From 30-06 to 300 wby mag?

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sport22

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Hi.
Swedish member posting.
I have found a Remington 700 BDL in 30-06 for a reasonable price.
My question is:
Is it possible for a gunsmith to turn this gun into a 300 wby mag without changing the barrel?
The rifle twist of the 300 wby mag is usually 1 in 12" I belive, and I guess this barrel is 1 in 10". Can it still shoot 300 wby mag with the 1 tur in 10" rifle twist?
Also, will the action be enough for a barrel change to 338 Lapua Mag?
Thanks
Keep on rockin in the sandbox!
best wishes from Sweden.
 
thanks

Thanks for the reply SUBMOAS.
I was thinking that the bolt could handle being upgraded to .532".
So what can be done without having to replace bolt and barrel? Im looking for flatter and harder than .30-06.
 
More to it...

Actually, I think you better check into the following the bolt's length, and the magazine well's length. You may need to have the magazine well changed out for the considerably longer .300 Wea. Mag. It is basically the same length as a .375 H&H Mag from which it was originally made. You should also ask a gunsmith if there is not perhaps one or two cross bolts set into the stock with epoxy to assist with recoil not cracking the stock.

Doc2005
 
It might be feasible to convert to a 300 Winchester magnum, but a Weatherby magnum uses the longer magnum action.
 
why not just keep it a 30-06?

i say buy a gun in the caliber you want. why change things around. might cost more in the end.
 
Hi

Great with so many replys.
Well why change things? Because I am left handed.....
There are very limited guns to buy in this caliber range. For example not a single factory gun in 338 Lapua Mag in LH.
I have been looking at the Remington 700 AWR and I like it alot but I think it is quite pricy. It is available both in 300 wby mag, 300 + 338 RUM, 300 WIN MAG etc. In sweden they run for $2642. This BDL I have found is used but with HS precison stock, and HS precision magazine upgraded for $875.
Weatherby guns run pretty high also. And a remington is always good to build on I believe.
I thought Id look into the possibilities of building something else with this gun since it has the long action and a nice stock.
Thats all.
Best wishes from a Sweden with no snow this year. Global warming guys....global warming.....
 
Look into getting some of the "light magnum" ammo loadings for that 30-06. Would get you a couple hundred more fps out the rifle for just the extra cost of the premium ammo. I don't know what is available in Europe.
 
When the .300 Win. Mag. first hit the street back in the late '50s (I think), it was common for gunsmiths to open the bolt face, and re-chamber the barrel on Springfield O3-A3s, and other sturdy/well built .30-06s. Going to the Wby mag? I wouldn't trust it. It probably wouldn't blow up, but that sure is alot of stress on just a Rem Long action.


A company called E.R. Shaw used to run a ad. in the Shotgun News for years that would re-barrel a rifle, or re-chamber/open the bolt face of a long action to a 7mm or .300 WinMag at a decent price.

The down side is that for the Mag. cartridge to really get that extra percentage of speed, while also maintaining safe chamber pressures, they use slower powders, and have a longer barrel (most are 26" as I recall) than most of the non-magnum calibres do.

If you do your conversion, I doubt if you'll really get much more than a couple hundred feet per second more speed if your .30-06 has a relatively short barrel. For whatever balistic improvement you're looking for, I'd think you could about 95% get there with some sort of premium bullet and re-load .30-06 ammo for what you need it to do.
 
I have converted a VZ24 to 300 Win Mag.

First do some projects with the correct; feed lips, extractor hook, extractor thickness, and correct bolt face diameter.

Later, do a 300WM conversion.
I hunting with mine this year. Great gun:)
 
If you reload, consider the .30-'06 Ackley Improved. Simple rechambering in your current rifle, same bolt, easily fire-formed cases. Supposed to give an additional 100fps at the top end. (I don't have one, so this is all theoretical)
 
Good on ya Hutch!

I thought I was the only one who remembers who Ackley was and what he did.

For you young folks:
Mr. Ackley 'improved' on most bottleneck cases of his day (he didn't get famous until the mid-1950's).
He took a regular, common cartridge/cal., and reamed out the chamber.

The new chamber had straighter walls, and the shoulder was moved up to increase the powder capacity.

For brass, you took the original/parent cartridge, and shot it in the new chamber, thus fire forming it.
Then,,,, reloaded from there.
Which meant you had a gunsmith cut the sizer die the same time he did your rifle's chamber
(like the real serious target shooters still do today).

But, in a pinch,,,
you could still shoot the original factory cartridge if ya 'had' to.

His 'Ackley Improved' chamberings never really did take off.
I guess nobody worked up loads for them, and they weren't heavily promoted in the gun comic books.

Roy Weatherby basically took P O Ackley's idea, and added the classic round/radiused shoulders on all his 'improved' cases---

and, since he was better at marketing than Mr. Ackely,
who also never had new rifles made with his new chamberings,,,,

---We all know who Roy Weatherby is,,,,, but P O Ackley is almost lost to history.

.
 
Of course this is a reloading only proposition, but you could re-chamber to the 30 Gibbs it will give you almost 300 Win Mag velocity and uses a standard bolt face.

The problem with the improved cartridges is that now (with the availability of Chronographs) they rarely can safely achieve their original claimed velocity improvements.

http://www.reloadersnest.com/frontpage.asp?CaliberID=7

I would look into trying to make a 300 Win Mag out of it, but your cost may easily equal the cost of a new rifle.
 
Another vote for the 700 remaining a 30-06 and trying Hornady light magnum loads. Zero gunsmith fees and you could still rechamber/rebarrel later if need be. As pointed out, the 300 Wby balistics fall off rapidly with a barrel shorter than 26".

Two other possibilities: I think SAKO made some magnum cartridge-chambered LH actions over the years. Also, Think about the 376 Steyr: at .501 it has a smaller cartridge base than the 300 Wby (.513) or the 338 Lapua (.590). With a cartridge length of 3.075 you'd have to block the magazine, not make it longer. Wildcaters seem to think the brass is designed such that it could be necked down to almost any caliber you like.
 
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