Re barreling a short action with a .308 bolt face, but to what?

Butcherbill

Butcherbill

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So I really like the Ruger Scout, as a southpaw they offered a .223 and a .308 with the .223 now discontinued.

I’ve been thinking about their .450 Bushmaster but it’s not available in a LH action, both the .450BM and the .308 share a .473 case head. I’m guessing aside from the mags it’s just the barrel that’s different, should be easy to rebarrel a LH scout from .308 to .450BM if I can get a barrel from somewhere. Left hand .308 scouts are easy enough to buy again so that’s a no brainer, so I started thinking what else could work in a short action and a .308 bolt face?

The two obvious ones are 338 Federal and 358 Win seeing as both are necked up .308’s, brass is easy to find or I expect make.

What would be the max OAL I could use in a .308 short action, is 35 Whelen to long? Saami lists OAL for it @ 2.970”-3.340”, clearly there’s some overlap of cartridges in short and long actions that use a .473 case head/bolt face.

AICS mags that will feed something other than a .450BM or a case based off .308 brass is the other issue I’m sure I’ll run into.

My other thought was to look for a LH Ruger Hawkeye Alaskan or Guide gun in .375 Ruger, it more than scratches the itch of a laminate stocked Ruger with irons in a bigger cartridge than .308 or .450BM in a left hand action. Might be less work/money to just find one of those than re barrel a .308.
 
It looks like 2.800” will be my limit in a short action, so the 338Fed, 358Win and .450BM will be the easiest to convert.

Where would be a good place to start looking for barrels to fit a Ruger M77 action? This is new territory for me so I’m not all that familiar with barrel manufactures, is there anyone in Canada making anything worth using or am I looking at buying out of the States?
 
I turned my LH Scout in to a .338 Federal. Ended up having to put a new gain twist barrel on it as the original barrel ate Ron Smiths tooling while trying to bore it out.
 
Soo, does the synthetic Ruger Scout actually only weigh 6 1/4 pounds? Seems light but if it is accurate I think I'll looking at one, maybe put a red dot on there.
 
IBI is close to home, as well Gary at Bighorn Sales
Most any 'smith can make one fit, looking for a pre-fit may be a problem

Would help to know your intent, a big heavy hitter or a big mid-power cartridge?
re-barrel will cost as much as a used rifle+
 
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A&Shuntr said:
I turned my LH Scout in to a .338 Federal. Ended up having to put a new gain twist barrel on it as the original barrel ate Ron Smiths tooling while trying to bore it out.
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Nice, how do you like the cartridge?
Jäger1 said:
243 Winchester doesn't get the love it deserves over a number of boutique fad cartridges. Can't go wrong.
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I’ve had the opportunity to shoot .243 a bit and I’m sure it works well but for me it doesn’t do anything better than my .308 does.
GimpyGolden said:
Soo, does the synthetic Ruger Scout actually only weigh 6 1/4 pounds? Seems light but if it is accurate I think I'll looking at one, maybe put a red dot on there.
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It is, the laminate is a lb heavier as well. My .308 is plenty accurate for its use, mainly hunting within 200-250m and some range plinking. It shoots moa with factory cup and core, first three shots almost touch and it starts to open up if I let the barrel heat up.
boxhitch said:
IBI is close to home, as well Gary at Bighorn Sales
Most any 'smith can make one fit, looking for a pre-fit may be a problem

Would help to know your intent, a big heavy hitter or a big mid-power cartridge?
re-barrel will cost as much as a used rifle+
Click to expand...
Thanks, I’d prefer to deal with a Canadian barrel maker for a few reasons.

Intent is more of a heavy hitter, so I’m guessing a LH Ruger Hawkeye in .375 Ruger is the right answer. I already know the price of LH .308 scouts, my guess is a new barrel and time for a smith to install etc will put me close or over the price of a Hawkeye.
 
Butcherbill said:
So I really like the Ruger Scout, as a southpaw they offered a .223 and a .308 with the .223 now discontinued.

I’ve been thinking about their .450 Bushmaster but it’s not available in a LH action, both the .450BM and the .308 share a .473 case head. I’m guessing aside from the mags it’s just the barrel that’s different, should be easy to rebarrel a LH scout from .308 to .450BM if I can get a barrel from somewhere. Left hand .308 scouts are easy enough to buy again so that’s a no brainer, so I started thinking what else could work in a short action and a .308 bolt face?

The two obvious ones are 338 Federal and 358 Win seeing as both are necked up .308’s, brass is easy to find or I expect make.

What would be the max OAL I could use in a .308 short action, is 35 Whelen to long? Saami lists OAL for it @ 2.970”-3.340”, clearly there’s some overlap of cartridges in short and long actions that use a .473 case head/bolt face.

AICS mags that will feed something other than a .450BM or a case based off .308 brass is the other issue I’m sure I’ll run into.

My other thought was to look for a LH Ruger Hawkeye Alaskan or Guide gun in .375 Ruger, it more than scratches the itch of a laminate stocked Ruger with irons in a bigger cartridge than .308 or .450BM in a left hand action. Might be less work/money to just find one of those than re barrel a .308.
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Without knowing your purpose it's hard to say.

35 Whelen needs a long action. (30-06gov parent)

I'd rebore to 358win before I went with a 450bm, but that's just me.
 
Canuck65 said:
Without knowing your purpose it's hard to say.

35 Whelen needs a long action. (30-06gov parent)

I'd rebore to 358win before I went with a 450bm, but that's just me.
Click to expand...
Intent is more of a heavy hitter, so I’m guessing a LH Ruger Hawkeye in .375 Ruger is the right answer.

The idea behind this came from having an extra xs sight full length rail for a Ruger Scout and nothing to do with it, we’ll see how my mad money looks this year. I might just have to do both, a custom LH Ruger Scout and a .375 Ruger Hawkeye guide gun. How can I go wrong with that! 😁

I’ve always been my own enabler, so why not.
 
Bill, you can easily have the bolt face opened up to a larger one. That brings about most any option you could think of, short action wise. SAUM, WSM, and RCM cases...

R.
 
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