I have some duplication in my small caliber battery and am considering a re-barrel job to a 221 Fireball.
My candidates are:
Hawkeye 204
A-Bolt 223
X-Bolt 223
I know the OAL of the 221 is shorter than the 223 & 204. My question is will there be any issues in feeding the shorter Fireball cartridges from these mags?
My 221's are both on Sako L461 actions. Those actions are for .223 and even I believe 222Mag. They feed the 221 as if the action was meant for that cartridge. But I'm not familiar enough with the guns you mention to know how well they'd work. In the 90's I did modify a Rem. 700 magazine for 17MIV. Made a thicker spacer block and altered the spring and a solid follower. It worked beautifully and ejected just fine, there was no problem with the extractor position. You could do something like that as last resort. But the small Sako or some other short action really makes a nice rifle for that cartridge.
