Howdy all,
I am a avid round ball hucker but am thinking about a long range gun, what are your opinions on the pedersoli Gibbs rifle and who are the custom long range rifle builders
thanks

The Pedersoli Gibbs has a good track record now of medal winning performances. There are no other readily available rifles to compete with it.... it would be nice to see some though as pretty soon we'll all be shooting them! Maybe that will be a truer test of the rifleman though when we are all using the same equipment...
 
Can't answer for the US, but in the UK Dave Eden makes an exact reproduction of a Rigby match rifle. These are high quality rifles and only a couple or so are made a year. In the UK though in general it appears to be more of a cottage industry with several people able to produce different parts, rather than a custom gunsmith offering a one stop service.
 
David

Hello,
 
I do not know which method is used to rifle the Gibbs brrel but it is probably buttom rifling.  I have seen notes on other sites that indicate the bullet mould made by Pedersoli actually does not fit the Gibbs rifle and bullets from it have to be sized.
 
With regard to custom bullet mould makers, there are two in the United States that most folks discuss. They are Paul Jones and Fred Leeth.  Both make excellent moulds that turn out match quality bullets.  If you go with a custom mould you definitely need to slug the barrel.  The Gibbs bore is slightly smaller in diameter than a standard .451 bore.
 
I believe the last 1000 yard match winner at Oak Ridge was shooting a Creedmoor style grease groove bullet from a Fred Leeth mould.  I think the weight was in the 540 grain range.
 
Another consideration for you is that many of the long range Gibbs shooters are shooting paper patch bullets in the 540 to 560 grain range.  These bullets do perform very well at long range but there is more cost for a swage and dies and more effort involved in making them.  They do make a neat looking bullet.
 
Hope this gives you something to think about.
 
Colin

The Pedersoli Gibbs is broach rifled and the bore is iniformly tapered from breech to muzzle using a proprietary process. �This often leads to problems when slugging the barrel.
 
Their mold for the .451 was slightly oversized and required swaging, however there is a running production change to correct this. �They have also recently introduced a .40 cal Gibbs and a mold is under development for it.
 
Everyone shooting the Gibbs in competition uses a paper patched bullet.
 
Here in the USA, only Don Brown supplies a high quality component kit based on an Alex Henry target rifle. �It runs around $1200 and is not a gun that a novice builder could successfully put together. �There are several advanced operations required for completion. �I am currently building one for a client.
 
Dave