The build saga aka how to mark time for two years whilst no one seems to give a damn

You may recall how we dropped off the donor rifles and 4 rounds of original ammo. We also dropped off a number of converted cases a little later so the proof house could load their test ammo using these. The order to Pacific Tool and Gauge PTG had gone in for a reamer set in .280 British and a custom one based on several identical loaded rounds I had given for this purpose, these were a 6.5 x 55 case necked out to take a 150 grain .308 bullet. Essentially similar to the French M1929 7.5 x 54 round. Now in theory my stash of 7.5 Handloads would feed out of this giving me a ready supply of brass. Wait whats this you say deviation?
Yes I am deviating however this is also an important occurrence in this thread.
Six months went by and not a peep from Riflecraft. My oppo decided to e myther them, for those of you unfamiliar with the term its to bombard repeatedly by email until you get a response.
Guess what? Yup no reply. We ended up driving up to visit and discuss the matter. We had by now paid in full and were getting more than a little fed up with it all. Paul managed to find out that Brock and Norris had a .280 Reamer and were willing to loan/rent it out.
Job jobbed and as we paid up our final dues the man at Riflecraft announced my .30-55 reamer had arrived and did I want to continue. This was the clincher as we were about to ask for a full refund. Anyway we didn't, the rifles were rebarrelled and sent for proof.
Interestingly this is where it gets complicated.
As a dealer I have to account for ammunition in my register so these live rounds were booked out. More of that later.
Problems started to appear when the rifles went for proof. Pauls Remington failed inspection due to a defect with the bolt which was replaced. Then the proof house said they had loaded the test cases and they wouldn't chamber.
That taught me to learn about case neck turning for which I went to my Kiwi mate John a hand loader and Match Rifleman of some repute.
The problem was I had issued the live ammo so if there was a problem they could use those. The Proof House claimed that they didn't have them and hadn't been issued them!
Oops, Riflecraft were adamant that they had and had a signature.
Cue Norfolk and Suffolk Police. I had to report them as lost/stolen. A visit was made to Riflecraft by the Police and their books checked. The Proof House was warned and hey presto I  received an email stating they had "Found my ammunition" and at the same time had turned down the necks of the proof rounds and both rifles had now passed proof.
FFS 2 years this had been going on and I still didn't have either the .280's or my 30-55 in my hands.
Then almost as if out of the blue the call came, how did we want these two .280's delivered? I said without hesitating that I would collect them.
I really almost didn't believe it.
There they were, both rifles and yet he had still dropped the ball. I had specified a slim sporter barrel and screw cut at the muzzle for 1/2" unf. Nope he did some effing oddball thread on a fat heavy barrel.
He also fitted a bridge rail mount when I specified separate two piece mounts, nothing worse than a chunky rail getting in the way of sorting out a misfeed.
Anyway I was just happy at last to see both of the rifles and here they are at last;

 Paul giving mine the once over and seemingly happy with it, the screw cut muzzle is covered with a thread protector neatly made from barrel offcut so it looks seamless:

 Dressed in the correct mounts and with a Brugger und Thomet sound moderator fitted:

 This is almost too good to believe proofed rifles in .280!

 Pauls rifle next to the .30-55 still not rebarrelled:

 Pauls rifle looking very attractive in the AICS chassis stock:

Eventually the 30-55 was delivered, that deserves a blog post of its own what a sodding saga, anyway we were ready to start testing the rifles and ammo and had our die sets going full tilt;

 The projectiles we loaded up with (above) and the loaded rounds (below)

 The rounds provided for proof and neck turned by them;

 Two hand loads next to an original factory round;

 Reddings superb die set:

 Inside with the case forming die and two dummies

Oddly enough if you didn't neck turn the excess brass from the .308 style cases they would run through the dies but still wouldn't chamber. Infuriating when you didn't have the rifles but were converting at least 100 cases a month for two years!