Savage 340B 222Rem

[Willoughby]

I found a minty Savage 340B in 222Rem , both wood and metal in great condition, but I was thinking of either changing the barrel or buying a reamer to make it a 223 , I would have to find a 223 magazine and I'm not even sure if the 340b was offered in 223 ? or if a small shank barrel would fit it ? the other option is to find 222 brass and dies - I already have a Axis 223 and some ar 223's -but this old rifle has really appealed to me , any advised appreciated

[Jarnac42]

I purchased a barrel off Numrich for around $65 just a couple months ago. I won an auction on accident that was basically a Savage 340B in pieces. The .222 barrel was messed up (someone tried to cut grooves in the bore end for god knows what reason. I put everything together but took it to a gunsmith to be headspaced for safety's sake. he test fired it and everything is working fine. .223 magazines are readily available on Ebay (they're not cheap though). I am not sure what it would cost to have the chamber reamed to .223 bit it is worth checking into.

[mikeinco]

why ruin a perfectly good rifle in a great chambering ?
just put it aside, till you have some money for quality dies and some lapua brass.
hornady 50 vmax and your choice of powders...start with 8208 or lt32/30

[Jarnac42]

I would have kept mine .222 if the barrel was not jacked up. The .223 barrel was a cheap solution. It also gave me a more readily available caliber....at least that's what I thought but now you can't find .223 anywhere

[Balvar24]

There are a couple of 223 magazines on Gunbroker now.

[Willoughby]

im assuming the barrel is a standard small shank , can anyone verify ?

[islander1950]

For many years my go to rifle was a 340E, .223 with Weaver 4x scope. I purchased this rifle in 1975, a few years later I found a Savage 340S walnut hand checked stock for my rifle, the 340S is ultra rare, no one really knows how many were made, was my primary deer rifle with handholds which clearly outclassed factory rounds at the time, unlike today when we have medium game rounds loaded but the factory, namely Hornady, Barnes, Winchester and the super Federal Fusion loadings. I shot and loaded for the .223 do to service injuries. This rifle was stolen a few years ago so I purchased an Axis .223, now also own an Axis II with the Boyds stock........I would love to find another 340, would gratefully accept a 324 or the 840 also, one would need two large safes to house all the variations of these rifles!