Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Tikka T3 SA to LA

Is it possible to modify a 7mm-08 into a 280rem.? What are all of the changes needed to to make it work on a Tikka T3...if it's possible. Off the top of my head I wonder about the magazine and mag well.

From what little I know about the subject Id say you could switch out the magazine for a .280 mag, and punch the chamber out, and you'd be ready to rock...

Tikka mags, IIRC, come small, medium and large.

Punch it, get large mag, and hillbilly the bolt stop.

FWIW,
The bolt stops are not solid metal but have an internal lattice pattern and I believe they are cast pieces. You can order the OEM bolt stops from Brownells. The magazines come in several sizes - make sure you get the *long* magazine for the 30'06 family, and not the one for belted mags.

But here's my unsolicited advice: keep it a 7mm-08 and go hunting. The animals will never be able to tell the difference of 100 to 200 fps, that only exists in the world of the Internet...

Thanks for your opinions guys, good stuff.

A 280 Remington chamber reamer will not clean up an existing 7mm-08 chamber. The 7mm-08 chamber is larger at the shoulder than the corresponding location on the 280 reamer. A "step" will remain at this point. A 280 Ackley Improved chamber will clean up the old 7mm-08 chamber but the barrel must be set back to obtain proper headspace. The design of the T3 might make this a bit of a pain.

No barrel setback required when reaming a 7-08 chamber to 280AI.

Going from a 280 Rem to a 280AI yes but not going from the much shorter 7-08 to 280AI. Just stop reaming when you obtain proper headspace for the 280AI which is .004" shorter than that for the 280 Rem.

Thank you for the correction. I clearly did not have my brain engaged when making my reply. Just thinking without thinking I guess!

to go from a SA cartridge to a LA requires a mag change and a new bolt stop. Ignoring chamber compatibility issues of course.

The bolt stops come as a kit with both the long & short in the kit. Ordered mine from Beretta.

If you can't hillbilly that, you need to turn in your bubba card. (grin)..

easy to do once you see the difference. Try getting the dimensions without both stops in hand.

I have actual measurements if anyone wants them.

I switched my 338 Fed over to the long magazines so I could load longer bullets without using up case capacity.

What is Beretta charging in the US for the replacement bolt stop? Here (Australia) they want $110 or about US$115.
Cheers...
Con

the kit (both bolt stops, the spring & pin) was $42 in July of 2008.

Kit is now $62 at brownells and it looks like it only comes with one. I think if you parted the rifle out at part cost it would be about $2000. They only want almost $400 for the stock.

Also on another note I have talked to two smiths and both said the OEM barrels are very tough to take out and most require a relief cut to get them out.