I'd be surprised if there was anywhere near that profit margin on a nice can. Besides, a change in laws would drive demand up, no reason for a price drop.
I had the same plan. Hunting with the Barnes and threw together a load with the vmax for play/practice. Think I was around 2450fps using a max load of H110.
I'm confused. Are you saying the bolt face doesn't need to match the cartridge? That you could use a typical short action with a .473 bolt face and rebarrel to say a 223? I'm sure you know that's incorrect but I'm not getting your point.
My son killed 2 does last year with factory loaded Barnes. 16" bolt action. Both broadside lung shots. One ran 80ish yards, the other maybe 30. Both exited and left good blood trails. I tried to get him to crunch shoulders but oh well.
I think it's possible to cut the factory stock down. I'll be doing the same for my oldest son. Once he grows taller then I can swap for a nice aftermarket stock.
I’ve thought about the same thing for 35 Whelen in our primitive arms season. AB Raptor 10 in 375 seems like it would be a great fit and still be useful as hell on other rifles for the other 50 weeks of the year. Lol
Remington Model 7. I know you offer the vertical grip but it would be nice to have a more traditional option.
Ditto what someone else said about LOP options. Even if it was just easy to swap different recoil pads.