Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Bolt face and action length Question

What is the 300win considered? I know its a long action,but is there a difference between a long action,standard length and a long magnum action? If you had a remington 700 in 300win, how far could you open up the bolt face,and what is the longest length cartridge that sized action can handle? Im not asking the name of a specific cartridge,Im asking the length in inches.I have been really confused lately..............the info on ammoguide.com seems to be wrong on some things.According to ammoguide.com,the RUM is a standard length cartridge and its max overall length is 3.6 inches.BUT,its longer than the 338 RUM,and I thought the 338 RUM was only on long mag actions.So does this mean,you could take a 30-06(standard length) and open up the bolt face to .539,and you could get the gun rebarreled in 338RUM?

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> And BTW,Im really not asking because I have any urge to do that,I just want to understand how this works.

Rem makes a long action and a short action. The magnum designation is often thrown in there because of the bolt face size. To answer your question, yes you can!


X-VERMINATOR

WoW!..............thats a horse of a different color!Iam now feeling the urge..........kidding.

Bolt face would need to be opened to .532 though not .539..........

X-VERMINATOR

Your 300 win would be considered a long action, ie for nominal 2.5" long cases. Some long actions are really magnum length actions, ie nominal 2.85" cases, and may have a spacer block in the magazine for the shorter round, or may have a shorter magazine.

As far as how much you can open the bolt face, that is up to debate. The ultramag cases, which are rebated for the H&H sized rim, ie 300 winny, can be used. You might be able to go up to the size of a 416 Rigby, which would also mean the various 460 Weatherby based rounds. There is a new round called the 550 magnum that uses a 460 Weatherby case blown out nearly straight. You can launch 750 gr bullets to 2300 fps, which would be by far the biggest and most powerful round that could be chambered. You just might not want to go that big though <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I'm pretty sure that the H&H rim size is the largest that can be machined into a Rem bolt. Larger isn't practical or safe? Likewise a "long action" Rem is really the "magnum" action except for the bolt face work and spacers in the magazine.
Cheers...
Con

I don't know if it's practical or safe either but it is possible. I know of quite a few .338 Lapuas on 700 actions...