I've been working recently with Kent Bowerly on a 270 WSM. We'll be making some bottom metal with the Orbendorf release system on them, and it has come to our attention that the rifles coming from USRAC are capable of holding 3 rounds, but normally 2. Any of you guys having a problem getting that 3rd round in there? If so, we'll have a drop in follower soon to fix the problem.

Matt,

I know of two guys who own 300WSM in M70's and if I remember correctly they were capable of holding 3 in the box. Is your custom bottom metal capable of holding down 4 in the WSM cartridges?

On another note. I see you machine the Dennis Olson blind box triggerguard. I have a rifle with old of those and they are truly magnificent. Do you have a joint business venture with him where he provided the idea and you machine them for him. Because I know he builds alot of rifles based on that Blind Box triggerguard.

[ 11-18-2002, 23:47: Message edited by: alvinmack5 ]

I get three in my .270WSM.

Mike

alvinmack5,
Dennis came to us about 4 years ago wanting that design, so we made them up to his specs. The neat part about that triggerguard is that you can use it on just about anything out there, since the spacing between the rear guard screw and the trigger slot is so close on all bolt-action rifles. When we visited Dennis' shop last summer, he had a nice little FN he'd worked up with that guard. Very trim and compact. He definitely does nice work.

We've been working with USRAC for the last couple of days and their telling us that they can't alway get 3 rounds in the mag. Before we modified the follower, there was only about .010" max clearance between the last shell being completely compressed and the rail. Definitely not desirable for reliable feeding. Not to mention, spring pressure on the last round is so slight that the round is not completely slid inside the extractor. It becomes closer to a push-feed rather than controlled. I'm just a little curious as to what kind of fits you guys are getting out of these cartridges.

As far as our bottom metal, for now we're just going with a standard box, rather than the drop design so that it would hold four. Sometime down the road we'll probably ad that to our line as well.

My 300 WSM will hold 3 cartridges in the magazine without problem. Feeding these cartridges takes a bit of getting used to at fist, but they do not appear to hang up like others have said. They just feel different.

A sharp shove and they are in. I think that a bit of polishing on the top of the feed ramp area would reduce the force needed even more.

Re: "We've been working with USRAC for the last couple of days and their telling us that they can't alway get 3 rounds in the mag." I have two "conversions", short actions on which I've changed to the USRAC follower for 338WSM. In neither case will the magazine hold 3. Just misses by less than .020". Haven't addressed it but I'm a prime candidate for your follower.

Magazine cartridge capacity is one of the unavoidable trade-offs with the short-fats. As the size of the cartridge changes, so must the geometry of the magazine in order to place them in the proper stagger. I know that it is more difficult to do, but the real solution to getting more fat cartridges into a magazine is in WIDENING the magazine, not just deepening it. There is, of course, a practical limit to how wide a magazine can be with a particular action, but Sako has made a CENTERFEEDING magazine which holds four belted magnums in their Model 995. When smithing a WSM magazine it might be useful to look the Sako over for ideas.

My M70 Stainless Classic in 7mm WSM holds three in the magazine and one more in the chamber. This is more than enough rounds. I only load two or three in repeaters anyway and hunt with single shots by choice.

The rifle feeds very well.