I just acquired what I believe is a pre-64 Mod 70 short mag action. Is there a easy way to tell if it is a mag action. A 375 H&H will fit the bolt face, but is too long to feed from the magazine. The action is in almost unused condition and I want to buid a rifle on it, Probably in 458 Win. Any help would be appreciated. Also I was going to get a stock from Serengeti Stocks but I see a few people are having problems with Montana Arms on there actions and I was told they are one in the same

ifin you figure that out, let us know...

all pre64 actions are the same length

jeffe

srt,

Serengeti Stockworks and MRC are not the same company. The confusion might be from the fact that one of the owners from Serengeti used to be with MRC. Everything I've heard about Serengeti Stockworks has been positive.



Craig

srt,
If it has the magnum bolt face and the 30-06 length, it is the standard magnum action.
The actions are the same length, but the .300 H&H/375 length actions have the bottom of the action opened up a bit, the magazine is slightly longer, and the ejection port is lengthened in the front and back about 1/8" or so. Don't have the dimensions right here to look at but I think that about sums it up.
It should work fine for a .458 length, and with a little work, it would also fit the .375 case. My .338 started out life as a 30-06. The bolt face was opened up, and the barrel was swapped and a magnum was born. Didn't even have to adjust the feed rails, follower or magazine. The .338 should be the same length as the .458 case.- Sheister

Many, but not all of the short mags had 458(short mag designation) stamped onto the bottom of the recoil lug.

I've only owned three short magnum actions, but they all had the 458 stamp. Two were .264's and one is a 458.

Roger beat me to it. What he said. There may be other differences, i.e., magazine box, etc., but I don't have my book handy.

Thanks, guys, appreciate the info

Upon consulting my Model 70 reference; the short magnum action had a different magazine box and follower than both the standard and H&H actions. Furthermore, the 458WM actions had a different magazine box than the one used for the 264, 338, and 300 "short" magnum chamberings.

Glen71, What is the title of your reference book? Author?, In order for the assemblers at the factory to"get it right", the boxes were stamped with a number, when there was a difference. Prior to'64 I did a lot of authorised repair station bailouts for the company, and I recall no mag box difference whatsoever. The follower looks like the.300/375 version, but is not the same, The feed well is cut out wider, and inside of bridge deck is milled to clear the case base in ejection, and as mentioned before the bottom face of the receiver recoil lug is stamped .458, Bolt face and extractor cut for the magnum ctgs. Those are the essential differences. If there is a book out there with miss-information, I'd like to peruse it. Maybe put a fatwah on it.



edited at end. The above is a reason why you should never punch "submit" just because of a phone call, followed by hearing drive up sounds of a visitor touring the area. The last short mag box I sold off WAS for the .458 and I had to measure it for the crease location. The guy had a take off 458 barrel, with the rear sight and a 2 crossbolt stock. He didn't care,but I knew it would be checked over by the Ayatollahs and felt it should be authentic, which is why I used the term Fatwah. Does it make a difference for a shooter?. After the long late 50's strike was settled at Winch., strange combinations came through, Over dimension feed well geometry was not uncommon, and these were apparently shipped with that set of parts which provided the best feed cycling in the .458's . If the "found" action IS to be made into a 458. and mag box is for the.264/300/.338 WMG. It might need a bit of tweaking to feed at it's best, but probably not. When the post '64 version came out the 458 and a companion 375 paired with it to cosmetically matching barrel contours were offered on the pre 64 action as a special pair. Of these the 458 did not always have the "right" mag box, and this seemed to make no difference in feeding. It could, however,make a difference to a collector who- rule bound- might spot this serious infraction almost immediately and severely lower his offered price.

Tom,

The magazine box on my 458 is different than the standard short magnum box. The crimp is further forward and deeper on the 458 than the standard short mag box.

If it's a short magnum action, it would have to be a later serial # first. Sometime around 1956-1963, with a serial # approximately 360,xxx and higher. Short mag actions had the same magazine length as standard receivers however the mag. well was widened to .565" for the short mag. as oppossed to a .544" width for standards. Magazine length for both the standard and short mags measured 3.40" whereas the H&H magnum receivers had a magazine length of 3.63. The H&H's also had cutouts front and back on the ejecting ports which gave it a measurement of 3.669" center to center. The short mag came with one of 2 magazine boxes. One was just for the 458 and had 1 deep verticle crimp on each side, 1.25" fron the front. The other box for the 264, 300, and 338 also had 1 verticle crimp on each side, however, the crimp was 1.5" from the front of the box. Hope that helps you. See Roger Rule's book, The Rifleman's Rifle for more detail.

Serial number indicates it was made in 1960-61 and from the front of the indentions on the magazine box to the front of the box is 1.25" so it is a 458. I'll pick up some dummy rounds from Brownells to verify the feeding