I need some advice and thoughts. A friend of mine picked up a custom 7mm 300wby. He is not a reloader and was going to rebarrel. He decide against it and asked if I wanted it. I told him I was interested in the action for a custom project He knew it was a pre64- we made the trade. The rifle is in minty condition,99%,and bolts and handles like new. The barrel is labeled "George Hedrick Maker 1990". It has custom bottom metal and canjar trigger set very good.
The action turns out to be a Group Vll H & H Magnum action.
Specs
Bolt Head 0.532"
Bolt throw $.58"
Max oal cartridge length 3.7"
I tried putting some loaded 416 Rigby cartridges into the magazine and the went in smoothly.
My questions are.
1) can the 0.532 bolt head be opened to 0.588?
2) will the extractor work well with the larger diameter?
3)Can feeding and function be handled reasonably? ( I have read Duane Wiebes posts on this process and have his pamphlet on the same.)
4) what have I missed that can be issues?
This is my first post althou I have been a member for some time and am on the site daily reading.
Thank You

A correction
Bolt throw 4.58"
Year of Manufacture 1949

Try to see if some dummy cartridges will feed from the magzine box without a barrel installed, that will tell you a bunch.

Thank you Jim. I will try when the barrel is off. But the 416 rigby with a rim diameter of 0.589 will not go into the Bolt head. The lapua with a rim of 0.588 I expect will not either until the bolt head is opened up.
Thanks again.
stu

I would not put a Lapua on any Winchester 70 action and neither would most people.
Margin of safety is eaten up, not that it won't work for a while. There is a reason that Savage increased their barrel shank OD, and even Remington 700s are frowned upon in the 338.
You can go with a RUM 338; same performance.
There are better actions for the Lapua.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
I would not put a Lapua on any Winchester 70 action and neither would most people.
Margin of safety is eaten up, not that it won't work for a while. There is a reason that Savage increased their barrel shank OD, and even Remington 700s are frowned upon in the 338.
You can go with a RUM 338; same performance.
There are better actions for the Lapua.

You are correct. 338 Ultra or a different receiver.

Not even a RUM now that I think bout it. Use a 700.

quote:

Originally posted by butchlambert:

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
I would not put a Lapua on any Winchester 70 action and neither would most people.
Margin of safety is eaten up, not that it won't work for a while. There is a reason that Savage increased their barrel shank OD, and even Remington 700s are frowned upon in the 338.
You can go with a RUM 338; same performance.
There are better actions for the Lapua.

You are correct. 338 Ultra or a different receiver.

+1

Go with an Edge. Wonderful caliber. I have one on an M70 with a Benchmark bbl that is tack driver. Neither would have been my first choice in building a long range gun, but it works.

I have a Lapua built on a Stiller TAC, Brux bbl, and McM stock. Tack driver too, but pretty heavy.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:

There is a reason that Savage increased their barrel shank OD, and even Remington 700s are frowned upon in the 338.

The Mark V Wby is same barrel thread as Rem 700 nd I have used and see used very hot loads for 30/378, 338/378 and the 378. However, the barrel shank on a Mark V is far shorter than the Rem 700, maybe only alf as long. The Rem 700 barrel shank is very long with having the detachabe recoil lug.

I am not sure but I seem to remeber readinb that the M70 was increased from 1 inch for the WSM.

As to having a RUM instead of 338 Lapua I could not agree more. If I am going to have the Rigby size case head and the very expensive brass then I want the full case capiacity version as in the 378 case. I get the feeling that many shooters are not aware that the 338 Lapiua is only RUM case capacity. The RUM case is really great to maximise the Rem 700 or the M70. Although I don't think I would want one in a Pre 64 with its shorter receiver than the pst 63 action.

Right; I have built several 338 RUMS on 700s and they work very well. Pre 64s are too small. For me. If you really want to do it it probably won't kill you.
I have an Armalite AR30, the first one made, and a Ruger. Both are specifically made for the Lapua case.

Mike are the post 63 CRF actions longer than the pre 64 magnum action then? And I am listening to you and dpcd, anotherazwriter , Butchlambert , and Jim.Looks like I should find a more suitable Cartridge for this action.

quote:

Originally posted by stu70:
Mike are the post 63 CRF actions longer than the pre 64 magnum action then? And I am listening to you and dpcd, anotherazwriter , Butchlambert , and Jim.Looks like I should find a more suitable Cartridge for this action.

Yes, Post 63 is a longer action. Maybe 1/4" or more, I forget exactly. The extra length is real, not a machine out and as result the action screws are spaced further apart on the Post 63 actions.

All Pre 64s and all Post 63s (except when they introduced a short action in the Post 63 CRF M70) are the same action lenght whether in 243 or 375.

If I was getting a Lapua or a RUM the Pre 64 would not be my choice.