American factory 338 Lapua

hammertyme

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Oct 2, 2008
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357
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Kodiak, Ak
Savage338Lapaua.jpg


FYI

Neal
 
I had understood that the Savage Action was unsafe for the large boltface of the 338 Laupa.

I could be wrong but I thought that 338 Edge was recommended in the Savages over the 338 Laupa due to limited bearing surface on the lugs when chambered in the larger diameter Laupa case.

Not saying I know it to be the case just wondering what others thoughts are.
 
Shoot a 338 Lapua quite frequently in a target action. It uses a 223 bolt face due to ejector placement and currently shooting 300SMK's without any issues. It will eject a spent case, but a loaded round you have to pull the bolt. I seriously doubt Savage is going to turn out something their engineering can't handle.

Tank
 
Savage has had the 110 BAT out to testers this fall... it seems plenty stout as far as I can tell. The brake is pretty effective, and the gun aint exactly light (approx 15lbs or so IIRC). We shot it out @ 1k on some F-Class targets a month and a half ago... with S250MKs and S300MKs it was easily putting them in the 10-ring (and better) when the wind call was on. The buttstock is from Magpul, but it is a G3 style instead of the usual AR type, as it is shorter (to allow the adj. buttplate to function for those under 6' 6" ;) ) and the cheekpiece adjuster goes up considerably higher and extends further forward. They also redesigned the adapter doo-hickey that goes from the chassis to the buttstock to shorten things up a bit there as well.

The action should be plenty strong... Savage redesigned their Target actions starting with the 12 Palma and 12 BR, increasing the upper limit for pressure from ~125k psi to 150k. These features are making their way back down the product line slowly, but I'm reasonably certain the actions should take the abuse ;) A couple weeks ago Team Savage F/TR visited the factory, and I saw a rack of guns, including 110 BATs in .300WM and .338LM lined up awaiting destructive testing - basically they purposely blow them up to be able to document how and where the actions fail (under controlled conditions). I'm guessing they wouldn't be putting them on the market if they had any reservations about the application. That said... I will say that the ring of metal left on the boltface when its opened up to .338LM *is* a lot thinner than I'm used to seeing (on my .308). But.... it works.
 
So this isn't a larger action designed for the 338LM it is a redesigned production 110? I wonder how much mag room there is for longer bullets?
 
Book OAL for a .338LM is 3.680", and remember this gun is being marketed a bit more as a 'tactical' gun - i.e. the intended market (LEO/govt) does *not* typically handload their ammo. The box mag on the one I have measures ~3.775" inside to inside, so you have a little room to work with, but not much.
 
I assume that one could jerk it out of that stock and put it a nicer LRH type stock since it's a 110 action. I wonder if a guy could order it through the custom shop with a cheapo stock and save a bunch of coin? I really don't like the BAT stock.
 
I hear ya on the stock... I'm not its biggest fan, but Savage has gone to some effort after listening to various feedback on it to make it more user-friendly and not just 'looks cool'.

The more recent Target Action rifles have a different action screw spacing to allow the screws to engage in thicker areas of the receiver and to increase the overall strength - but as a result they won't fit in stocks already inletted for the earlier hole spacing. Since this 110 'target action' is a new design... my guess would be that they moved the stock screw holes in a similar fashion (I don't have a regular 110 action handy to compare against); I will ask and find out though.

I asked why they didn't use this action in the Long Range Hunter they have coming out instead of a traditional old-school open-top receiver; the response was that the hunting types that had tested it for them had been adamantly against any DBM system due to concerns about losing the magazines while hiking. Silly me, I always figured that was one of the reasons I always carry a spare ;) Anywho, I put my plug in for a Long Range Hunter with the 110 Target Action and bottom metal to take those magazines, chambered in .300 or .338 RUM ;) Depending on how popular these are, they may be open to expanding the available options - so in other words, 'not yet'.

Monte
 
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