Hammer

I don't think it would be that hard. Open the bolt face and a new extractor first. Then see if it feeds. If not a little rail work and your in business.
It could be cheaper if you could find a good swap or maybe sell out right. Then get the rifle you want.

God Bless
Shawn

Does the .460 use the same case as the .378 Wthby? If so, you will also need to extend the slot in the bottom of the bolt that serves as the bolt stop about 1/4-inch or you will not be able to eject a live round (too long.) You may need a new magazine box and follower to accomodate the longer cartridges. A friend converted a .340 Wthby to a .338-378 Wthby and had the above problems - he could only keep one in the unmodified magazine, I think.

Calif Hunter,

Did your friend's rifle work well after he made the conversion ?

And, yes, the 460 Wby case is the same as the 30/378, 338/378, 378, and 416 Weatherby cases.

Hammer

Hammer,

New extractor, open bolt face and buy the magazine box, spring and follower for the 378 or 460. The magazine for the 378 based calibres is a vertical stack and the follower is just a flat peice of metal.

The rails of the action are not involved with the feeding.

Also, the 460 actions have a small notch on the right hand side of the receiver to allow extra clearance to eject a live round.

Mike

Mike375,

Have a spare left-hand 300 Wby Mark V laying around. Would be ordering one of the extended capacity magazines (floorplates and followers) anyway. Does this mean all I need is the 460 extractor and some machine labor to enlarge the boltface ?

Hammer

Mike375,

Don't have a practice of ejecting still loaded rounds from the magazine. Do I still need the cut out on the side of the receiver ?

Hammer

Hammer,

A gunsmith called John Ricks has said that modifications are necessary to fit the new magazine. However the ones I have seen done did not require this but I have only seen the Made in Japan ones changed to the 378 based calibres.

The length of the bolt stop/bolt guide should be fine. One of our gun writers had a 270 Wby changed to 338/378 and the 270 Wby needed the slot lengthened and the gun smith said the bolt is extremely hard.

One other thing of course, depending on the stock material, is a second recoil lug on the barrel for the 460.

Feeding is not an issue as Wbys use the magazine box.

Mike

No, only for loaded rounds. In fact you might not need it anyway. The notch is very small and it looks like it has been originally done with perhaps spitzers in mind in the 378.

Mike

He doesn't usually work the shells through the action, either, Hammer. It's more a matter of taking out the round that is in the chamber if you don't shoot it. It did it consistently, but that was with factory (spitzer) ammo in the .338-378 - it may not be needed for the .460. For him, he'd paid a smith to do the conversion, and it was not done properly - so that bothered him. It did not take long for someone who knew what they were doing to correct the problems.

Isn't the .460 case longer than the .300 case?