Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats 30-06 converted to 300 winmag

Yep, wish they had not tried to pawn them off on us as a model 70. Should have called them the model 666 for the biblical nickname of the designer. Back on topic, OP stated his was a CRF. Owning one in left hand version makes modifying that gun the way to go, IMO.

Doesn't the .308 Norma Mag have the same boltface? This was a popular conversion a long time ago. Basically .300 WM perfomance with just a reamer run?

R.

The Norma Mag has a Mag. bolt face, duh. There was something about this case that made an easier conversion from 30-06, but I can't remember what it was? Anyone?

Thanks.

R.

Kenneth
Go immediately to your nearest Ruger dealer or gunbroker and get a Ruger Hawkeye stainless left hand 300win.
The stainless lefthanded Hawkeye rifles don't appear on Rugers website anymore but there's probably quite a few in the pipeline.

Well. there is a Ruger hawkeye online for sale, 300 winmag stainless with laminated stock. or,

We can do a Rem 700 matte with sps stock. This gun would need to be blasted and cerakoted and then a mcmillian stock.

The ruger might be useable as is or I could put the mcm hunter on it.

If I could find a left hand stainless winnie or Remington action we would get real serious. Decisions, Decisions...

Noooooo!!!!!! Don't degrade down to the Remmy! You have a model SEVENTY in LH, man....... Inhale deeply now, clear your head, and repeat - just say NO to push feeds!!!

A LH Ruger could be a good solution, but you would probably want to get the safety lever modified a bit so that it does not hide soooo freakin deeply and inaccesibly from your fingers when tucked into its mortice in the bolt cocking piece. Outside of that, a really nice rifle and a far superior design to a model 700.

I still say get your rifle re-bored and otherwise modified to a 300 WM. Easy, cheap and done with style and class.

Keep your LH 70 and get a LH 700 in the cartridge you want.

Millions of people have used push feed 700's for years and they are perfectly satisfied.

I wouldn't spend 1 penny extra to get a CRF and despite what many say I personally despise the vaunted 70 safety.

The tang safety is the best possible type IMO.

The winnie isnt going anywhere. I like the gun to much. I think altering the winnie would also be a mistake.If it's gonna cost lets say even 500 to convert, then I would be better off putting the 500 into a different rifle. This way you end with two rifles. Make any sense?

A 700 lh laminated stainless 300 ultra mag went today for 750 on Gunbroker. I was tempted but I never did get into all these superduper mag whizbangs that are flooding the markets nowadays. It will be a traditional 300 win mag or nothing. The search continues...... Ken...

Agree on the 300RUM. Had one for a couple of for several years (Yep, a model 70 Classic) and took a LOT of African and American big game with it but it was very loud and did not really give performance that was really any more than could be had with a 300WBY which I now consider to be the best of the 30 cal's.

If you have a 300 Win, why would you still need a 30/06? Re boring and modifying should not be anywhere near $500.00.

the more I thought about converting the 06 to 300, the less sense it seemed to make. The old saying,"if it aint broke dont fix it". I will admit I'm leery of some gun smith mucking up a perfectly good rifle. Maybe its not a difficult process, I dunno. How ever I do know I have a very likeable 06 that shoots darn good groups with 165 tsx's. Ken

You can buy a lot of TSX's for $500 ....

I have a hard time believing when it comes to noise levels that there is any real difference in the field between a Weatherby and a RUM or the win mag for that matter. They are all loud and will damage your hearing.
I have owned both rounds in question and have stuck with the RUM. Cheaper and harder brass,more accurate, non belted case and you dont have to buy one of those gaudy,boat anchor Weatherby rifles to get one.
As for performance the RUM beats the Weatherby by about 150fps without hotroding it.
My current model 70 RUM shoots a 180 AB at 3290fps from a 24" barrel. I have ran it over 3300, but the current load is so accurate I kind of gave up on load development.

BTW back to the original question. Sell the -06 and get a win mag rather than trying to convert. With a little patience you should be able to upgrade to the win mag for little to no additional cash.

For me, a rifle has to be different enough than what I have to warrant me really wanting to get it. Going from a 30-06 to a 300 Mag in similar rifles of similar weights would not be different enough.

I'd put the $500 towards a hunt I hadn't done and go do it with the 30-06. Heck, pick a unit in WY and put in for 3 pronghorn tags and you'll still have money for a couple of boxes of TSXs!!

Having hunted extensively with all three rounds, most with the WBY and RUM, my experience is that the noise level, with a 26 inch bbl, goes up exponentially when one is burning 100grs of powder in the RUM to 70-75 in the WBY. At least to my ears. My model 70 in 300RUM had a hard time getting to 3300 with 180's even with ultra slow burning powders but I know some guys rifles do and even more. I have been able to get 3250 or so in various 300WBY's with a 180 so to me the better choice, now, is the Roy and this is coming from a guy that is a total speed whore/velocity freakazoid. I have many older posts here, especially in the African hunting forum, singing the praises of my 300RUM when I was using it but the noise finally got to me. I still consider the round, especially in your model 70, one of the finest ultimate hunting combinations ever, period.

If you look at our resident PH JJ hack's comments on the above combo you will see that he is VERY fond of the 30/06 loaded with 165gr TSX or 168TTSX combo. The speeds one can get now with the new powders from a 30/06 exceed what we were getting from Many of our then called 'magnums' just a decade or two ago. Hundreds of cleanly killed large African plains game critters to its credit in JJ's and his clients hands just of late. Can't argue your logic even though I am a big 300 whatever magnum fan and do not personally own a 30/06 anymore. Can't kick the speed addiction.

Have em both!

http://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/55298

For very long range, the Magnum gets the nod, but there is not much that an '06 loaded with a 165 TSX won't do equally well. If I came across a nice M70 CRF in 30-06 today, I'd buy it.




The 308 Norma was positioned as having ballistics that exceeded the 300 H&H and fit into a short action. That was a big deal at the time. The advantage of the Norma was the basic advantage over the H&H or Weatherby, in that it fit in a factory magazine.

The 308 Norma came out a few years before the 300 Winny as a FACTORY round. It was the first standardized 30 cal "short mag".

There were a lot of wildcat 30-338s but going with the Norma chamber gave the option of buying factory ammo, and that made a big difference to the non-reloading crowd, as one might imagine.

Winchester surprised everyone with the 300WM by not basing it on the 338 case like the others in the stable, but it gave ballistics that were comparable to the Weatherby, and that was considered to be a step-up in performance at the time.

As far as reaming and converting go, they are the same, but in 1962 you would not have been able to find 300 Win Mag brass had that case design even crossed your mind.

After the Winny came out, the 308 Norma was an idea whose time had gone.

TC

The 308Norma is about 1/8" shorter than the 300WM,thus fits better in the standard 3.340 box of a 30-06,giving a greater choice of long bullets.The post'64 M-70s,M-700 and M-110 are all H&H length.so there no concern there,in fact why not go all the way to the 300Weatherby.

Yep, a 300WBy would be a great choice in that action.