Remington 700 bolt interchangeably question

N0M4D

N0M4D

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This has been rolling around in my head for a while, and since I have never done it, I thought it best to be asked before I did something stupid.

If I were to take a Remington 700 30-06 long action, and change the bolt for a 300winmag bolt, would the reciver struggle to deal with the augmentation in recoil?

Take it a step further, a 30-06 action and a 338lapmag bolt?

Input would be most welcome.
 
The bolt face on the 30'06 bolt is .470. The bolt face on a 300 Win. Mag. is .540 and on a 338 Lapua is .585. So to answer your question, no, they are not interchangeable. Even if they were, they would most likely have different head space. Trust me when I say you don't want to find this out the hard way....BOOM! Cheers!
 
I doubt if strength of the receiver is an issue.
Different bolts can be retrofitted. More than just making sure that headspace is OK, for best results the engagement of the lugs must be confirmed.
I just built up a rifle using a receiver from an -06, a magnum faced bolt, and a take-off .308 heavy barrel rechambered to .300WinMag.
Remington 700s have been converted to .338 Lapua Magnum. Apart from opening the boltface, a new extractor system must be installed. A Remington bolt with its face opened for .338 has very little counterbore left. There have been concerns expressed about the backthrust on the locking system, because some purpose built .338s use larger actions. In practice, this does not seem to be an issue. I know a very skilled armourer who has done several.
 
The 700 actions are equal in strength. The are machined differently in some cases to allow feeding of specific cartridges. Older 700's did not have the little "guide' - the slot in the newer bolt lugs have. So am older bolt will not fit a newer action without this alteration.

To answer your question, "If I were to take a Remington 700 30-06 long action, and change the bolt for a 300winmag bolt, would the receiver struggle to deal with the augmentation in recoil?" Changing the bolt does not change the cartridge required. Installing a magnum bolt in a 30-06 has nothing to do with recoil. You would not be able to fire a magnum round as it would not enter the chamber.

Chambering the 700 for the Lapua case was an error on Remington. The 700 action and other similar sized actions are not large enough for best performance of the large Lapua case. If Remington had scaled the 700 action and bolt larger and used a larger enclosed extractor it would have been perfect. As it is it will never perform as well as the actions specifically made for the big Lapua case.
 
Thanks for the input, ill clarify my intentions.

I want to take a 700 30-06 action, remove the barrel, change the bolt for an aftermarket 300winmag bolt, chamber the new barrel for 300winmag.

Essentially I want to make myself a very nice 300winmag precision package, and not have to spend the extra money on a 300 rifle.
 
That is pretty much what I did, except I used a Remington bolt.

Further to .338LM conversion - one of the best features of the 700 is the safety of its breeching system. With .338LM, that's down the drain. Remington makes the rifles in .338LM, so their risk management folks must have given the green light.
Converting a rifle places all assumption of risk on the shoulders of the person doing the conversion.
 
Well I have do e my share of conversions, but never as drastic as 30-06 to 338. I only plan to do 300wm for myself, the 338 seems a tad pointless to me. The amount of work you would have to do, and money, it would seem best to just buy n action fitted to the cal.

I thank everyone for the input, I think it can be done without too much fuss.
 
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