Installing barrel on Remington 700 LA
Are there any problems installing a Remington .243 barrel on a Remington 700 long action? Why or why not?
I know that the a .243 is a short action cartridge, but I have a Remington 700 long action available to me at a good price.
Thanks in advance.
Edit: CP - Does your answer include any potential problems that may be encountered with feeding, bolt, mag well fit, barrel issues? Have you done anything like this?
I know that the a .243 is a short action cartridge, but I have a Remington 700 long action available to me at a good price.
Thanks in advance.
Edit: CP - Does your answer include any potential problems that may be encountered with feeding, bolt, mag well fit, barrel issues? Have you done anything like this?
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No problems at all.
CP0 -
Boomerang,
The only feeding problem, that can be worked out relatively easily, is if the original case the long action was chambered in has a big difference in taper from the .243.
The .243 has pretty straight case walls. So does the 30-6, .270 Win, .280 Rem, and 25-06. The .257 Rob, 6mm Rem and .250 Sav. were all short actions. So, I can't really think of a chambering that should be a problem.
In any case if it is an oddball, it's not all that hard to make it work right for a .243.
Next question, but I think you seem to have it already is, is this a magnum or standard .473 bolt face? Magnum, get a new bolt, problem solved (Pacific tool and gauge). Standard, your in like Flynn.
-good luck0 -
Boomerang,
"Are there any problems installing a Remington .243 barrel on a Remington 700 long action?"
No, not at all. You can install any Remington M700 barrel on any Remington M700 action.
Other than the installing though, everything else is up for grabs.
The barrel will not headspace without being adjusted. It will also not come up to top dead center with the sights and roll marks in the proper orientation.
If Remington could make just long actions for both long and short action cartridges, don't you think they would? Think of the cost savings by producing just one action length, one magazine length and one length of followers.
No matter what is assumed by the cartridge conformation, you will have a devil of a time getting a short action cartridge to feed properly out of a long action magazine and long action follower without even considering the rails or feed ramp. You might get it to work after a fashion but it will not be the consistency that the proper magazine and follower will provide given the proper geometry and feed rail shape.
Don't take my word for this but go ahead a do the conversion by cobbling something together after a fashion, then pay to have all the work done to convert it correctly.
Best.0 -
Boomerang,
I'll take a que here from nononsense who made a good point. While what I described seems relatively easy, you have to know what you are doing. That would pretty much preclude anyone who hasn't personally studied the situation.
So, what I'll add to my last post is get a qualified gunsmith to do it. This is not something that you could just sit down one day and file the rails and all will be good.
I mean relatively easy in the fact that if somone knows what to take, and what to spare, the long action Remington will feed well with short action cartridges. I've seen this done going from 30-06 to .308, 7mm-08 and .260 Rem. Also, some "improved" cartridge versions of those. The single best example I can think of was my .257 Ackley in a long action (originally a 30-06) that fed .257 Ackleys very well. Now, in the Rem 700 rifles that is a short action. And the case has a lot of taper. According to the guy I bought it from it wasn't any problem to that gunsmith, located in PA, to make it a smooth feed.0 -
Any of the cartridges based on the 7x57 Mauser parent case (including but not limited to the 6mm Remington and .257 Roberts) are in the intermediate family of cartridges not short action cartridges. The original M98 actions were intermediate in length and had to be adjusted (machined) in order to handle the longer 30-06 length cartridges for conversion. They were design specifically to manage the 2.244 length cases with the bullets seated out to a +3" overall length.
Companies such as Remington merely squeeze the bullet back into the case in order to force it into the short action category, eliminating the need for the intermediate length actions and saving money at the cost of performance. Note that the 6.5 Remington Magnum and the .350 Remington Magnum are just two examples of cartridges that suffer from a lack of magazine length to accommodate the longer, heavier bullets. Their performance goes up when used in detachable magazine rifles with the bullets seated out. The same concept is aptly applied to the WSM/RSAUM families as well. Performance is maximized when these cartridges are run through the longer actions or detachable magazines with a longer OAL.
Sako is one of the very few companies to have chosen to make several action lengths in order to accommodate the specific cartridge lengths.
One solution for the short cartridges in longer magazines and actions is to use a block in the back of the magazine to create a short magazine. This necessitates the requirement of modifying the follower or using a short action follower and spring to make the set up work. The rails will need adjusting as will the feed ramp.
As I have stated before, some ideas can be executed and will function after a fashion when cobbled together without a lot of attention to the details. There are hundreds of websites that thrive on the concept of cobbling and jerry-rigging firearms in order to avoid gunsmithing costs. However, the importance here is that the system should work flawlessly each and every time with no bobbles or failures. Simply screwing a barrel chambered for a short action cartridge onto a long action and expecting it to function correctly and consistently is in error.
Good luck with your project!
Best.0 -
Brownell's sells a mag box and flat follower/spring. This allows the adjusting of the feed lips on the box and is a center feed type,not relying on the action rails for guidance due to the positioning of the mag box toward the front of the mag cutout of the receiver.The exact position to be determined. The appropriate spacers of hardwood or epoxy can be used depending on the stock(the short description[:D].And I already know the original cartridge was not given. Just trying to add something. 0 -
The mil sniper M24 is a long action .308
The us army dosnt think its a problem. You can feed longer OAL hand loads through the mag box and skip the single loading thing.0 -
Boomerang,
Just to clear this question up:
I do this on a daily basis professionally.
Best.
huffsd,
While this appears to be a perfectly disarming observation on the surface, it is really just the repetition of some low quality information made available through a few sources.
If you had access to the real operators of these rifles, you would get the proper feedback and observations regarding the use of short action cartridges in a long action platform. Even most of the stated reasons for the choice of the long action platform are wrong. But that's the problem with the internet and some general information as a whole, the bad information gets passed along just as easily as the good.
Most of the folks who supply information and opinions about this topic have never even tried to accomplish this in the real world. They just pass along stuff they've read and go on about their business. Others have tried it and get it to work after a fashion. But the difference is whether or not it works 100% of the time, FLAWLESSLY or if it just works 'sort of'. The real operators state that it is not flawless and is not what they would choose for a platform. However, they have no choice in the matter since it is the idiots who run the military, Federal Gubmint and Remington that make these decisions. They are reluctant to give up the platform because of the accuracy.
Anyway, yes you can get a short action cartridge to feed through a long action, with stated exceptions. It is not perfect and never will be without some modifications. That's the fact.
Best.0 -
Different strokes for different folks. I have a short action 308 that I shoot F-class with, but I also shoot a long action 260 AI. Both cases are 308 win trimmed to the same length. The reason the 260 is in the long action is because of the long 140 grain bullets I load in it. The load I shoot would never chamber in my magazine plus as I seat the bullet deeper into the case, I loose case capacity.
This is also true with a 105 grain vld or 115 grain V-Tac in a .243 chambered rifle.
Granted, the theory that a shorter action is inherently more accurate then a longer action makes logical sense, I am not a good enough marksman to see the difference.
Ergonomics, the longer bolt throw, would be the only noticeable difference. Maybe a few ounces of weight too.
If I was building one for my Wife or little girl, I would use a SA. For my self, I would choose a long action. Only because I hand load and like to shoot the longer VLD type bullets.
What I dont quite get is that the US Army issues a long action .308 but the US Marine Corp fields a short action .308
Both rifles are contracted through Remington, and both shoot the same Lake City Match 168g ammo.
Different Strokes...0 -
"it is the idiots who run the military, Federal Gubmint and Remington that make these decisions"
Nononsence, YOU NAILED IT!!!!!
I am an operator. LE,SERT. My dept. issues Remington SA PSS .308s and we shoot "only" the fed gold medal 168g match ammo. Now I know another Dept. that shoots only the Hornady TAP LE AMMO. This team seems to be the exception though.
The reasoning for this is money and insurance. Our Dept follows the flock. If Its good for them and they use it, so will we.
In a perfect world, we would all shoot the SASS platform and a TRG0
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