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450 & 50 Alaskan/Fuller
Posted by Kabluewy on May 05 2006
Bill Fuller was a gunsmith working out of his shop near the Kenai River in Cooper Landing when I knew him in the early 1980s. As I remember he passed away about 1983. As I remember the stories, he and Harold Johnson worked together. Harold was the one who made the first 50 Alaskan from a BMG surplus barrel, and they used 50 cal bullets cut off and turned around so the boat tail was forward. That must have been fun, but I don't know Mr. Fuller's involvement in that experiment.
The next evolution was the 450 Alaskan, followed by the Fuller version, I believe after Mr. Johnson passed away. I saw one of the custom rifles once but I can't remember if it was on the 86 or the 71 action, nor can I remember if was the Alaskan version or the Fuller version, but I do remember that it had Fuller's name on the barrel. There were very few made, by either Johnson or Fuller, and I suspect they are prized as shooters and collector pieces.
At the time I knew Mr Fuller he was into shooting the old sharps and other large bore black powder single shots with several on his friends. They used the paper patch bullets, and rolled their own. They loved to watch the bullet travel to the distant gong through a spotting scope. If everything was set up right, and with a slight breeze to clear the smoke, the bullet could be seen over its entire arching trip.
I bought two of the Siamese Mauser actions about that time, and the guy who sold them to me threw in several boxes of 348 brass. I went to Mr. Fuller with the notion of building a 450 Alaskan or 450 Fuller on one of the actions. He basically talked me out of it. He hymn hawed, stalled, and mostly avoided the idea until I gave up and got rid of the actions and brass. Apparantly he had moved on beyond those calibers, and seemed at the time to be interested in the 35 Whelen, and the 416 Taylor. He tried to talk me into either of those calibers on a conventional 98 Mauser action. Later, after his death, I remembered his suggestions and have since had rifles in each of those plus the 458 Winchester. Now I realize why he didn't want to do the 450 Fuller job for me on the Siam action. It would have been a waste of money and most likely would have never fed right.
I suspect that if I had showed up with a 71 action for the conversion, he may have done it for me. But that was a long time ago. Now I would simply buy a Marlin stainless in 45-70, if I just had to have a big bore lever gun. Buffalo bore ammo is just about enough in performance for moose, bear or whatever.
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