Can a Remington 700 or 721 bolt face be opened up enough, and still be safe, to be used for a 30-378 Wby?

Since they have chambered the m700 in 338 Lapua I would "assume" it would be large enough for the smaller 378 head dia.

Just not something I would care for.

Yes.

I did a 338-378 on a Savage 110 once; yes, the bolt face was big enough but in order to extract loaded rounds you had to remove the bolt; customer did not want to mill out any of the receiver for clearance. Many people will say that standard actions are too small and weak for those big headed cartridges. I have found they will take them, but the margin for error is probably, at least theoretically, compromised a bit. But they work for me.

I mentioned wanting to do a 338 Lapua using a Savage 110 action and keeping the pressures below 60KPSI several years ago, on a Savage forum and people went ballistic...YA CAN'T DO THAT...YA'LL BLOW THE RIFLE UP...etc, etc, etc.

Not too many years later Savage came out with the BA series IN 338 LAPUA...I PROMPTLY BOUGHT ONE.

It does have a slightly larger shank OD and a few other changes and that HUGE, 6 round mag and 3.75" COAL capability. I load the Hornady 285 gr BTHP to ~2700/~55KPSI at 3.75" COAL and get a kick out of whacking sage rats out beyond 400 yds...fairly regularly

It never ceases to amaze me the low level of understanding of ballistics, pressure, receiver/case pressure capability etc, and the louder the yowling the less understanding there seems to be...lots of yapper dogs that keep yipping long after the bogey man has left the vicinity...so to speak.

Not many get their information first hand...BY ACTUALLY DOING/TESTING, rather than just reading something on the web. The web is a great tool but also an even greater LIAR and disseminator of false information, besides giving information to the enemy.

The receiver/barrel will handle the pressures, it's the bolt lugs that are the problem and if you've ever looked inside the receivers of many brands, the amount of metal for the lower lug abutment will definitely give you pause...it's basically a very small triangle of metal and the more you hog out the feed ramp the worse it gets...

Reference a 375 H&H or other long cased mag on a mauser 98...that feed ramp modification just about removes that abutment...not a problem if you work from the back end for the additional length and seems to be not a problem for all the conversions that have happened in the years after WWII

Check out Varminter Al's website...he has several engineering analyses of the forces on various receiver brands bolt lugs.

Most 'smiths, shooters, reloaders, etc are not all that well versed in engineering principles, higher math, stress analysis or ever actually "blow up" an action intentionally, only by accident and hardly ever have actually useful data of what happened..." I don't know what happened...it just blew up".

If they or someone else did some "fancy work" and it didn't cause a problem then that something will continue to be reproduced somewhere down the line.

Wildcatting is a dangerous endeavor no matter how careful you are and mo matter the case size or caliber.

Whenever someone tells me I can't do something, I do the stress analysis first, and then do it.

[quote]Reference a 375 H&H or other long cased mag on a mauser 98...that feed ramp modification just about removes that abutment...not a problem if you work from the back end for the additional length and seems to be not a problem for all the conversions that have happened in the years after WWII

You are 100% correct. There are any number of M98 both military and commercial that were opened up to handle the H&H numerous Wbys etc. Removing a major portion of the bottom lug support. Can't say that I ever heard of one letting go. I owned and shot a Whitworth 375H&H for years. Never had an issue but never had a warm and fussy either.

As to the 700 I know they do the 338 Lapua and I'm sure there is enough safety still built in that the lawyers are comfortable.

I guess I'm just a belt and suspender type of guy when I touch off 65,000PSi next to my face.

In my younger days I pushed it. Blown primers were not that big of a deal to me. Then came the internet and pictures of blown actions.

As I said earlier there is room on the 700 face for the 378 case. It must be perfectly safe. For me if I was building a 30/378 338 Lapua etc I would simply start with an action designed for it.

As Nanagonagin said there is nothing at all scientific as to my feelings.

quote:

posted 11 November 2014 03:13 Hide Post
Whenever someone tells me I can't do something, I do the stress analysis first, and then do it.

oh yeah