long action .308 in an AICS chassis

C

cblouw

New member
Rating - 100%
11   0   0
I've been working on a rem700 long action switch barrel .308win and 300wm project and intend to use a long action 300wm AICS chassis for the project. An M24 of sorts...

Has anyone had experience, either positive or negative, feeding .308win rounds from a 300wm AICS magazine? I am envisioning at minimum the feed lips would require modification (bending) to account for the small diameter case body.

The M24A2 used a custom badger long action M5 bottom metal machined specifically for .308win AICS magazines. I understand these haven't been manufactured for some years and are extremely difficult to source, hence my decision to use a AICS chassis and work from there.
 
Not sure about the root question but if the mag will feed you will have the advantage of being able to eject very long OAL unfired rounds with long high BC bullets that can be a problem ejecting with the usual Rem 700 length actions for 308.
 
notsorichguy said:
You could also use magazines designed for the 30-06 parent case. They would feed the 308 case reliably and fit in the AI long action mag-well.

John
Click to expand...

I have some Alpha (possibly Accurate Mag) brand mags and they are garbage!

Magpul just came out with some 30'06 mags which may work the 308 and the reviews for the SA mags are pretty good.

However, I would go with LA 300 WM AI mags. I run a 6.5 Swede out of them and they work great. The feed lips do need to be adjusted which can be finicky but once set up they are great. I would imagine the 308 would feed even better as the tapered body on the swede causes some issues.

Another bonus is that they are kind of a 1.5 stack single feed - you can probably cram 11 or 12 in a 10 round mag.
 
That's encouraging. Does the 6.5 swede have any issue with the extra room in the magazine? I was thinking under recoil the rounds may move forward causing feed problems.
 
If using DBM and not set on options, I have a Rem LA DBM set up for the 308AICS mag length... also have the LA with standard long AICS and I might even have the CIP length here.

This really helps with feeding as you can use the specific mag for the job. 2 bolts and swap in different DBM for the different mag.

PM or email...

Thanks

Jerry
 
I had hoped to use the AICS Chassis (already have it so less expense), but will keep the (2) dbm option in mind. Great to know you have L/A dbm for 308 AICS mags. Couldn't find them anywhere I looked.

The real pro of the 308win on a long action for me is the ability to shoot heavier for caliber bullets seated at much longer COAL than the 308win AICS mags (or accurate mag w/o the stiffener plate) allow.
 
I contacted accurate mag, super fast response, but nothing they recommend currently. here is the correspondence:

Unfortunately, we don’t have one currently on our product list but it is on our list of things to develop this year.

Regards,

Philip Battaglia
Technical Support
Accurate-Mag Products


Message Body:
Hello,

I am looking for a magazine that will reliably feed .308win rounds in an AI AICS L/A chassis. Do you have a magazine that is designed or otherwise suitable to do this?

Thanks,
Carl
 
MAGPUL states on there site specifically that there 30-06 aics mag is not recommended for the .308win/7.62x51. Doesn't mean it won't work just probably won't work reliably.
 
cblouw said:
I had hoped to use the AICS Chassis (already have it so less expense), but will keep the (2) dbm option in mind. Great to know you have L/A dbm for 308 AICS mags. Couldn't find them anywhere I looked.

The real pro of the 308win on a long action for me is the ability to shoot heavier for caliber bullets seated at much longer COAL than the 308win AICS mags (or accurate mag w/o the stiffener plate) allow.
Click to expand...

I compete with the heavy 30cal bullets and have shot them all... I sincerely doubt you will want to shoot anything over 210gr VLD in a mag fed type of 308.

Just because it may fit in the mag, doesn't mean it will feed.

Just because it will feed, doesn't mean you are going to get any meaningful performance from it. Unless you plan to jump down the FTR spec rabbit hole, I wouldn't bother.

If you truly want to launch the heaviest 30cal match bullets, build yourself a 30-06.... or even better a 300WM. ALL your problems are resolved and the results will be much better.... and a lot easier. Just trust me on this....

I try and keep all sorts of interesting stuff available as we see a wide range of builds so run into stuff most don't even think about.

Enjoy...

Jerry
 
Mystic Precision said:
I compete with the heavy 30cal bullets and have shot them all... I sincerely doubt you will want to shoot anything over 210gr VLD in a mag fed type of 308.

Just because it may fit in the mag, doesn't mean it will feed.

Just because it will feed, doesn't mean you are going to get any meaningful performance from it. Unless you plan to jump down the FTR spec rabbit hole, I wouldn't bother.

If you truly want to launch the heaviest 30cal match bullets, build yourself a 30-06.... or even better a 300WM. ALL your problems are resolved and the results will be much better.... and a lot easier. Just trust me on this....

I try and keep all sorts of interesting stuff available as we see a wide range of builds so run into stuff most don't even think about.

Enjoy...

Jerry
Click to expand...

Interesting. In essence I am going down the FTR spec rabbit hole to some extent to answer your question of 'why' assumed in your post above.

If you noted in the OP, this is a switch barrel rifle, 308win / 300wm, build on a long action receiver. I would simply stick with the 300wm and forget about the hassle of a switch barrel rifle if I did not want to shoot heavy bullets from a 308win case.

The challenge I am trying to solve is magazine feeding 308 rounds greater than 2.880 COAL in a long action detachable magazine. My starting COAL is 3.100" with 0.065" increase allowance to allow for throat erosion. This would work fine in an M24 with modified mag spacer. I am hoping to work with detachable magazines.

I'm thinking modifying an existing available magazine AICS is the only option at this point, until if/when a manufacturer makes a .308 win mag for the L/A AICS. Accurate mag indicated this was on their development list for 2017.

Regarding 'meaningful performance' I am curious about that statement. To extract the most performance (wind resistance, supersonic range) from a cartridge, would you not be best served to shoot the most efficient bullet ie the bullet that has the highest form factor regardless of weight? I am assuming weight is a direct trade off with velocity (ie neglecting effects of bearing length).

I do agree with you that the 308 was never intended for this hence the lack of components on the market and source of the challenge...
 
The LA 30-06 mag should be possible .. at least I saw it on a parts list somewhere.

Is the barrel for this 308 long going to be over 26"... hint hint like 30" long?

If you are going to spec an FTR type set up and run FTR type loadings, you already know what the ballistics answer will be cause there are no shortage of rifle to gather info from.

The only question left to answer is if you can get that ammo from the mag into the chamber... and this you do not even need a new barrel.

Just stuff a 30-06 mag into your action with dummy rds loaded to your liking in 308/heavy bullet. Cycle the gun... if the bullets will not go into that 300WM chamber, it will not go into a 308 chamber. The confirmation to your concept is if the bullet can properly get out of the mag and into the chamber. Once that is confirmed, the ballistics are well defined and you can replicate that.

Simple...

Jerry

PS how about the 30X57 or 30-284.... fun options too.
 
Yes, it will be a long barrel 30" finished to start with. But, I am not keen on hanging that much weight off the end of rem700 custom action with its shorter barrel tenon.... Just seems like a small action for that length and weight of barrel. I may consider shortening the barrel if it proves to group less than I'm hoping for...

I've tried cycling dummy rounds at the 308 win COAL I intend to shoot in the wm barrel from a 300wm AIC mag with bent feed lips. It did 'work' (ie the bolt picked the top round and pushed it into the chamber) though I am pretty sure under recoil a mess of rounds would result in the mag from the extra 1/2" of nose room. I'm going to try some brainstorming on modifying a mag or possibly patterning my own mag (a costly but tempting solution).

For the cost of an MAGPUL .30-06 mag its worth an attempt...

Really like the .30-284 on paper... Not familiar with the 30x57 but it sounds big :)
 
cblouw said:
Yes, it will be a long barrel 30" finished to start with. But, I am not keen on hanging that much weight off the end of rem700 custom action with its shorter barrel tenon.... Just seems like a small action for that length and weight of barrel. I may consider shortening the barrel if it proves to group less than I'm hoping for...

I've tried cycling dummy rounds at the 308 win COAL I intend to shoot in the wm barrel from a 300wm AIC mag with bent feed lips. It did 'work' (ie the bolt picked the top round and pushed it into the chamber) though I am pretty sure under recoil a mess of rounds would result in the mag from the extra 1/2" of nose room. I'm going to try some brainstorming on modifying a mag or possibly patterning my own mag (a costly but tempting solution).

For the cost of an MAGPUL .30-06 mag its worth an attempt...

Really like the .30-284 on paper... Not familiar with the 30x57 but it sounds big :)
Click to expand...

Ah, now you are starting to understand... long cartridges with big heavy bullets barely in a case neck rattling around under recoil... all sorts of fun. Reason why I suggest the 30-06. The long neck will really help to support those big long heavy bullets.... OAL might even be too long???

The 30X284 would again, be a short neck case.

The 30X57 would be based on a Mauser case so smaller then the 284 variant but longer neck.

If using a 30-06 AICS mag, use a 30-06 case. Even if you down load to 308 levels, the longer neck, longer case will just work so much nicer.

I know you are trying to do a switch barrel but for all this headache, why not consider a Savage and factory mag? The mag can go 3".. some a hint longer. It is one of the longest short action mag.

Or the T3? Now you have a wonderful long 6.5X55 swede mag all ready to accept a 308 with big long bullets. There are higher cap T3 type mags so capacity is not going to be too much of a hassle.

I feel that a mag repeater has to ... repeat. Just because it will go into the mag, doesn't really mean it will come out and when things are hanging up or jamming or worst, getting beat up, I wouldn't be having any fun and the results will be far from ideal.

The rib location in all mags is there for very important reasons. Unless you want to make your own mags, I just don't see a 308/heavy in a long action mag being ideal.

And ultimately, the 30-06 will give you substantially more speed and with the heavies and LR shooting, it matters.

At the end of the day, your project, your rules, your end result....

Enjoy and let us know how it turns out.

Jerry
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom