I�m about to bulild a long range benchrest rifle chambered for a 57 mm long .30 round based on a .338 Lapua case. Some gunsmiths seemes to dislike the Remington actions for this big case. There isn�t mutch metal left around the case in the bolt and Dan Lilja for ex. states that the wall thickness is on the margin in the chamber area.

My plan is to use a Mohawk action and a barrel block. The Mohawk rifle I got my hands on is a .222 rem so there will be some modifications before the Lapua case will fit I think I�ll make up a new bolt and leave the Reminton bolt as it is. Mabye I would like to turn the action into a nice hunting rifle after I got my butt kicked around at long range BR matches

Anyone that have any experience with the big Lapua case in Remington actions?

The spring is getting really nice here in northern Sweden. The snow is melting and the days are sunny and very plesant at the moment

Easter greetings from:

Stefan.

Is it 7,62*57 NS (Nils Slotte)

Yup Kimmo, it�s a 7,62X57 NS for sure

Nils grandson Anders Slotte, is visting here in Ume� next weekend and he will bring me the reammers.

Are you in to benchrest Kimmo?

Stefan.

Just making a reply to myselfe to get the topic up on top of the gunsmithing forum

Again, anybody having a opinion on a .338 Lapua based round in a Remington action........

Stefan K

[This message has been edited by Stefan (edited 04-08-2002).]

I suggest you not use a Rem 700 for your project. The bolt thrust of a .590 boltface in a high pressure cartridge like the 338 Lapua is generally considered too much for this action. You will also need the boltface opened, a sako type extractor and extensive rail work done to even get it to fit mechanically. I know others have done it, but IMHO it's not a safe conversion. Unfortunately,while there are commercial actions around like the CZ550 that can take the pressure, they are not sufficiently rigid to give you are accuracy you want at long range. Given the cost of the gunsmithing involved, I'd look carefully at Nesika bay or Kodiak actions as a better basis for your gun if you just have to have a .338 Lapua. Frankly, since the .338 ultramag can exceed the Lapua's performance, and does work in a Rem 700, why not consider that option? In the end I doubt you will know the difference except in your pocketbook.-Rob

I was under the impression that the 338 Lapua was the .404 Jeffery case necked down to .338 and the shoulder blown out. If so then the it is essentially the same as the 338 RUM. Remington based the RUM line on the 404 case but rebated the rim to fit the bolthead and changed the shoulder angle. Buy a Rem 700 in 338 RUM or go to a different action if you want the .338 Lapua. HTH

If the Remongton 700 will handle the Ultra Mag series, and it seems to, then it will certainly handle the Lapua. I have seen many 700s used for cartridges based on the 378 WBY and have built a few myself. I've yet to hear of any sort of failure and these things are always loaded hot! If the Sako 75 has enough metal around the chamber then the Remington 700 certainly does since the threads on the 700 are a few thou larger. Regards, Bill.

No i`m not a benchrest shooter.
But i think 7*57ns and 7,62*57ns is nice cartridges.

hsp223 - The .338 Lapua case is not built on the .404 Jeffery case (The RUM is). However you can fireform a .416 Rigby case in a pinch. Case dimensions are a little different between the Rigby and the Lapua. If you have an action that can handle the .416 Rigby, it will also address the .338 Lapua.

.338 Lapua Case:
Base - .587"
Base to Shoulder - 2.161"
Base to Neck - 2.397"
OAL Cartridge - 2.7244

The .338 Lapua is based on the .416 Rigby case (heavily modified) not the 404 Jeffery. The .338 Rum is based on the 404 Jeffery. While I have been very tempted to use a Rem 700 for such a project myself, I have never done so. If you would like another opinion, Just go to Dan Lilja's website and review his article on 378 WBY cases in the Rem 700. Whether the WBY belt makes the situation any worse is a moot point. Dan clearly does not think this should be done on the Rem 700 based on his bolt-lug strength calculations. I know other reputable smiths have done so including Bill Leeper, with good results, but I'd prefer a larger margin of safety myself and won't go that route.-Rob

Wow,i got some interesting replys when I brougth up the question again.

Thank�s guys!

The cost of the gunsmithing is "only" a matter of time.

I do my own gunsmithing

As I said in the first post the cartridge is not the original huge .338 Lapua Mag. It�s a shortened .30 cal case based on the .338 Lapua. The case holds about 80-85 grains of MRP filled up to the neck without a droptube.

I�m far from a expert in metal strength or anything like that but I can�t se any great risk in using a .338 Lapua case in a Rem action if I use some sense when reloading. Again, I�m not an expert so I may be wrong here!

The thing I have been thinking of a bit is the possible flex in the action and barrel due to less material left in the barrel when using the big Lapua case. This could result in cases getting sticky and hard to extract sooner that on a more "normal" case.

The .30/.378 WBY should put a LOT more stress into the action than the case I plan to chamber the rifle for.

The first plan was to chamber the rifle I�m building for the new WSM round. But I got my hands on some Lapua .338 cases and a reamer for the 7,62X57. The temtation got to big to try this good looking round

I think I�ll will go ahead and chamber the barrel for the 7,62X57 after all. But I�m still open to more input on the matter!!

Reg.

Stefan.

Stefan- Interesting, I think if you have a strain guage and build loads that are a little on the wimpy side you might just get away with it at least for awhile. The bolt lug strength of the Rem 700 is almost 3:1 with a 378 wby type case and while not impressive should be ok with a toned down version of the 30-378 wby. You ,however, don't have a great safety margin and I'd test fire this thing alot from a safe distance before I got my precious head next to it. I suspect you still might have some clearance problems with a sako extractor ( which you will need),but a larger counterbore may avoid this. In the end it will also probably be a single shot. Let us know how it works.-Rob

Rob.

I�ll probably make up a new bolt for the action from scratch. The new bolt will be a cone breech type with a sako extractor. And yes, the rifle will be a single shot one so the feeding from a magasine will not create any troubble.

I have also been thinking of rebating the cases to baelted magnum size (.300 Win Mag etc.) to get some more material left in the bolt around the case rim.

I�ll try to keep you uppdate about the progress in this project.

Stefan.

[This message has been edited by Stefan (edited 04-09-2002).]

Stefan- If you can build a new bolt, then I assume you are going to also open up the bolt channel for something greater in size than the .700 of the Rem bolt. That would be a good idea and significantly increase the amount of metal left around the bolt rim. Recently I built a 585 NYATI on a CZ550 and the NYATI has a rim which is .640. On the .700 CZ bolt this only left .030 of rim left. This turned out to work just fine although I had my doubts at first. I also considered rebating the rim of the cartridge, but as this was a repeater, didn't want to negatively effect the feeding. In your case you will probably be ok without having to rebate the rim. With that said, given the size of the std .590 rim there is the issue of whether you can get a sako type extractor to snap over the rim reliably. Thus, you might just be correct and rebating the rim will solve that problem for sure.
Please take lots of digital pictures as you go along and if you can please E-mail them to me as I am extremely interested in how this all works out.-Rob

Rob.

I think I�ll go for the rebating and not the idea about making a thicker bolt. The idea with a thicker bolt isn�t bad at all! But I would like the original bolt to be useful later on if I decide to turn the action into a hunting gun. I also would like the locking area to be as big as possible.

I�ll try to borrow a digital camera and take some pictures during the project.

I made a good deal on the used Mohawk rifle. I bougth it from a gun dealer for 200 US$, that�s a good price here in Sweden. I�m getting the Mohawk tomorrow by bus.

I�m just back from the workshop, I�m making up reloading dies for the guy I borrowed the reamers from

Stefan.

Stefan

I have seen some test sniper rifles made by remington in 338 Lapua for the Italian armed forces. I guess it should work just fine. Ed Brown builds 338 Lapuas on his action which is a remington style action. I would go for a Jallonen action.

Cheers
JOHAN

Hej JOHAN!

I just made a reply on your post about flutes

The Jalonen actions are really well made and of exellen quality, it would be a good choise. I will make this gun a bit experimental though. The long range benchrest matches are few here in Scandinavia and I don�t like to put a lot of money into this project. The big model of the Jalonen action isn�t that usefull for anything else that an .338 Lapua based round. I�ll doubth that I could sell it if I don�t go on with long range BR.

Stefan.

I have a HSPrecision Heavy Tactical Rifle in .338 Lapua. Their action is almost identical to the Remington action. It is Stainless Steel with a Sako type extractor. Never any problems and shoots great. Consistent 1" groups at 200 yds.

[This message has been edited by Bob G (edited 04-14-2002).]

The HS precision action may look to you like a Remington but it most certainly is not dimensionally even close. The Remington even in a LA will not feed a .338 Lapua cartridge except as a single shot, and there are very marginal tolerances in the barrel/chamber area. HS designed their action to avoid this and other problems inherent in the 700 design. The Remington action is best kept to a 404 Jeffery size case.-Rob

Interesting observation Rob. Any idea what the barrel tenon diameter is. The bolt is the same length and diameter on the HTR rifle as it is on the Rem.LA. The diameter of the action is also about the same diameter.
I know the detachable box mag. is set up for single line feed. You have piqued my curiosity now. I am aware that the action rails would not support the mods to feed the fat .338 Lapua case since a straight rather than staggered feed is necessary. The action may have been designed to operate at a higher pressure than the Rem.

Interestingly, the bolt diameter on just about everything From military Mausers to Rem 700 to Springfields etc.is close to .700. Only a few actions exceed that size. I have looked at the HS precision action and talked to the designers at SCI a few weeks ago. It appears to be able to take much longer and fatter cartridges than a Rem 700 and the bolt will go back farther in the action than a Rem 700. The action rails are wider and the action box longer. The action locking lugs also appear to have a bit more metal on the bottom which would give it more strength.
As I've said before, the Rem 700 can be converted to a .338 Lapua as a single shot only and it's a marginal proposition. I did figure out that by boring Rem Receiver Threads out and re-cutting them, that you would gain at least .040 in the barrel tennon diameter and this helps considerably, but it's a huge amount of work to do when the .338 Ultramag will fit the Rem 700 as is and will provide Identical if not superior performance to a .338 Lapua. It's an interesting idea in any event.-rob

I have now got a bit in to my long range BR gun project. The reciver is now compleatly worked over. Locking areas trued and straigth, reciver face square and threads recut. Today I started on the new bolt and I�m sorry to say i havent got a digital camera to keep you posted about how I�m progressing....... I�ll try to get hold of one during the building of the gun and take some photos.

The bolt is made out of 2241 high strength steel an will be tempered before final machining.

I�m also working on the barrelblock, it�s going to be a heavy gun

Stefan.

Doesn't Sako make an action that works with the Lapua cartridge?

That would seem an easier route than building a new bolt.

Just my 2 cents.

500grains!

Yes sako makes the TRG action to take the .338 Lapua case. It would or corse be a simple solution to buy a TRG or a Jalonen action allready made for the .338 Lapua case. I don�t mind the work involved with building the new bolt though As a matter of fact I really enjoy the making of the new bolt!

It�s not THAT mutch work involved in the making of a new bolt. I use the shroud and fireing pin from the old one.

Stefan.