New Build Idea Looking For Advice

[ZSteinle]

I am thinking of getting a new savage lightweight hunter (GUN) pulling the barrel and turning into into a 7 WSM with about the same barrel countour as the factory rifle but fluting it and about 24 or 26 inches. Any thoughts or advice would be great.

 

[trebark]

What will the primary purpose be for the rifle? Shooting a WSM, go with 26" barrel although 28+ would be better...depending on the purpose.

 

[Mikecr]

Be sure to get a WSM action(larger barrel tenon) for this. That way you have enough barrel steel around the chamber to allow the cartridge's potential without extraction/sizing issues.
A WSM action I had(currently stuck at the Canadian border somewhere) had CRPF w/standing blade ejection, which was very, very nice.

 

[ZSteinle]

I really want the profit weight action. Would I be better off going with a long action and a 7mm mag. Primary purpose would be mountain carry rifle

 

[backwoods83]

You can put a 7wsm on a standard savage action with no issues, its the same size as a remmy 700 and bigger then a M70 winchester, just get on the midway or brownells web site and spend 25 dollars on the controled round feed bolt head that mikecr spoke of and use a slightly heavier contour, like a #5 with 6 radial flutes and have it finished at 26-28" with a 9.5 twist unless you plan to shoot 180 bergers or heavier then go with a 9 twist, but I do not reccomend this on a standard throat wsm chamber because it puts to much of the bullet down into your usable powder space, so it does better on a long action. In my opinion a 7wsm on a long action with a long throated match reamer is way more superior in design than a 7mm rem mag, wsm's are efficient being short fat and sharp shouldered.

 

[diriel]

I will probably get laughed out of the "house" for this....

Have you considered a 338 Federal as a mountain rifle? There are quite a few good points:
1) The Barnes TTSX 185gr bullet has a BC of .432 which will carry about 1800 FPS+ and 1300 Ft. Lbs.+ energy out to about 450 yards with a good but not awesomely hot load.
2) You can get the above figures out of a 22" barrel for sure, and most likely even out of a 20" barrel. Part of the reason is, you can use Varget / IMR8208XBR / AR-Comp Type powders that will do quite well in shorter barrels.

A nice short barrel is great for mountain treks while carrying a rifle.

Ok, go ahead and laugh
Gary
P.S. I wonder how the Power Pro 2000MR powder would do....!! Hmmmm!!! That might be nice.

 

[Mikecr]

IMO, there are reasons for the WSM action differences that are beyond typical gun builder/hacker knowledge.
Yes, you could build it however you like. But why not atleast as good as the factory?

The CRPF bolt head would include a slot for a standing ejector blade, which a WSM action would have. Changing to WSM head on a non-WSM action would leave you with no ejector. The firing pin would have to be changed also, as WSM boltheads use smaller firing pins(to strengthen the head).
I don't know what Remington does(don't care), but magnum actions should provide for a larger tenon, so that you can run the cartridge to the same or in this case higher potential as other cartridges(SAAMI max for a WSM is 65Kpsi) without extraction issues. If you don't get enough barrel steel around the chamber of magnum diameter cartridge, an interference fit can be left on firing before reaching SAAMI max. This can lead you to sizing more than needed with a better design(factory design).

You know Winchester put some real efforts into feed, extraction, and ejection to make WSM/WSSMs work. Savage recognized it, and so should you.