Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Rechamber 270 Win to Wby

I want to rechamber a Weatherby Vanguard from 270 Win to 270 Wby. According to other inquiries Ive read the bolt face would be opened for the .532 case and the extractor must be modified. Can anyone recommend a Howa action gunsmith familiar with this work?

I would contact Redneck . I think a 270 wby calls for a 26" barrel

I wonder if it would feed properly?

Look at the cartridge specs. The barrel has to be set back. Not a simple ( just run the reamer in ) . Hasbeen

Unless you like excessive muzzle flash and less than optimum velocity, you are likely correct on 26”.

Yes there are minor drawbacks such as barrel length. Wby added a 2" muzzle brake to one of their latest model VGs in 257 & 300 Wby and
I could do the same if needed. Probably no worse without it than my Savage 99 carbine in 243 Win w/ 20" barrel; it blows my hair back a little. Anybody know what mods would be needed to the extractor? Anybody you could recommend for the bolt work or entire conversion?

Hasbeen
I have looked at the specs and I dont think setback is needed but you tell me: The Wby OAL (unloaded) is 5/1000 longer than the Win. The shoulder dimensions over 50\1000 longer in the Wby. Of course the cartridge base is 60/1000 larger in diameter. I was hoping to find a good bolt action guy on the east coast...

Probably be easier to just buy a new bolt.

Ive come to the same conclusion magshooter and found just where to get one for $124 plus shipping. Thanks

IME Howa puts their barrels on rather tight. Granted, I have only pulled 3 off, but 2 of the 3 required a relief cut to get them off. I would say, shoot the throat out of your 270 Win barrel, then buy a 27" barrel for the Wby conversion.

Just buy a Vanguard in 270Bee. Likely cost little if any more than a new bolt, feed rail or ramp work, shipping, and chambering what you have. Look through the classifieds here, I'm sure one will show up eventually for less than five bills by the time it gets to your door.

They make em 24 and 26. I wouldn't want a 24" barrel in .270 Weatherby.personally but I don' think it would make an earth shaking difference. Now if you're barrel is 22 " I would rebarrel. or just find a 26" .270 Weatherby.

Buy a new or used Vanguard 270WBY way cheaper and then you have a back up rifle. Or sell the 270 to get the new one. You would be way ahead.

They don't offer the Vanguard in 270 bee anymore a new bolt would be the simplest way to go.

Find a 26" 270WBY Vanguard?

Will a 26" be faster than a 24" 270 Wby? Probably. Will a 24" 270 Wby be faster than a 270 Win? Almost assuredly. On top of the mag bolt, you can likely find a magazine box and follower from a 1500 7RM or 300 Win. That'll likely save you any feeding headaches. You *shouldn't* need a set back, but I won't say guaranteed. Not having to set back, should make this an easy conversion. If any threads have to be cut you might have trouble finding a Smith that'll work with the metric threads. Most "gunsmiths" these don't do much beyond screwing on Savage barrels and paint AR's. All in all Im guessing this will run you about $500. It may not be the worst idea to look for a MkV ultralight or synthetic, I've seen them used 24" in the $800 range.

I was THIS close to doing the same thing, but with an M70 I bought dirt cheap, could swap bolts from another dirt cheap M70 and I found components on clearance. If you REALLY want to go for it, go for it. Could be fun, and you'll be pretty unique in the gun you've got

So I had it done by Mike Bryant in Wheeler, TX. He did an excellent job and no reblue required. He did an especially nice cad? engraving job to change the chamber stamping to "270 Weatherby". He did it in script much like the script Weatherby logo style. Very nicely done, very affordable and came back to me in one week. Unbelievable!

I decided to just buy a Magnum bolt from Numrich. I had to fix the ejector retaining pin and got no satisfaction from them of course/again/typically other than to just send it back so they could send me another damaged one... No magazine or other modifications were required. Anyway I fixed the bolt locally, it fit perfectly and I sent the barreled action to Mike. It was smooth sailing from there. He's excellent! He's a benchrester that builds custom rifles both target and hunting and he's on the net. I highly recommend him and he seems to have every reamer you could name.

To finish up the post mortem for this project, it was just the bolt body that I replaced and as I said, Mike Bryant did the rest. I sent a 1-1/2" 270 Win to him and got back a 1/2" 270 Wby. I couldnt believe it. I put a new Nikon Prostaff on it with Talley mounts, took it to the range and finished a 5 shot sight-in with a 1/2" three shot group using factory Wby Select 130 gr. ammo ($40/box in 2019).

When I bought the rifle in 2004, you could get a Vanguard at Walmart for just under $400. For 15 years I tried just about every factory standard and premium loading available from Winchester Supreme to Remington, Federal Premium and Hornady in 130 and 150 grain loadings. It was more accurate with 150s across the board and I could get 1 to 1-1/2" groups with the best ammo and best effort at the bench but realistically, for hunting it was a 1-1/2" rifle. I was fine with that because I could use just about any factory load in 130 or 150 grain and get the same results with the same zero.

I never anticipated that the conversion would improve its accuracy 200%, or really to see any accuracy improvement at all. I didnt request action truing or accurizing and I didnt see that any was done, so I attribute it to Mike's skill, experience and precision machinery. To this day I havent bothered trying to determine the relative effects of the 24" barrel and 1:10 twist on performance. I do some chronographing for handloads but havent bothered in this case. It's a .270 Magnum, which I think is the best thing going. I consider the 7mm to be the best caliber bullet for hunting medium game at any practical range or velocity. The 6.5mm gives better retained ballistic performance and the .270 is a good compromise between them. I still like to use a slow .30 for deer in the woods and if I hunted varmints I'd use a 6 or 6.5, so I'm not promoting single cartridge fanaticism either, what's the fun in that?

Lot of Weatherby Haters here but I have/had 3 Mark V's in 270 bee. One was US made and sold to me completely misrepresented by a member here. It was accurate after I fixed it partially(came from the factory with a minimum chamber at best) The other two are easily sub MOA 3 shot groups with hunting ammo.

Love the round.

Congrats on the results! My 270win and my 270wby are two of my favorites (but I have plenty of love for my 7's and my 6.5's and my 6's and my 300's, too) ... Roy really knew what he was doing.