I bought a Sako L61R action at a gun show & am now trying to make a nice hunting rifle chambered in the new 7mm PRC. I'm having a hard time getting it to feed. The action is stamped Magnum in real small letters on the side. Does anyone know what cartridges this action was chambered for? I'm thinking the 375 H&H or 300 Holand & Holand. I'm making the follower for it. So far I'm having trouble getting three rounds to go down & still be able to push them down so I can load the 4th one in the chamber. I'm thinking of scrapping the 7mm idea & building a 300H&H. What would you do?

I believe they were made '06 and 300 WM class cartridges. You might be trying to cram those fat little babies into a .270 Win mag box.

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I'm making the follower for it.

So it didn't come with a follower?

The only difference in the standard (.470") and magnum (.532") bolt face actions are the bolt face opening diameter and the follower. A magnum follower allows four .532 rounds down (4+1) in the same box that allows five .470 rounds down (5+1). I own a number of these in .25-06, .270, 280, .30-06, and .264 Win, .300 H&H, .300 Win, and .338 Win and all of the standards hold 5+1 and the magnums all hold 4+1.

If your action won't hold 4+1 PRC's then it likely doesn't have either a factory spring or factory follower.

Larry,

Not sure of the original magnum chamberings.
Note: The 7 PRC shoulder is much wider than the .300 H&H and the wider than the .300 Winchester Magnum just to mention two 300's. I suspect some material removal at the right rail may be in order. I have a 8mm Mauser to 6.5 CM conversion that needed extra clearance at the rail for the cartridge to come up midway through the stroke of the bolt. I'm just a novice. So, it took me 8-10 tries a little at a time before I got it perfect. Good luck.
CB

Thanks for replying Stone Creek. I bought this action for $200. Thought I got a good deal until I went to buy the parts for it. The action was completely striped when I got it. The bottom metal & bolt stop alone without a follower was $720. I could of bought a nice complete rifle for what I got in to this thing. Any way since I have a lathe & Bridgeport I'm trying to make a follower. It would be nice if I could see one to get a idea of how they look. Would you please give me a call 480-661-5426. Thanks Larry Miller

Well I got the thing fixed. I found a picture of a magnum follower for this rifle. That part worked fine. The cases are about .050 larger in dia. than the 375 H&H out in the shoulder area. The 7PRC has very little tapper. What I did was cut some windows in the mag. box to let them spread out. I also had to soder the spring to the bottom of the follower to give me maximum depth. I can now put three down & one in the chamber. After I make the stock & shoot it we will see how it works.