Savage 99C barrel conversion (.308 to.358)

[dastier]

Hello, 1st time poster here...

I may be able to obtain an aftermarket 16" barrel with a magnum sporter contour. It is chambered in .358 Winchester with a 1:12" twist and fits standard/small shank actions. What I would like to know is:

Can this barrel be fitted to a Savage 99C in .308 Win? Is it an easy or difficult conversion - best done by a gunsmith or something I can do myself?

Would I be able to load .358 Win cartridges into the .308 Win clip magazine or do I have to obtain a .358 Win magazine? (I have a .358 Browning BLR and the magazine is almost identical to the BLR .243 Win/.308 Win magazine, my understanding is that the Winchester Model 88 chambered in .358 Win uses a modified .243/.308 Win magazine)

My goal here is to make a poor man's Savage Brush Gun.

Any help is much appreciated. Thanks, Mike

BTW I own a Savage99F in .243 and its my favorite gun, but wish it was a .358 and not a .243.

[dastier]

BTW I don't own a Savage 99C yet but I know where there is a nice Savage 99C Series A for sale. Or would I be better off with a later manufactured Savage 99C or CD? I have read on the Smith and Wesson forum that early Savage 99Cs had feeding trouble until Savage lengthened the receivers.

What about the magazine/clips - did Savage modify the clips at all for the lengthened receivers?

Would I be able to load the .358 cartridge into a stock .308 magazine or would some modifications need to be made? (I believe the Winchester Model 88 .243/.308/.358 magazine was modified to accept .358 rounds by some cutting/reshaping of the feed lips but other than that were the same magazine - but I could be wrong about this)

BTW for the mods - the verification thingy is a pita.

[Mad Dog]

The only thing you can do is use a 308 mag, Savage never made a 358 mag for the C because it was never chambered for the 358.

I guess if the threads match or you have it turned to fit it should work, if it has the magnum barrel contour then it's going to have lots of meat on it, it's not like your using a factory stock 99C barrel and opening it up more for the 358 thus making the wall thinner.

I've heard of guys doing it with the 338 Federal but never heard of the 358 conversion on the C. Usually I tell people no, don't do it because of the wall thickness and they usually want to use one with a rotary mag which won't work unless they find a rotor for a 358 but if your using another barrel chambered in 358 and a mag fed model it should be interesting on the outcome, I'd like to see if you hit any snags myself, can't see any right now except for the threading and barrel fit.

[sayak]

I don't know how the C's "clip" would feed .358, but I bet it would. I had my rotory fed F bored to .358 and they tweaked the rotor too. Check out these folks:
http://35caliber.com/2.html