270 rechamber?

[17 rem savage]

can i rechamber my 270 to a 270 wsm? its a small shank just wondering if there enough meat in the chamber for it? thanks all

[sharpshooter]

Basically, no. There is not enough meat around the barrel or enough length to totally clean up the old chamber.

[bigedp51]

17 rem savage

Keep your .270 Winchester, the .270 WSM is shorter and a larger in base diameter. These new 'short" magnums have less case surface area to grip the chamber walls and generate much more bolt thrust. These new cases are harder on the bolt and receiver and some rifles have had damage done by the increased bolt thrust.

Bottom line, the Ackley improved cartridges with even more surface area generate less bolt thrust, and the "new" short magnums have less surface area and generate even more bolt thrust.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolt_thrust

http://www.eabco.com/WSM01.htm

http://gunsmithtalk.wordpress.com/2008/08/19/ackley-bolt-thrust-tests/

[17 rem savage]

that kinda what i was thinking. thanks for the reply. i have to other 270's picked this savage up for a song 125 bucks from a friend. looking to do something cool with it. any suggestions?

[nsaqam]

A 270 Weatherby Magnum reamer will clean up that chamber and would surely be something different.

Of course you'd need to change your bolthead for a magnum sized one.

That said, a 270 Wby in a 22" barrel would be IMO pretty pointless.

[17 rem savage]

yeah not many options .277 bore. lol i guess ill start looking for a new barrel.. id like to find a take off 243 and that would be a easy change.

[efm77]

"These new cases are harder on the bolt and receiver and some rifles have had damage done by the increased bolt thrust."

Can you document this? The WSM actions have thicker locking lugs on the bolt head for sure. I'm not sure if the lug recesses in the receiver are thicker or not but I know they are with the 338 Lapua receivers but that's a whole different animal. And you are correct about the increased bolt thrust. However, if it weren't safe, Savage would have recalled them and I haven't seen or heard of any recalls.

[bigedp51]

"These new cases are harder on the bolt and receiver and some rifles have had damage done by the increased bolt thrust."

Can you document this? The WSM actions have thicker locking lugs on the bolt head for sure. I'm not sure if the lug recesses in the receiver are thicker or not but I know they are with the 338 Lapua receivers but that's a whole different animal. And you are correct about the increased bolt thrust. However, if it weren't safe, Savage would have recalled them and I haven't seen or heard of any recalls.



A recall would cost money, and when these rifles started having problems the manufactures were fixing these rifles at no charge. I'm not saying Savage hasn't upgraded their bolt lug design or other manufactures haven't fixed the problem all I'm saying is add a little oil or grease in the chamber and the bolt thrust will be doubled. In the last six months I have purchased two Stevens 200 and a Remington 700. The Remington 700 had one locking lug barely touching meaning the left lug was taking most of the load.

Below a WSM chambered rifle with a sheared right locking lug.

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/bigedp51/BoltFace-Closeup01-12192009.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/bigedp51/BoltRightLug-Closeup01-12192009.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/bigedp51/BoltRightLug-Closeup02-12192009.jpg

What I'm saying is simple, if you hot rod a car or hot rod a rifle the lifespan is shortened in relation to the horse power applied.

Below from the H.P. White Ballistic Testing Laboratory and the causes of gun failures

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/bigedp51/Overpressure-boltthrust.jpg

Oil or grease in the chamber is the same thing as firing a proof pressure test round, now stop and think about bolt thrust and its effects.

[17 rem savage]

so the best way to build a short mag is to start with a short mag action? i really wanna build a switch barrel short mag rifle. i have a 7mm wsm factory barrel and a buddy just sold me a 7mm rsaum barrel he never used. so whats the best action i should be looking for? thanks

[Eric in NC]

So not commenting on the 270 rechamber to 270WSM (don't think it will work) but as far as the "blown up bolt" goes - that isn't a Savage bolt, it looks like a cast bolt, and we have NO IDEA WHY IT FAILED!! Over charge? Obstruction in bore? Wrong cartridge chambered?

The pics mean nothing with the data offered.

[bigedp51]

So not commenting on the 270 re chamber to 270WSM (don't think it will work) but as far as the "blown up bolt" goes - that isn't a Savage bolt, it looks like a cast bolt, and we have NO IDEA WHY IT FAILED!! Over charge? Obstruction in bore? Wrong cartridge chambered?

The pics mean nothing with the data offered.


1. Ruger doesn't offer a single rifle in any Winchester WSM caliber.

2. These WSM cartridges do increase bolt thrust.

3.(Update 11/30/05 - Apparently there ARE problems with some of the original turnabout guns. Some manufacturers have now introduced special guns or revised designs for the short magnums... Savage, CZ, and Browning, to name three). See below

http://www.ABC.com/WSM01.HTML

4. The .270 Winchester is already the best non-belted magnum in the world.(Jack O'Connor)

[nsaqam]

I tried long and hard to find the love for the WSM's but after using and reloading for both the 270WSM and the 7WSM I discovered that their "charms" are lost on me.

I won't own another one.

Now the 270 Wby, that one has me intrigued.

[efm77]

That's not a Ruger bolt. It looks like a Model 70 bolt with the slant on the locking lug for a coned breech. Cast or not means nothing to me. I'm not afraid of castings. Ruger has proven over the years that castings, when done properly, are equal to and in some cases stronger than a forged part. Ruger tested many rifle actions to destruction and found their cast bolts to hold up longer than the other actions' forged bolts. As to bolt thrust, I understand what it is and that a larger head induces more thrust on the bolt lugs so I understand how it works. As Eric in NC said, there's no explanation as to why that bolt failed. There are many possibilities. I also understand the merits of a dry chamber but I doubt that if you have a film of oil in the chamber that it is going to increase the thrust against the bolt enough to make it fail. Will it increase the bolt thrust? Yes. Will it be enough to cause it to fail? I doubt it. If that were the case there would be all kinds of warnings out there and you would hear it everywhere. I'm not making a case in favor of the short magnums. If you don't like them, fine. I don't like them very much either all though I do own one (actually bought it for some sort of future project). I just don't think they're that dangerous but I do like the large shank barrels for them for the increased chamber thickness past the receiver ring. Heck, look at the size of the 378 Weatherby cases and the pressures they operate at and the Weatherby MarkV action isn't much bigger, if any, than other actions. Sure it has more locking lugs but they're so much smaller I doubt the bearing area is much different. Weatherby also uses roughly the same barrel shank and thread size as the Remington 700 which would cause the chamber walls to be thinner than on a Savage. So who knows? I think the WSM and RUM cartridges are the reasonable size limit for these actions though and would definitely not feel good about using a 338 Lapua or any other cartridge head that size in one of these actions.

[tammons]

As far as rechamber there is really not much point.
You could go AI to help with brass life.

I have a Savage 270 and also a Weatherby 270 magnum deluxe.

The 270 with reloader 17 is right on the heals of the 270 weatherby with a lot less powder and less recoil
so I dont even bother reloading for the weatherby.

[efm77]

"The 270 with reloader 17 is right on the heals of the 270 weatherby with a lot less powder and less recoil
so I dont even bother reloading for the weatherby."

Well said. And if you don't reload, the Hornady Superformance lists a 130 grain bullet at 3200fps which is pretty close to a 270WSM.

[dcloco]

Would like to see a picture of the rear of the lugs on this bolt and the same area of the receiver. Bet the intact lug is not making any contact.

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/bigedp51/BoltRightLug-Closeup01-12192009.jpg

[sinman]

So not commenting on the 270 re chamber to 270WSM (don't think it will work) but as far as the "blown up bolt" goes - that isn't a Savage bolt, it looks like a cast bolt, and we have NO IDEA WHY IT FAILED!! Over charge? Obstruction in bore? Wrong cartridge chambered?

The pics mean nothing with the data offered.


1. Ruger doesn't offer a single rifle in any Winchester WSM caliber.

2. These WSM cartridges do increase bolt thrust.

3.(Update 11/30/05 - Apparently there ARE problems with some of the original turnabout guns. Some manufacturers have now introduced special guns or revised designs for the short magnums... Savage, CZ, and Browning, to name three). See below

http://www.ABC.com/WSM01.HTML

4. The .270 Winchester is already the best non-belted magnum in the world.(Jack O'Connor)


Everything you read on the internet isn't true, you can blow a bolt apart with a 243 if you didn't know what you were doing. And have you though a company just doesn't want to chamber their rifles in wsm or wssm or what ever? Ruger offers the RCM cartridges which are the same psi as a wsm and the same case head. I would say Ruger doesn't want to offer those chamberings because they have their own.

[tammons]

At 3.4 COL with a pointy bullet like a SST, you can get 3200 fps with a 24" bbl.

22" knocks you back a good bit like 75-100 FPS.

An out of the book load for the 95 gr barnes TTSX bullet is RL17 at 3700 fps with a 24" bbl.

Load it long and bump it up a bit and you can get 3650+ out of a 22" bbl. Does nasty meat damage though.
See my blow the @$$ end out of a hog post.

Also the 95 gr POI is way off from a 130 gr load but the 95 gr TTSX at 3600 hits like a sledge hammer from He11.








"The 270 with reloader 17 is right on the heals of the 270 weatherby with a lot less powder and less recoil
so I dont even bother reloading for the weatherby."

Well said. And if you don't reload, the Hornady Superformance lists a 130 grain bullet at 3200fps which is pretty close to a 270WSM.

[bigedp51]

sinman

Everything you read on the internet isn't true, you can blow a bolt apart with a 243 if you didn't know what you were doing. And have you though a company just doesn't want to chamber their rifles in wsm or wssm or what ever? Ruger offers the RCM cartridges which are the same psi as a wsm and the same case head. I would say Ruger doesn't want to offer those chamberings because they have their own.

I don't deal in guesswork, internet myths or garbage information and I spent the last 25 years of my working career as a Quality Control Inspector at a military overhaul facility.

1. Why would anyone re-chamber a .270 Winchester rifle to gain 100 fps at most in the .270 WSM and add MORE bolt thrust to the rifle.

2. Bolt thrust is a fact of life and everone should "think" about it.


http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/bigedp51/oil-lube.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/bigedp51/boltthrust.jpg

American commercial firearms are only proof pressure tested with a "dry" proof pressure test round and Military small arms are tested with an oiled proof test round to simulate combat conditions. If after proof testing the rifle has had too much lug setback and a increase in headspace the rifle fails military proof testing. The point being here our commercial firearms are NOT built to military standards and all it takes is a little Hoppe's # 9 in the chamber and you have doubled your bolt thrust and have gone past design limits of your rifle. How many times can you fire the equivalent of a proof pressure test round before you start to damage your rifle? I owned two .270 rifles and would never conceder changing over to any of these short fatter magnum cartridge for the sake of a new name.

[17 rem savage]

i do reload. as a matter of fact i just bought some rl17 yesterday for my rsaum. whats a good starting point for a 270 win load? thanks

i was looking at the AI. that may b the way i go. i just have 2 other 270s and want something diff. dont get me wrong i love them. there some of the best guns i own. i guess im bored and need a prodject. lol