116 action

[bjsillinois]

Can you tell me if the 300 Win Mag, and the 300 WSM use the same bolthead?
Thanks, Billy

[Hotolds442]

Technically no, they do not use the same bolt heads. From the factory, the WSM uses a bolt head with longer lugs, and since the WSM uses a short action, the WSM uses a bolt head with a shorter shank. That doesn't mean that you can't convert a WinMag to WSM.

[Robinhood]

Hotolds is correct. If you put a WSM barrel on your 116 300 win mag it would work. I have no idea how the magazine would feed.

[Hotolds442]

That's providing that the barrel shank sizes are the same. The majority of the WSM's are large shank, and the majority of the WinMags are small shank. The shank sizes are not interchangeable.

[bjsillinois]

Thanks, I have been throwing around the idea of building a benchrest rifle in 300 WSM, and was wondering what my options were for a donor action.

[Hotolds442]

If you're going to have a barrel made, then the WSM in a small shank tube would probably work out just fine. Like RH stated, you might have to mess around with feed lips to get it to feed, or add a Fred sled and single feed it.

[bjsillinois]

Thanks, I was going to make it a single shot, probably put a Fred sled in it. I was curious, I saw a pretty cheap 300 win mag on gun broker, and was wondering if the bolt heads were the same. If I do it, I was planning on putting a new barrel on it with a reamer from PT&G made to my specs.
Thanks again, Billy