Opening a Bolt Face from .308 to Magnum

[WildRose]

Once someone besides Hornady starts making 6.5 PRC Brass and it is not constantly sold out I might build one on a standard length action! I am guessing it will be a while. Good thing I have a 6.5-06 built on a Mauser action that can use non-proprietary 30-06 brass if I want too instead of 6.5-06 A-Square Brass. The Elk never asked me what I shot him with. It is built on a War World II Military Mauser Action. When I do my part it will routinely shoot 1/2MOA from a bench but normally it is a solid 1 MOA rifle in almost anyone's hands if they know how to shoot prone that is not bad for a surplus WWII action with a thin light weight barrel and a walnut stock. A 12 year old school girl could carry it up up and down a mountain all day with no problem. I freq. sit down, kneel, squat or lay down prone to shoot. Standing I will use shooting sticks. I use a bipod in F-Class but not on a hunting rifle.

Bipods make a light gun stupidly heavy and if you are humping it up and down rough terrain that matter's. Bipod does not help or double as a walking stick and you can not use it to make a stretcher/litter out of. You can not use a bipod to push a snake away or a crock or anything really. For the weight of a bipod you can carry more water, first aid kit, another pair of socks and a lighter windbreaker for layering, ammo, snacks. If you fill that spare pair of socks with dried beans it can be used like a sandbag and you have something that if you need to you can eat if weather roles in and you get stuck making shelter some place.

I learned my field craft and mountaineering skills at Ft. Benning and Dahlonega Ga. so I do not want to hump around anything I do not need too. I prefer to be prepared for what should never happen while staying as light as I can! Keeping in mind I need to field dress that beast and hump it out of where ever I shoot it!

The way the PRC is taking off I have no doubt but that Lapua and others will soon be producing it so that wouldn't be a limiting factor for me.

It will probably just depend on whether or not Hornady patented the case design and how long then such a patent would stay in force.

 

[Alibiiv]

You're going to need more than just an open bolt face... I'd keep the .308 Win and buy a cheap used short-action magnum rifle for a donor...It will require less work.

This is a very common sense approach to what the OP is trying to accomplish. I watched Gunbroker and Guns International patiently until I found a cheep, beater, donor rifle for $400 and went from there. I had one rifle that I simply had rebored and rechambered, only necking the caliber up from 30cal to 35 cal (.308 to .358 Winchester in a BLR) and had all kinds of feeding problems. After a whole lot of grief and aggravataion I figured out the problem. If you can find a donor rifle with the right bolt face and feeding rails in the caliber that you are trying to get to, that would be the route to take. Sometimes stuff that "ought" to be simple turns into real expensive nightmares!!

 

[L.Sherm]

Buds guns usually has actions pretty reasonable.

 

[Rich Coyle]

This is a very common sense approach to what the OP is trying to accomplish. I watched Gunbroker and Guns International patiently until I found a cheep, beater, donor rifle for $400 and went from there. I had one rifle that I simply had rebored and rechambered, only necking the caliber up from 30cal to 35 cal (.308 to .358 Winchester in a BLR) and had all kinds of feeding problems. After a whole lot of grief and aggravataion I figured out the problem. If you can find a donor rifle with the right bolt face and feeding rails in the caliber that you are trying to get to, that would be the route to take. Sometimes stuff that "ought" to be simple turns into real expensive nightmares!!

How true! When I tried to load from the magazine in my Short Fat Seven I discovered I had to remove the magazine and turn it around before the cartridge would not fly out the second it was out of the magazine, but before I could get it into the chamber.