few 86's too Chuck. They are slick.
One is a takedown rifle in .33 Winchester (try finding any of that ammo) that is an engineering marvel.
I'd venture having a similar made, of like quality would cost what a new car does. They really CARED about the assembly, fit/finish of firearms back in the day.

Nearly ALL of JMB's designs have always appealed to me.

Forgot to mention- the bonus with this rifle is the manufacture date is the same as mine.

[rock185]

Don't know that I'll ever own one, but the '86s,'92s,'71s, etc. are as good as it gets in lever rifles IMHO. Speaking of their accuracy, I will tell on myself. Shooting the Model 71 with aperture sights, I did better than with my Remington .350 Magnum with 2X scope. I would not have predicted that, but that is the embarrassing,for me,truth;)