Wild Alaska: Tell Us More About the Model 04

[Bill St. Clair]

I did a search and only found one post back in May about the Wild West Guns Model 04 in 500 S&W Magnum (and other large pistol calibers). The Model 04 is now linked from the top-left corner of the Wild West Guns home page, but the Model 04: 500 S&W lever action rifle page, though informative and containing a photo to drool over, says nothing about price or availability. I want one, but I'll have to save my nickels to get it and want to know how many nickels that'll be and how long I'll have to wait before it ships.

From the announcement page:

Wild West Guns - Model 04, 500 S&W lever action rifle, 17-4 PH Stainless Heavy Duty, CNC Machined Receiver, Fast Action Hammer Safety, Take-down or standard rifle, 16 1/2 or 18 1/2 inch barrel, Walnut or Synthetic Pistol Grip Stock, WWG Big Loop Lever, WWG Bear Proof Ejector, WWG Aluminum Magazine Follower, Safety Vented Magazine Tube, WWG Ghost Ring Sight System, WWG Trigger System, Action Tuned for Reliability, Pachmayr Decelerator Pad, Optional Recoil Control Porting, Other Calibers Available: .500 Linebaugh, .475 Linebaugh, .480 Ruger, .454 Casull

 

[Wildalaska]

Bill this is where we stand, you guys saw it here first!

1. Pricing is not firm, but retail will be on the same level as our takedown and non take down Marlins, so about $1500 non take down, $2000 take down.

2. We just finished proof testing a prototype with 500 S&W proof loads. Passed with flying colours.

3. Within the next two weeks, we are gonna start range testing a production model 500. Assuming all goes well, we will start contracting the parts we need and cant amke in house (barrels etc)


4. Delivery? Will let you know in a few weeks what the schedule is gonna be.

WildgladyouarewatchingthewebsiteAlaska

 

[Bill St. Clair]

Thank you kindly.

That's a lotta nickels, so you'll likely be shipping by the time I can save 'em.

And then there's the problem that my safe is full... Bigger safes ain't cheap either. But that's a good problem.

 

[Bill St. Clair]

I'm interested in seeing chronograph velocities for various loads fired from this carbine. Hodgdon's on-line data shows that .500 S&W Magnum from a pistol is less powerful than .45-70 from a rifle, but it might come pretty close out of a carbine, though I don't know how well faster-burning powder can make up for the smaller case volume.

Another observation is that the photo shows the magazine tube to be quite a bit shorter than the barrel. One advantage of a shorter (than .45-70) cartridge is that you can have more rounds on hand, but that's nullified if the gun doesn't provide all the available magazine length.

 

[Moparmike]

It would probably be cool if you could develop one with a pistol grip, like those Model 1887 Winchesters from T2. But then again I dont know what the recoil of this thing would be, it may be prohibitive to such a conversion.


But imagine the whollup you could pack on your Harley...

 

[s2scout]

Wildalaska QUOTE:

1. Pricing is not firm, but retail will be on the same level as our takedown and non take down Marlins, so about $1500 non take down, $2000 take down.

2. We just finished proof testing a prototype with 500 S&W proof loads. Passed with flying colours.

3. Within the next two weeks, we are gonna start range testing a production model 500. Assuming all goes well, we will start contracting the parts we need and cant amke in house (barrels etc)


4. Delivery? Will let you know in a few weeks what the schedule is gonna be.


I was wondering what the weight is on the Model-04 SW 500? I'm hoping it's on the heavy side.

 

[Wildalaska]

I have range test figures but no time toi post em yet......

We think it will weigh around 7 pounds

WildbusyfingersAlaska

 

[Tom C.]

I presume the "17-4 PH Stainless Heavy Duty CNC Machined Receiver" means you had to redesign the receiver and make it out of 17-4 PH stainless to take the loads? I hope the proof loads means it is proofed for the 60k SAMMI max rated loads? I don't intend to load it anywhere near that hot, but it is nice to have the margin.
I am buying a PC 500 Mag Hunter 6" and would like to eventually get a rifle to go with it.

 

[Conservadude]

I think the gun should be proofed for 65k psi since the casings were originally designed for that. Back when the 500 S&W was first being released, S&W made the (then) politically correct decision in limiting the specs to say 60k rather than 65k, afraid that if a 50-caliber handgun that allowed pressures exceeding typical rifle pressures would end up getting banned. That didn't happen and the cases were never thinned or redesigned. Why not allow handloaders to get a little extra umph(!) out of their rifle loads? (Yes, I know all about ammo confusion and how this could result in the hot stuff ending up in your wheel gun... I still think the rifle should be built to handle it. That's my vote.)

Brian

 

[waterhouse]

this thread is over 4 years old. I'm guessing that whatever the gun was proofed for was decided a while back.

 

[twoclones]

The Wild West Guns website now shows a .50 Alaskan caliber but no mention of the 500 S&W. Are these different? Have they stopped producing rifles in the 500 S&W?

 

[HorseSoldier]

The .50 Alaskan and .500S&W are two different cartridges -- .50 AK is a wildcat that got cooked up down in the Kenai back in the 1940s or 50s.

I keep meaning to get a good rundown on the custom big bore stuff from WWG (which is about five minutes from home), but don't know what they've got in production. If you're interested, I'd say give them a call for clarification -- Ken and everyone else I've dealt with and talked to at the store are extremely helpful and friendly folks.