greetings ol dog,

sorry, but i have no excperiance with the 257 whby. i feel the same way about belted cases that you feel about the wsm's. i just don't like them.

howsomever, i do have a few of them belted rascals. only  because i couldn't find anything else. when i do load them up i make sure the case headspaces on the shoulder and  not the belt. headspaceing on the belt leads to all kinds of accuracy pblms.

do have a 25krag myself, howsomever, don't believe i would wang away at a deer 350yds away with it unless it had the rite bullet.

check with the sierra bulletsmiths. they will tell you how thick the jackets are on thier 25cal bullets. some 25's mite open on deer at the 350yd velocities while others won't.

hst and j. d. had some very good thoughts on diff cartridges. both of those guys are wizzards.

good luck and ttfn..

PS.. the only thing i do like about the whby is... sliding a looong cartridge into a singleshot(:>)

  Old Dog;
           In looking for a single shot rifle I asked if anyone had any experiance with the 97d rifles by E.A.Brown.On no account did any info on several forums come to light.So I ordered one in 6ppc,a cartridge I have alot of experiance with.
This rifle shoots VERY WELL!VERY VERY WELL!!
   In the last three days I have sat down with this rifle thro
ugh 300 rounds 7 different bullets and only two powders.
    No it's not a classic.It is a falling block.And it looks and carrys well IMO.I had wanted a Hi Wall but I took a chance on this.I,ll be getting another in the spring.If you live in CT. or near here come and try it,if you can find one near you try theirs,an interesting rifle..................Bob Allen

Old_Dog,

  For the trigger you can send it down to Lee Shaver for his trigger job. He squares things up and puts in a lighter trigger spring as far as I could tell after looking at one a friend had done. Or, you can have Dale53 send you the instructions on how to do it yourself. This amounts to putting a screw in thru the stock bolt hole engaging the sear and setting things up that way. A simple job you can easily do and between a friend and I we've done 1/2 a doz. without any problems. Comes down to a nice crisp 1 to 2 pds if you want. I still can't figure out how he was able to figure that out!

  For the accuracy requirements you want I would suggest staying with a round barrel. I can't prove it myself but there is some controversy that says a round barrel is slightly more accurate than an oct. or half oct. one. Considering what you want you're gonna need all the help you can get.

  I've had French Grey, blued, and color cased receivers. I like the color case best. Very traditional. Don Menk for this. But, I'm sure you'll have some comments in favor of any of the others to.

  For engraving, I think all on here would agree, you can't do any better than our own Ken Hurst. If you go this route tho Ken will advise you to get a French Grey or something similar to show the engraving up best. Ken knows the guy to send this to, or I imagine he'll do that for you as part of the job.

  I think we've all given you a hard time about being able to do this project to your satisfaction, but I'm sure we all hope you get it done. As you go along I hope you'll keep us posted on it. If nothing else you'll have one beautiful looking gun.

  Better watch that comment on sleeping with this gun. Sounds pretty kinky to me. 

PETE

Thanks, Pete and Greg!  This is my favorite time during a project, too.  Unlimited possibilities before you have to start compromising.  I guess that's why it's important to prioritize attributes before you start.

I was afraid Dale's trigger fix might not work on a Browning 78, as I know that was one of the things changed when they went to the 1885.  Does anyone know someone who would be willing to tackle one?  I haven't been able to find a replacement trigger.

I don't know about a round barrel.  I kinda wanted something distinctive.  I've heard some good things about Dan Lilja's octagon barrels and I've always had good luck with Hart and Shilen (round barrels).  I've never tried Badger.  I'll have to get recommendations from whoever does the barrel work.

Everytime engraving or metal work comes up, it seems Ken's name is always at the top of the list.  As soon as I get all the suppliers chosen, his name will be at the top of MY list.  With luck, his schedule may be able to accomodate my project.

So, I still need a top notch rebarreler/accurizer/triger guru and a stock refinisher/reshaper.     Who would you trust with your dream? 

Jim