Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Remington 700 ML smokeless conversion

Anyone do one of the 700 smokeless route with their ML? Seems like a donor ML can be had rather cheaply. What all is involved for the conversion to a 45 caliber? Approx cost?

About $600 plus the gun. A McGowen barrel would run at least $100 less. I am thrilled with the 700MLs that I converted to smokeless barrels. Check this link for what is needed...

http://www.smokelessmz.com/700ml.html

I live in Maryland in a shotgun only county and figure a smokless 45 cal would be pretty much the closest thing to a legal rifle. Used in ML and gun season.

The 45cal conversions with a Pacnor or Mcgowen barrel are top notch shooters. Lighter amounts of Savage book powders like 4759 will easily beat subs and the slower powders will take the fps to far beyond even the hottest load of Blackhorn.

Recoil? Similar to a 45/70?

It depends if you are shooting 40cal 200gr bullets in sabots or 45 caliber 250gr-300gr bullets without a sabot. Heavy sabot-less loads are similar to some 45/70 loads or worse. Even fast 200gr sabot loads are pretty mild in comparison.

Its easy to get the recoil down with a little load work.

I got to get the ball rolling on getting one put together.

I converted a savage 10ml to 45 caliber I am getting 2700 fps with a 200G sst. 2" groups at 200 yards are not very hard to do. i am at the point now where I head shoot any doe that is within 150 yards.

How is the recoil on that baby?

I spent the last few months reading all I could on smokeless. I just picked up a SS 700ML and waiting for my Pac-Nor Sendero contour .45.

I'll have over a grand easy when finished.

I ordered the majority of components and barrel through Luke at smokelessmz. He is a member here too.

http://dougsmessageboards.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=smokeless

The recoil is manageable, It feels much lighter than shooting a 12 gauge slug gun. I can say with certainly that it is much lighter than shooting the 50 caliber muzzloader with smokeless powder.

What if any is a true benefit from a remington ML to a savage ML? All things being equal as a 45 cal conversion? I figure the remmy will have more aftermarket jazz.

There are those who will argue there is no benefit of the 45 cal conversion over the savage ML. Both can shoot light loads that are easy on the shoulder and accurate out of the barrel, and both can shoot thumper loads that are hard on the shoulder, still accurate, and speeds and energy not doable out of most smoker guns.

if you need a gun to do a build i'm posting a blued /camo 700 50cal this evening or on wednesday. i just bought and have pick it up later today.shoot me a pm if interested

The Rem builds are usually a tad lighter and you have a huge stock selection including some fairly good factory takeoffs if you want to save some $$$. There are also a few more Rem aftermarket triggers if you want to get fancy.

The Rem barrel threads are a little larger than a Savage, so i guess you could say they might be stronger. The load data is not anywhere near burst levels so to me that is not an issue.

Barrel selection might be more important to you. The McGowens are sometimes a little larger and sabot-less might not require any sizing with some bullets. Pacnors are usually tighter and a sizing die will almost certainly be required for sabot-less. Both shoot sabots extremely well.

Mine is a Savage Pacnor and i normally shoot the 200gr SST or Barnes 195gr at close to 2700fps when hunting. I don't think the recoil is bad at all but its a heavy build. You can switch to mild amounts of a faster book powder like 4759 or N110 and easily get 2200-2500fps. Felt recoil to me with that load data is a cream puff and very fun to shoot with the cheap 200gr XTPs.

If you like to shoot a lot of Blackhorn, you will love a smokeless 45.

I should probably just buy a savage ml2 and call it good.

savage posted today

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...mington_700ml_50cal_blued_ca#Post7226778

If you're serious about it, I'd go the Rem/Pacnor route in 45cal. Shoot a 40 cal 195 or 200 at 2700-2800fps. Mine is scary accurate and less fussy than the MLII's I've been around.

JC I don't think your going to find anyone who has actually converted a Savage from a factory 50 to a 45 cal that will make that argument.

The only thing i don't like about my Savage 45 conversion is stock selection for the 4.275 spacing.