Quote Originally Posted by 9x23w View Post
Just wandered on to this thread as I have a Stealth 338 Lapua.

I must respectfully disagree with many statements made about action strength. There are very few persons who really know how much an action can take before deforming/breaking and those people are not saying a word. Why? What do you think would happen if a Savage engineer said the 110 actions were good to 80,000 psi? Bubba would be loading up rounds to that level the next day.

Years past I remember reading constantly how Ruger No. 1's could not handle the 416 Rigby based cartridges because chamber walls would be too thin. Guess what, Ruger started making them. There are loads of No. 1's around now in the big Weatherby rounds, 338 Lapuas, 308 Warbirds, and even bigger. I have never heard of one going up.

When Weatherby started making 378's, he did so on standard FN Mausers with the actions milled out to handle to 378's length. There isn't much bigger or hotter than a 378 yet I have never heard of a strength problem with those actions.

Even when manufacturers talk about action strength you cannot believe them either. For years (not sure if they are still doing it) Remington touted the 700 as having "3 rings of steel" for extreme strength. (barrel, receiver ring, and the ring on the end of the bolt). But when they started making 338 Lapuas the ring on the end of the bolt was not longer complete because they had to go to a Sako extractor. So they did away with the "3 rings of steel" when they went to the largest cartridge they ever chambered in the 700? What does that tell you about their original claim?

If anyone is having lug setback issues its from a manufacturing or modification defect, not from the original action design.

As I previously stated very few people really know what an action can handle, but that doesn't seem to stop people from offering their opinion. Unfortunately that is all it is, an opinion.

That all being said, I love my Stealth. And that's an opinion.
Well I must respectfully disagree with a few of your points as well. Many references can be found about how much an action can handle to the point of destruction. Several times over the years I've read of engineers for manufacturers destruction testing their actions. Mos bolt actions will go to around 120k PSI before they completely blow, but you'd likely start seeing lug setback before that.

As for the 378 Weatherby case. I could be wrong because it has been a while since I've read up on it and am not currently researching it while responding, but I'm pretty sure I read that Roy went with the Magnum Mauser action for those cases, which is a bigger action than the standard.

As for the Savage action, it's not their standard action either. Yes it is the same outside dimension but that's about where it ends. If there wasn't something to that size case needing more strength they wouldn't have built them the way they do and just went with their standard long action. It undergoes a better heat treatment to make it stronger/harder. The locking lugs are longer front to back for better shear strength. The ejection port is much smaller to give it a more solid top behind the top lug abutment making the action more rigid and stronger. And the barrel tenon is larger for the Lapua's and WSM's (1.125" vs 1.055")

I have no proof, but personally think Savage made the right steps to make their Lapua action strong enough to handle it. However, I do take to heart what experienced gunsmiths say about it being marginal. To my knowledge, only Savage, Remington, and Weatherby make them on their same size actions. Any other manufacturer goes to a larger size action, including customs like Stiller. I have 3 Lapuas. Two Savages and one RPR and I can tell you that Ruger must have taken it to heart as well because the Magnum RPR receiver is larger than the Savage and it has more bearing surface area with the 3 locking lugs (I've measured and compared them). Again, they must be just strong enough though because Savage, Remington, nor Weatherby have ever recalled them that I know of. So as sort of an agreement with your point, if it were a liability to where they were afraid of getting sued, they'd likely recall them which hasn't happened.

Now does that mean the Savage is no good? No. But there is something to the greater amount of bolt thrust generated by this larger case head or they wouldn't beef up the action like they do and Ruger wouldn't have gone to a larger action. I've always suspected Weatherby's claims of being the strongest to be mostly a crock. The receiver is no bigger than a Remington or Savage, neither is the barrel tenon. The 9 locking lugs are so small, their actual bearing surface area is less than a Remington's or Savage's when all 9 are in contact which is rare.