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I have a spare Savage Stagger Feed short action and would like to build a 458 socom or 450 Bushmaster just to play with. I was wondering if there is anyway of having a reliable repeater with any of these cartridges in a stagger feed action. I am mainly wanting to build something subsonic to play with, but would like a repeater. I have heard of extraction issues with the 300 Whisper, and have also considered the 338BR. Any advice on a reliable round for a repeater would be appreciated.
458 socom with a 223 mag, and a 308 bolt head. Easy as that and they are accurate.
I would say, if you want more available ammo the 450 BM, but the socom headspaces off a shoulder which is a plus.
Socom brass is harder to find, but there is a 300gr TTSX bullet that was developed just
for that round. The socom round uses .458 rifle bullets and the 450 BM .451 pistol bullets
450 BM brass is made from cut down 284 win brass (reamed I think) so thats a possibility.
Or you could do a 458 american and that is a real short action round.
You have to ream that one too.
Similar to the 450 marlin except you make the case from 458 winmag brass.
The 450 marlin has an odd magnum ring different from the normal magnum ring.
You can shoot 458 american in a 458 winmag barrel and they sell 458 winmag
barrel kits at brownels for about $200.
You can make 458 American from 350 Rem brass without reaming - fireform with cream of wheat etc. and then trim to length. Inside reaming is a genuine PITA in my book and I avoid it at all costs!
450 marlin is easiest way to go but only one source of brass and I don't know if it will survive.
Never liked rifle rounds that headspace on the case mouth. Always seem to get wild fliers no matter what you do, trim length is critical, cases seem to stretch at random (same batch, same load - some stretch like crazy, some don't). So I would cut the Bushmaster from consideration (just me of course).
Sinman, will the 458 Socom feed reliably from a standard stagger feed 223 magazine? What kind of accuracy have people got with it? I have read on some old post where you have made barrels. Let me know as I am interested and am interested in trying it as a subsonic round.
Yes you would want to use the staggered feed otherwise you would have to open up a centerfeed mag. The round feeds great from an ar mag which is pretty close to a staggered feed mag. I made one for a Savage that shoots 3/4" groups both sub and super sonic. Send me a PM about a barrel. I have the reamer on hand.
Sinman, I will send you a pm shortly. Ironically, my membership ran out yesterday here, so I am waiting on the paypal process to complete to get my membership back. I should then be able to send you a pm.
458 socom is a nice round. I had one in an AR15 and its a real thumper.
Be sure to try out some 300 gr TTSX bullets. They are designed to open
at a low velocity and open up to almost 1" in diameter and have a decent BC.
Also had good luck with Hawk 300 and 350 gr spitzers. 400 grain Hawks were a
bit too long for normal loads. Expensive bullets but top quality.
Hawk makes up to 450 gr spitzers and 550 gr round nose bullets.
I think running it through a bolt gun should allow you to use a little longer bullet. I am researching all I can and trying to find out about what subsonic round would be best for me. I think I am set on either a 300 Whisper, 338Br, or the 458 Socom. I know the 300 Whisper will function feed reliably on a Howa action, and Sinman says that the Socom will work with my Savage Staggered feed. I don't know if the 338Br would work on the Savage platform. I have read that some of the BR rounds haven't been completely reliable, but I am wondering if the longer 338 would work. Or if it would work with the AFSCME mags that Fred has. I think feeding would be fine, but am unsure about ejection. Everyone feel free to chime in.
Had a BR and I think you need to lengthen the ejector pin to make it eject reliably
although I never tried that so you might want to ask around.
I think the bottom line is what weight bullets do you want to shoot sub-sonic.
If for target it doesn't really matter and a 300 whisper or 300 blackout would be the way to go.
For hunting heavier bullets would be my choice, although a 220 gr 308 cal bullet is nothing to sneeze at.
You might want to message Marty at arfcom on the twist for the 458 sub sonic per bullet weight. A 550
or 600 gr 458 bullet is a long bullet.