the damnedest things happen to you.

I was walking around the SHOT show and came on the little group of booths that represent the consortium of the midline Italian makers- Uberti, Pedersoli, Chiappa, Sabatti. I wandered in to drool at the new Sabatti doubles and a voice over my shoulder says “Do you have any questions I can answer for you?” and I turn to face Gabriele Sabatti.

What a lovely man. I told him of my love for my 45-70, and told him that I wanted a 500 nitro with a set of interchangeable barrels in 20 gauge. He winced involuntarily. You see, it seems that when he put the contract together with Cabelas to sell the line of rifles in the US, he was told they would have to take a production rifle in 500 nitro and shoot 250 rounds through it before Cabelas would touch it. So he told his shooter, who said “no!”

So Gabriele Sabatti himself took a 500 nitro out back and put 250 rounds through it. “260, actually” he said, because Kynoch sells them in boxes of 20.

he told me that the 45-70 is the same forging and action as the heavier guns, and that the barrels are hard soldered, so I should have no issue using hard solids. he said the 8mm and 30-06 barrels were soft soldered so they could not bear solids long term. So I’m going to look at some of those barnes solids, work up some loads this summer, and see how much trouble I should be able to generate. Look for sore shoulders. (grin)