300 PRC on a Savage Long Action

[thesheepdog]

That was my fear. Thanks for the info. Is there fairly easy way around it that you know of

If it's magnum long action you should be fine. The Savage LA actions are REALLY long. Just because it's 7mm doesn't change the action length.

[Coyote_Hunter]

If it's magnum long action you should be fine. The Savage LA actions are REALLY long. Just because it's 7mm doesn't change the action length.

My Savage 111 is a 7mm RM. It has a mag length of 3.5" nominal.

[thesheepdog]

My Savage 111 is a 7mm RM. It has a mag length of 3.5" nominal.

You really can't go off the mag length. You have to measure the magwell opening. The only way you'll be able to magfeed 300 PRC in a mag is with CIP mags, but in order to do that, you need to verify your magwell is long enough (newer Savage Long actions are plenty long enough for CIP mags). This is also considering you get a CIP bottom metal or chassis.

[Coyote_Hunter]

You really can't go off the mag length. You have to measure the magwell opening. The only way you'll be able to magfeed 300 PRC in a mag is with CIP mags, but in order to do that, you need to verify your magwell is long enough (newer Savage Long actions are plenty long enough for CIP mags). This is also considering you get a CIP bottom metal or chassis.

I have $295 invested in my flat-back 7mm RM Savage 111 donor. A match barrel will run me about $300. My plan is to use the birch stock. Spending hundreds on bottom metal and possibly more on a replacement stock is out of the question. If I wanted to go that route I would not have purchased the Savage to begin with.

I’ll stand by my statement ‘You may end up with a single-shot .300PRC as the max COL is longer than the Savage 7mm RM mag length. 3.7" vs 3.5"’, the key words being “You may”.

In my case the .300 PRC would be a single-shot rifle even with SAAMI minimum length (3.575”) ammo.

[J.Baker]

An older flat-back factory .375 H&H Mag. or RUM rifles could theoretically work. These had a longer magazine to accommodate said cartridges at 3.600". Still not ideal, and stock options would be very limited since those are all stagger-feed actions, but it would meet the minimum length requirements.

A rifle that started life as a .338 Lapua would provide adequate magazine length, but IIRC these have a unique bolt head size (thicker lugs) and I don't think you could swap it out for a .532 bolt head and get it work due to its having thinner lugs. I could be wrong there though as I don't bother with magnums - just going off memory here.

[thesheepdog]

The Lapua actions will also work. It's just a large shank long action. I've heard of several people using these because they already have the CIP length stocks included with them.
I'm not going the 338 Lap large shank route, however. I ordered a Savage 110 Storm LH in 300 Win, and I'm going to swap barrels and stocks on it specifically for the 300 PRC.

Compared to a Rem 700, the Savage is the ideal action because the magwell is optimal for the long OAL of the 300 PRC. Rem 700's require milling on the action magwell to adequately feed the long OAL.

[efm77]

Since you ordered a newer version it will be a centerfeed. My centerfeed 375 Ruger appears to have enough mag well opening as you've said. However, the front of the mag box stops short of that. I've often wondered if a small gap could be cut in the front of the mag box to allow the bullet points to stick out of it and still make it feed up the ramp, or if they would slide forward too far under recoil and jam up. Might be worth trying as the AI mag systems are so expensive.

Putting a regular .532" bolt head on the Lapua bolt would work, but you'd have to adjust the firing pin protrusion so it wouldn't stick out too far due to the thinner lugs/head. Or you could replace it with an entire standard magnum bolt assembly with the firing pin protrusion already adjusted for said bolt head.