338 Edge Ackley?

[Tyler Kemp]

If it could be done on a Vanguard action, I saw an add online for a $399 Vanguard. You could sell the barrel and stock and have a $300 action, and maybe have it trued for the same price as the Savage target action, and then maybe have a repeater. How much would custom dies for a 338 Lapua AI cost? I still think "why not", as you can still use regular loads in the bigger case and have them last even longer. That is as long as the dies are real bad.

 

[Magnus]

I jumped on the band wagon over the 338Edge and had one built on a Stiller Action with a 31" tube plus brake, McMillian A5, Jewel trigger, NightForce NXS. Dont get me wrong this is a very nice and VERY accurate gun and I have over 750rnd down the tube of 300gr SMK just this year. I have killed Gophers out to 900yards and made tons of kill shots on steel at 2100yards.
AI an Edge will do nothing for FPS, I CANT put more than 91gr of H1000 in my gun wihtout loosening primer pockets. As far as brass stretch I use Redding bushing dies and Redding Custom shell holders, I dont work the brass very much and it doesnt stretch very often.
My gunsmith, the same guy that built Broz 338Lapua wanted to proove a point to me and he built a 338ULTRA with a 31" tube and cut the chamber with my Edge reamer. And at 88gr of H1000 he is getting the same velocity as I am with 91grs in my Edge, also he has 9 reloads on his brass!!! hmmmmmmm!
The Edge does have more powder capacity than the Ultra but I sure cant use it without loosening primer pockets.

Just some info for you!

 

[TRGRMAN]

Its a common missconception that remington actions are stronger than Savages because of the Locking nut thats used to hold the barel on and the two piece on the Savage when truefuly the Savage reciever is a stronger desgine bacause the barrel threads ar 20 TPI rather than 16 like the Rem so the threads are not as deep as the Remington so their is actualy more metal in this area. Now the bolt head is a two piece desgine and if you talk to anybody thats ever cut on one they will tell you they are typicaly harder than the Remington's and some test have been done where the Savage bolt outlasted the Remington when the lugs were subjected to high pressure.

you can just as easly blow up and action with a 223 as you can with a 338 Lapua , don't believe me fill a 223 case with Hodgdon Universal pistol powder and top it off with a 80gr bullet ,I guarntee it will be more than the rifle can stand and I highly doubt that you'll be able to tell the differance in that and a 338 Lapua loaded on the hot side causeing the weapon to fail.

Not that I'm a big Savage fan but besides the above statement you could also argue that the Savage extractor design would lend itself to a stronger lug over a 700. You can't open the 700 enough for the Lapua without installing a Sako or M16 type extractor which will weaken the bolt lug to some degree.
The other argument for the 700 is the counter bore breach system. While the rim on the bolt is thin after opening up for the Lapua you still have the remaining thread tennon diameter to try to contain some of the pieces in the event of catastrofic failure. It's a strong breaching system which is why it's copied by many others.
A while back I heard a story about a 308 being fired through a 243 in a 700. From what I understand the action held. The barrel split but the action worked like it should have. Don't know how the Savage would have held out but I have an Interarms MKx here in the shop that didn't fair too well. Pretty scarey ****. The guy fired a 270 in a 25.06. Barrel held. Bolt lugs sheared off,blew the scope to pieces, the mag box and bottom metal were never found,extractor gone and a good share of the stock ended up as slivers in his forearm.
I guess the moral to the story is if you build one,put the right ammo in it and don't overload it.
I'm not one to blindly take someone's word but I would say that if a company like Remington is offering it for sale it probably has been tested a fair amount and the safety margin was adequate or it wouldn't be for sale.
Another note that might be worth mentioning, Sierra used a Savage 116 for all their load testing on the 338 Lapua.
TRGRMAN

 

[robert l]

i thought this thread was titled 338 edge improved ai.

 

[JJMoody]

... 11 years ago