338 edge Freebore

[E4aker]

I'm curious how much freebore the edge can have and still fit in the 3.825 Wyatt's box with a 300 berger elite hunter.

I have been looking at defiance actions but they will not accommodate the 4" Wyatt's box due to their bolt stop design.

Thanks

 

[ATH]

I can't answer your freebore question with solid numbers, but the Defiance looks like a side bolt stop design. Can't you just modify it to allow for longer bolt throw? That's what I did with my Stiller in the same situation. I had to remove a significant amount of material from the rear of the magazine cut as well. I run the 285gr ELD and it is just shy of mag length in that box, running .02" off the lands.

 

[E4aker]

I'm not real sure. I talked with a guy at defiance and he told me that the bolt stop would not allow a CFE9 box and they had no future plans on changing it. Curious how you modified the bolt stop on the Stiller?

Did you need to open the ejection port as well?

 

[ATH]

I'm not real sure. I talked with a guy at defiance and he told me that the bolt stop would not allow a CFE9 box and they had no future plans on changing it. Curious how you modified the bolt stop on the Stiller?

Did you need to open the ejection port as well?

Modifying the bolt stop was easy as it is a side bolt stop design. I popped the pin holding it in and used a file to remove material from the surface of the bolt stop which impacts the bolt, allowing the bolt to travel rearward further. I'd hold it back in the action and eyeball things to known when the bolt could come back far enough to get behind the cartridge. It really was not hard at all. Modifying a standard R700 internal bolt stop is harder.

Modifying the feed opening of the action to allow the rounds to feed up from the magazine was much harder. From memory about 1/4" had to be removed from the rear of the mag well opening, and I did this with a Dremel. It took a lot of time (worked on it every evening for a week) and care to do it right with such ad hoc tooling. But the final product is awesome. This needs to be done first, before the bolt stop, so you can model the rounds feeding up.

I did not have to modify the ejection port, as Stiller already has a modification from the R700 design to accommodate ejection of longer rounds. I can't speak for your action.