Thanks to Marty from Teppo Jutsu, I received my upper yesterday! Curley Maple also provided a beautiful walnut forearm for the build. I went a little different than some of the other builds, with a Larue billet upper receiver to match the POF 416 lower I built a few months back. It was also supplied with a Shrewd MB, and for the stock I went with the Ace Skeleton.
Over the weekend I loaded a number of different rounds, all of which resulted in very good hunting accuracy using the BUIS and Bushnell Trophy Red Dot. Three groups with the red dot were clover leafs, all touching, at 50 yards. Not too bad considering there was no magnification at all. None of the groups were larger than 2" at 50 yards, including the groups fired with the BUIS. I'd love to see what I can do with a 2-7 power scope on top.
The only issue I had was the Barnes 250 gr FPHP not feeding well, as they got hung up on the center point between the two M4 style feed ramps. Fired one at a time, they were one of the groups that were extremely accurate. Does anybody ever file that sucker down to nothing?
After 50 rounds, sighting in and testing rounds, I have a small bruise on my shoulder. I think I'm naming this rifle "Thumper". The "BOOM" is addictive.
I'm on the dry side of the state field tesing my rifle on elk, and once I'm done I'll post few pics.
In the mean time, here are a few photos of the .458 SOCOM round compared to the .45-70, .44 Rem Mag, and the .223, plus how the rounds fill out a mag.