445 SUPER MAG CONVERSION IS DONE

[Nebraska Kelly]

Hello. It is time for an update on the 445 supermag conversion I had done. I had the gun rechambered and shortened at both ends. I had the barrel cut to 16 1/4 and the stock was cut to make the overall length of the rifle 29 inches. OK. First the bad news. If I had it to do over again I would cut the barrel to 18 inches not 16 1/4. The gun is so short that you need to take great care in shooting it. Seems like the extra barrel length would make it feel a little safer to me. The other bad thing about the gun is the stock is about 1 1/2 inches to short to use comfortably with a scope. It works well with an extended eye relief scope or a red dot at the shorter lenght but not a conventional scope. I did not like using a peep sight so I took it off and put a scope base back on it and a very compact scope. Then I had to add a slip on recoil pad. It is a small limbsaver pad. It fit perfectly over the shortened stock. I then took camo cloth tape and taped it on very firmly. I am now using two recoil pads. the original and the one I just added. That makes the overall length 30 inches. That is PERFECT for using a scope.  
Now for the good. It is one handy little rifle. And it is accurate. I used hornaday 265 gr softpoints with 32gr of 296 and winchester mag pistol primers. At 100 yards I was getting 2 1/2 to 3 inch three shot groups.
Two shots would be touching and one would always spoil the group.
Then the scope I had on the gun went to pieces. The recoil killed it. So today I purchased another compact scope. Not a cheap piece of crap like the last one. It is a very nice Nichols 1.5 X 5 X 20 lightseeker series scope. Nice and compact. For those who may not recognize that scope it was made in Japan and is of very good quality. They had a cheap model of that scope as well. But I stayed away from it. The scope is equivalent to the prostaff nikons or possibly the bausch and lomb 3200. Not a bad scope for a blow out price of 99 dollars. It fit my budget.  Anyway I have the scope mounted and the new recoil pad on the gun. I am going out to shoot it again in the morning. Without the lenghtend stock I was getting hit in the eye with just about every shot when shooting the 445 supermag cartridge. When I was shooting 44 mag rounds it was very pleasant and the recoil was very low.  Now about the accuracy of this rifle.
The barrel is oversized. It slugged .435   That is BIG. The Hornaday bullets are sized .430.  I have some hardcast 300gr gas checked bullets comming that are sized .433 with a gator gas check. Those should give me a better bore fit and better accuracy.  I will take pictures of the targes and the rifle at the range in the morning. I will get them on here in the afternoon.  There is a big difference in where the 44mag rounds impact on the target and where the 445 supermag impact the target. The 445 supermag impact the target about 10 inches highter than the lighter loads.  With the new scope and the softer recoil pad I should be able to get a good idea of how this gun will perform at the range in the morning. Right now my OVERALL impresion of the gun is good. No it is not perfect. The longer barrel lenght would be better for my use. But it is still very handy. I would not give the gun to an inexperienced shooter to hunt with. It needs to be handled carefully being so short. I can use it just fine. There is a late deer season here in Nebraska starting January 1. I will be using it to shoot a couple of does. That is all we can take during the late season.  I was very impressed by how much more powerful the 445 supermag rounds seemed than the regular 44 mag rounds. It is a real handful to shoot the full power stuff but a soft shooting nicely accurate short gun shooting the 44 mag rounds.  Speaking of shooting the 44 mag rounds I did fire a 10 shot group at 100 yards and got a group of 3 inches with six of the ten shots cutting a big ragged hole then the four flyers opening it up to 3 inchs.  Even at this level of accuracy it is a very usable deer gun.  The new scope may make the difference. As I said the first testing was done with a cheap scope that went to pieces in 20 shots of the 445 ammo. I will know more tomorrow after my next range session.

As  a side note I picked up a nice handi in 30-30 today. It is new. It is a little different than any other handi I have had. the receiver is parkerized instead of blued. Anyone see this before? The barrel is still blued. I have a new nichols 3x9 on it. I am shooting it in the morning too. I am using winchester 150gr silvertips.  If it is like any other handi in 30-30 I have had it should do at least 1.5 inchs or better for 5 shots at 100 yards. I will post the results. The good and the bad.

[jeff223]

glad to hear about your gun turning out good except for the barrel lenght and the short but stock length.you could always buy another but stock for it and have that problem corrected.

how about getting in on a group buy for an oversized 265gr bullet mold?
keep a look out as im getting things going :mrgreen:

[Nebraska Kelly]

What size would it be?  For me it would have to be sized .440 or .445   I am interested if this is what we are talking about.  Good suggestion of getting another but stock and correcting length. But I have that fixed by adding on the limbsaver recoil pad. Works good now.  Let me know about the custom mould.
Kelly

[Ditchdigger]

Kelly check the brass and see if you're getting the same .006 expansion ahead of the web like the rest of us. Most of the 44 mag barrels are that much to big in the chamber.Also most of the barrels bore slug .432 and in mine as well. I switched my barrel from the original frame to a new frame and the accuracy went from 3" to 1 1/4". The frame it was fitted for at the factory was letting the primer get hit way off to 1 side,and I think that's what happened with the 3" groups.   Digger

[Nebraska Kelly]

Well I did measure the brass on several rounds after shooting. It measures .450 ahead of the web. There is some obvious swelling there but it is not very much.  By the way I just got in 200 rounds of 300gr gas checked .433 sized hardcast bullets from Mount Baldy. I am loading them up in the morning and will be at the range to check accuracy. I have no posted any pictures of targets yet because the accuracy has been mediocre so fare with hornaday bullets. Around 2 inches is the norm for the gun right now. That is certainly good enough to hunt with but it dosnt impress me. When I have the correct bullet to bore figured out and get good groups I will post pictures.
Kelly

[jeff223]

i am also interested in the outcome with these bullets

[Ditchdigger]

Quick,I've been eyeing up some 444 brass on my computer table and thinking the same thing.If the rim is the same it should work. Digger

[ironduke2]

I am just wondering if the reamer might be to blame on the over sized chambers. In my stock 44 mag barrel the rounds fit nice with no wobble. just my .02 cents. Bob

[Ditchdigger]

I checked some of my 44 mag brass fired before the barrel was reamed,and it measured .006 over also.The reamer did'nt even touch the chamber on the sides on mine.  Digger

[warf73]

Didn't touch the sides of mine either.

Warf

[Haywire Haywood]

For me it would have to be sized .440 or .445 Kelly

If your barrel slugs to .435, then from everything I've read, your optimum cast bullet should be a .437, or .002 over bore unless you have an oversize throat, in which case you need a bullet just a hair under throat diameter so that it doesn't have room to tip on firing and enter the rifling crooked.
Have you done a chamber cast or impression yet?  If so, what diameter is your throat?

Ian