I noticed you have used the model 70 for the 30 Wolf and as you may remember I will be using a 700 for my 338 Lapua Imp this fall as well. The 30/338 Lapua Imp that's being done right now is also using a 700. I'm not concerned with using either one of these but still wonder what your take is on the boltface being opened up with these two, and the strength issues concerning the additional thrust on the lugs. Are you comfortable with using them yourself or building them for customers?
I am not comfortable using a model 700 for the 30 Wolf. I have never built a Wolf on a 700 action. The bolt and action lugs will prove themselves over the next 10 years with the Ultra Mags. The Seiko style extractor is a definite improvement in one sense, and I must say I would never put my face near one for any length of time without a seriously improved bolt stop.
Dan Lilja is not a fan of the Winchester for this type of application because of the 1 inch diameter threads, the Remington has 1 1/16 inch threads. I agree with Dan on just about everything, this however, is one area where we differ a little bit. I am less concerned about 1/16 of an inch on the barrel tenon, than I am about what the extractor relief does to the bolt face on the Remington design and how that interacts with the counter bore in the barrel tenon of the Remington during an overpressure situation.
There are quite a few people that have told me, "well the Ultra mags don't seem to have any problems". I hope this remains true over the long haul. Remember though, the lapua brass will live about 4000 to 6000 PSI higher than the Ultra mags brass. Don't forget that heavy-duty bolt stop!
In the case of the model 70, how does it handle gases differently?
About psi, the lug size/strength of both is equal isn't it?
I will not be taking the extreme chances that some do in the psi arena, and most of the time my best accuracy loads are around 60k psi, so theoretically I'll get better velocity at this reduced psi than I do in the Ultra and then gain some more too with the extra 4" of barrel too. I'll be happy with it no matter what speed though, it'll be plenty fast.
The bolt handle is going to get screwed on, that's for sure, but even that is not likely to slow things down much. What kind of failure does the bolt stop deal with?
