Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only 45/70 bolt gun

Is there any way to use a Ruger 77 action , Remington 700 action , Winchester or Savege bolt actions to build a workable 45/70 bolt gun?
Anyone have ideas???

Not sure about the 45-70, but the 450 marlin would be easier. I have aheard of a 45-70 bolt gun but it was a long time ago and I can't remember what rifle it was

The Siamese Mauser and one of the British Enfields were used for a conversion like this.

A better choice for most rifles would be the 458 2" American.

Or .450 Marlin.

Just use a WSM action and screw a barrel on.

No. 45/70 and a ruger action would be preferred

Built my 450marlin on a Savage 110 lh 300winmag donor but a Ruger will work. Will be easier than a 45/70 and stronger brass. Clint

real beotch to do....to do it right and keep feeding dead nuts reliable you need a slanted magazine box like with the siamese mauser.....whenever the brits or anyone built a sporting bolt gun in a rimmed round it took whole lot of tweaking to make a slanted box

rimmed cartridge mauser action



normal mauser


450 Marlin or 458 2" American would be MUCH cheaper to do.....mostly just screw a new barrel on a WSM gun....

Yep. Mucho easier.

My first preference would be the .450 Marlin, due to the fact that cases would? be available, but as time goes by, the .458X2 would probably be the better choice.....because of cases.

I'd hate to see the .450 Marlin go simply because it makes this very conversion so simple.

Just a thought. Why not build a .458 Winchester set up to your liking and then just load up to the top end if needed or load down to .45/70 level if needed.

Because I want a 45/70. Its just something I want. And I want it in a Ruger 77 or Rem 700 action.

I just have not found a willing gunsmith.

and there is a reason for it.....IF you find someone willing to do it its gonna cost a fortune to get it to feed reliably cause you have to completely redo it......there is areason even the high dollar guys that play with mausers and have clients with deep pockets dont do it.....hell one might turn up a year in this category.....

your sure in the hell not gonna find anyone to do it for a reasonable price....your gonna wind up spending several thousand dollars on a ruger or remington action to have it done right so it works.....its about as far from a simple rebarrel job as you can get and is the kind of thing some gunsmith does to show his skill that he can, not a job he takes cause he thinks he can recoup his investment of time cause the list of clients willing to pay for it is small...

if yah want a bolt action 45-70 that works start with a Siamese Mauser or find one of the SMLE's Gibbs Rifle Company did some years back....if yah got the money to do it on something else you wouldnt want it on a 700 or a 77....or pick up one of the old 1885 Remington Lee's...

DrDeath:

I understand your desire and I've chased the idea too. What I ended up with is three Siamese Mauser conversions in 45-70, one Ruger 77 Tang Safety in 450M and one pre-64 Win 70 in 450M. One of the Siamese has been to Namibia once, one (wife's) goes every year and so does the Win 70 in 450M.

Here are my impressions of all three conversions.

The Siamese Mausers are VERY sweet and all three shoot well under sub-MOA. Wife's hunting load is a 300gr Barnes TTSXBT for the 458 SOCOM at 2400fps and 325gr CEB #13 solid at 2350fps.

The actions of all the SM's are smooth and typical Mauser strong and reliable. The only thing you have to be careful of is when loading the magazine to make 100% certain that when you push the cartridge down you slide it back so the rim of the next one you push down on top of it sets in FRONT of the one under it. Failing to be 100% certain of this will cause a jam. My wife's stock was custom fit to her and she is absolutely deadly with it on PG in Namibia. We've yet to recover a bullet from any PG up to Kudu body size.

The Ruger/450M conversion is very slick and zero hick-ups as far as feeding/function and shoots sub-MOA as well.

My personal favorite is the Win 70/450M conversion. Conversion was done by Buchanan Precision up in New England. Half octagon/half round 21" barrel, lam stock, pillar bedded and blueprinted action - smooth, smooth, smooth. If I can do my part it cloverleafs 3-shot groups all day at 100. Hunting load in it is 350gr Barnes TSX at 2350 and the same 325gr. CEB #13 solid at the same vel. Only recovered one bullet so far and that was from a frontal chest shot on a gemsbok at 125-130 yds. Bullet (TSX) was recovered just under the skin in the rump.

There is a downside if you are a traveling hunter. In order to take full advantage of the increased pressure/power levels the bolt actions take the 45-70/450M to, you really need to hand load. If your hand loads get "lost in transit" someplace it can be difficult to find replacements and if you can they tend to be the standard Trapdoor Springfield safe Remington 405's or maybe the Hornady Leverevelution stuff. I've been able to find these even in RSA and Namibia - didn't need them but just wanted to see if anything might be available.

There was one manufacture that produced a factory chambered bolt action in 450M - Styer, in their Pro hunter series.

I wish the 450M had been produced when all of those Siamese Mausers where coming back and being converted to 45-70. It might have really breathed a very long life into the 450M.

If you go the Gibbs route, you can have both a .45-70 and a .45-90 in the same rifle as described in this article on the Chuck Hawks web site.

http://www.chuckhawks.com/gibbs_summit.htm

I had considered that approach until I found a Miroku 1886 TD in .45-90 and jumped on it; ready to go right out of the box with no gunsmithing. It is also heavy enough to absorb heavy loads from either .45-70 or .45-90.

If you must have one of those actions in .45-70, making it a single or two shot gun might work.

I sold a Remington action recently made just for the 45-70.
Of course it was around 100 years old and had a hammer mounted in the bolt...

The Siamese Mauser is the way to go for a 45-70. I was waiting for years for the time and funds to build a rifle in 45-70 that wouldn't be use much on a Siamese action and then found a complete rifle. The complete rifle needs a new stock and bolt handle but shoots quite well. The Siamese action is good, strong and feeds pretty smoothly for rifle with a rimmed case.

Forget a M-700 in 45-70. I just measured a M-700 bolt and it has a .690" diameter. SAAMI specs for the .45-70 case shows a .608" rim, I measured some W/W .45-70 rims at around .598".

If one cut a M-700 bolt face to accept a .608" 45-70 case, there would be only a .042" of bolt face steel remaining, not enough for the M-700 extractor, which requires a recess cut.

My CZ bolt meausres .698", and with the Mauser extractor design, it could probably be made to work. The straight box mag, designed for rimless rounds, would not feed a big, rimmed case.

That's why the Siamese Mauser is the way to go; it was made for rimmed cases.

DF

Exactly what I've done! The best solution in my view.
I had an M77 Ruger in .458 WM with 22" barrel, .30-06 length magazine and tang safety... should have kept it! 1/2 MOA shooting the 500gr Hornady! Killed a bl. bear using a 350gr Speer at a reduced load at 2335 fps/4237 ft-lbs @ muzzle. 3400 ft-lbs at impact.

Bob

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