Stevens 200 in 7mm-08 conversion to 7mmWSM

OK .... I am new to the forum and originally posted questions to an old thread ... my bad. But anyway, here goes with trying to get this right. I bought a couple Stevens 200s .... one for me and one for my wife. With those guns I have 4 barrels .... 2 in 250-3000 Savage and 2 in 7mm-08. I bought the guns primarily because it seemed to be a cheap way to own "barrel swap" guns and now I want to re-chamber one 250 Savage barrel to 25-300WSM and one 7mm-08 barrels to 7mm WSM.

Note that one of the actions is center feed and one of the actions is staggered feed. Questions:

1. Is one of the two actions (center feed vs staggered feed) better suited to the short/fat WSM cartridge? Or, will I have to order a new magazine box either way .... hoping that the WSM box for a 10 will fit into my Stevens 200?

2. I should be able to use the WSM bolt head for a Savage 10 on my Stevens 200s? The reason I ask is that I notice the newer 10s have a larger barrel shank ... so, just wanted to make sure that Savage did not alter the WSM bolt head to match the larger threaded area on the thicker barrels for the 10.

3. The bolt head on my 7mm-08 is push feed. I noticed that the bolt face for the 10s chambered in WSM is controlled feed. Is that going to cause problems with the magazines I have in my 08s? Will any problems be fixed if I order a WSM box for a 10?

4. Now here is the really big one. Remember that I am interested in CHEAP/do-it-yourself swap guns. So, does anyone have experience with using a t-handle and rented reamers ... as in renting reamers to re-chamber my barrels on the cheap and in the action vs taking them to a smith? I would love to do that if I can???

CheapGun

I know you will need a WSM magazine, unless you single shot it. I have a centerfeed WSM, WSSM that I swap around and the bolt face on mine has a different size firing pin hole. When I changed from the WSM to the 204 Ruger bolt face I had to swap firing pins from the magnum to the new smaller one.

I like the centerfeed just because the parts are so interchangeable. Once you have a DBM/Hinge floorplate the parts are easy to swap around.

1) Don't know if one is "BETTER" suited or not. I have a stagger feed that works fine with the original box. SOMETIMES, for reasons that I don't get, you may have to change the follower. The box should be fine, it is the feed lips that are at a different angle, IIRC.

2) Honestly don't know if the outer diameter is bigger on the bolt head, I can measure tonight. I THINK the 2 differences are the inner diameter(for large case head) and the "stem" that the firing pin goes through(meaning perhaps a different firing pin).

3)Shouldn't be an issue, except possibly for the push-round ejector.

4) no help

4.
I have never reamed a barrel, myself, but have read of a lot of guys that did, BUT, NONE ever rechambered like you want to do, by hand. The ONLY ones I have ever read about, by hand was going to an Akley Improved version os the existing chambering, ie, 223 to 223AI etc. Otherwise, they say there is too much room to angle the rewamer offc course and screw the whole thing up.

If the shoulder of the WSM round is forward or even with the shoulder of the 7-08 it ought to work, if not then the chamber will have to be shortened (set back) and then recut with the reamer, both jobs for a smith, unless you are a machinist.

The OD of the bolt heads on my long actions are the same outside, from my '06 head to the Magnum head. Never dealt with a WSM

Do you think you can turn the reamer around a few hundred times by hand and never put any side pressure on it?? If you put any side pressure on it you will egg out the chamber!!

7-08 have the twist you want? WSMs are better suited to the large shank actions, though they were done on small shanks in the early days.

As for reaming by hand ... you guys are not making me feel too good about that idea. I wanted to do this project on the cheap but it sounds like I may need a smith to do the reaming. My brother-in-law has a lathe, but it will be Christmas before I am down there again :-( it may boil down to a "do I spend the money or do I spend the time" sort of question.

As for twist ... not sure what I have. I bought the guns online and doubt the folk I bought them from would know that either. I am guessing between 1:9 and 1:10 just from info I have gathered for other chamberings listed on the Savage website. I will shoot light bullets (probably 120 grain) in my 7mm WSM as I am addicted to speed and really like what fast bullets do to Bambi :-) A 1:9 to 1:10 twist should work for such light bullets?

I am hoping to use the two receivers and jump back and forth from 25-3000, to 25-300 WSM, to 7mm-08, to 7mm WSM, to probably 22-250 AI, and who knows what else. So, I would like to stay with the small shank for all chamberings if it is safe to do that with the two WSMs. Anyone heard of safety concerns (I would be really surprised) with WSM in the small shank barrels?

As for the shoulder on 7mm WSM vs 7mm-08 ... with what I can glean form my reloading manuals I should be ok there (as in not needing to set back the chamber).

I have been messing around with cycling shells (as much as they will go) for 300 WSM through the center feed vs the staggered feed magazines on my 7mm-08s. The center feed absolutely is not compatible. The staggered feed sort of works? Of course I would need to get the 7mm WSM barrel on and cycle a few rounds to be sure ..... but I am thinking the staggered feed might need the least modification to work with the WSM catridges?

The firing pin issue is something I was not aware of. I need to do some homework on that one. I would really like to avoid the cost of buying a completely new bolt for the WSM chamberings .... but that might be the smartest thing to do if the firing pin is different, the bolt head is different, etc? Now, good luck finding one!!!!

Thanks for all the input from everyone. I may try to call Savage tomorrow and see if they will let me talk to a tech guy. It can be REALLY hard to get through to those sorts of folk ... but I will see what happens tomorrow.

CheapGun

A CF bolt head does not have the ejector pin and it takes major surgery to get a CF ejector spring into a non CF action.
Not worth it.
I would have somebody open up a .473 bolt head. At least I think that would work, or maybe they made some non CF short action magnums.
Actually just ask SSS what the best way to go is.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, it seems like I remember that the magnum bolt heads are different somehow.
Better ask SSS.

I would just buy a barrel or have yours rechambered by a gunsmith.
I think Sinman will do one for $75 and its worth it.

That said I have re-chambered 2 barrels by hand and it is not fun.

The first one ruined a SS 223 barrel and turned it into a tomato stake. The chamber drifted to one side
Second came out okay, but I was not removing as much metal as on the 223, IE I was going from a 338 fed to 338/284.

On that one I kept a digital caliper handy and about every 10-20 turns I would check my drift and correct, but that is very hit and miss and you have to stop at the correct depth. In the end it turned out to be a pretty good shooting barrel.

I would ream a barrel to AI, but I will never rechamber one again.
I will give that job to somebody that knows what they are doing.