I have enroute to me a beater Sako AIII in 30-06. I plan to rebarrel to 257 Wby as I have a blank, a reamer as well as dies and brass.
I do my own gunwork and I'll open the boltface. Will the '06 extractor work with the magnum case?

I have found information stating the follower will need mods or replacement.
Anyone done a standard to magnum conversion on an L61R, AIII or AV?

Just conjecture but I think you'll find the extractor slot is too deep, putting the extractor groove too close to the center of the bolt. Don't know how to overcome that, but maybe the Sako made a different extractor which compensates for that.

Long before I was doing my own stuff, I had the same thing done to one, made it a 308 Norma instead. The guy that did it put a dollop of weld on the underside of the extractor to move it away from center, worked like a champ.

The extractor groove IS too deep and in addition to this the hole for the spring and plunger is in too far so one can't even just shim the bottom of the slot and have it work out right. I shouldn't say "can't" because one can but there are some complications. The extractor needs to move out by about .030" so the hole for the plunger needs to do the same.
A perfect alteration would plug the existing hole and have it re-drilled to the appropriate location and shimming the extractor out. Both the shim and the plug would be retained with a lo-temp solder. The new hole would be about 1/2 hole out from the current location.
If you decide you would rather just do a 25/06 AI, let me know and I'll send you a reamer. Regards, Bill.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Leeper:
The extractor groove IS too deep and in addition to this the hole for the spring and plunger is in too far so one can't even just shim the bottom of the slot and have it work out right. I shouldn't say "can't" because one can but there are some complications. The extractor needs to move out by about .030" so the hole for the plunger needs to do the same.
A perfect alteration would plug the existing hole and have it re-drilled to the appropriate location and shimming the extractor out. Both the shim and the plug would be retained with a lo-temp solder. The new hole would be about 1/2 hole out from the current location.
If you decide you would rather just do a 25/06 AI, let me know and I'll send you a reamer. Regards, Bill.

It worked fine for me for a number of rounds and years.It may be a problem if using the magnum sako extractor, which is much bigger, but I used the original '06 one.

Jim,
I don't say it wouldn't work and in fact, I'm quite sure it would. I'm just saying it's not quite right and for that reason, I've avoided doing it. Regards, Bill.

I also think it could work, but for the reasons Bill stated and the fear I can see it coming back again and again because it didn't work perfectly, I wouldn't do it either...at least not for a paying customer.

I think you'll wish you had paid a hundred bucks more for one which was originally in a magnum caliber. You'll put way more than $100 worth of time into jiggering with the bolt face, feed rails, and follower. And if you "eff" something up you'll spend a lot more than that correcting it.

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Sako AIII

OK, I can't remember how this works, but when you buy the new extractor replacement kit from Stoger it comes with the thin extractor and the thick one. There is a way to juggle the extractors around in those old A3's so that you can just put in one of the new style extractors into an old style 30-06 that has been opened up to magnum and it just drops in and works ticker-boo. I always install the extractor and then measure it up before I open the bolt face just to reassure myself that it works, but it always does with minimum to no extractor modification. I just can't remember exactly what is needed. Maybe someone else has done this recently and remembers?

quote:

If you decide you would rather just do a 25/06 AI, let me know and I'll send you a reamer. Regards, Bill

Or just a 25-06 well do most of any thing you want.

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Originally posted by speerchucker30x378:

quote:

Sako AIII

OK, I can't remember how this works, but when you buy the new extractor replacement kit from Stoger it comes with the thin extractor and the thick one. There is a way to juggle the extractors around in those old A3's so that you can just put in one of the new style extractors into an old style 30-06 that has been opened up to magnum and it just drops in and works ticker-boo. I always install the extractor and then measure it up before I open the bolt face just to reassure myself that it works, but it always does with minimum to no extractor modification. I just can't remember exactly what is needed. Maybe someone else has done this recently and remembers?

Rod, that is good to know. At least it would be good to know if I was still working. Still good info for those who need it. Regards, Bill

I actually want your job Billy. Except I'm going to make sure I have enough gas to get all the way to the coast. I hear you can ride a motorcycle year round out there, providing you have rain gear. I also know for a fact there are no crabs or oysters in Lake Koocanusa.

Well, the old Sako arrived today. It's not half as bad as I originally imagined considering the description I was given. The bore cleaned up nicely and the Hawkeye says it's pretty good. Small bit of throat wear and a few minor pits in the grooves. Someone has done a full-on Bubba stock refinish though.....that can be dealt with.

Bill, thanks for the offer of the 25-06AI reamer. Lately I have decided that I abhor fireforming. So much so that this summer I removed a 243AI barrel after 26 fireforming rounds and went back to the SAAMI 243.

I have thought of doing a 25 on the 280 AI case. Neck down Nosler brass you're golden.

I suppose one could run a 25-06AI reamer in to headspace on the Nosler 280AI brass. One would end up with a bit longer chamber and throat but not overly so given the approximate .045 difference in brass length. It could work out quite well for those of us that don't like burning powder and time to form brass. Both are in short supply here lately.

You could certainly load it with 25-06AI dies.

Rod, I have to get out to your new shop someday. Guess it's not new to you but I haven't been there.

Yeah, you don't get out much Rick. I hope to be moving again in the spring providing that new range opens. They offered me a deal on some space and I'm hopeful that it's going to go through. If I could get 1000 square feet at a decent price I could get a junky old CNC mill to make brakes and other repetitive crap on which would be a godsend. I would probably set up bluing tanks too if space and drainage worked out.