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Ruger 77 30-06 to .300 WM?

omega1

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2007
Messages
234
Location
Colorado
Hello all. I have an older Ruger 77 in 30-06 that I was considering taking to a gunsmith and having it converted to a .300 WM. I know the bolt face would need to be opened up but what about the bolt rails? Would they need to be opened up as well? What if I decided on a short mag? I know most will probably say just sell the 30-06 but I'm curious
 
The answer to the question is little to no modification to the rails will be needed, being a ruger fan myself, I recommend and used 77's regularly, I converted short actions to WSM Mags, and long actions to Ultra Mags, it was only when chambering the Lapua and the bigger Weatherby's was rail work needed, along with a little feed ramp reworking and polishing to get it to feed smoothly, a little tweaking of the magazine box may be needed, and perhaps swapping out the ruger follower with one with a remington ultra follower. However for a belted magnum conversation only the bolt face will likely need attention at all.
 
Thank you Bret that was the type of information I was looking for. I've had a couple of Remington 700's converted in the past and learned the hard way that there was more work involved than I anticipated.
 
Now another question to those with experience. I understand that Ruger, Sako/Tikka and Winchester share the same barrel threads, 1"X16tpi. How interchangeable are the barrels? Can I have a Tikka barrel fit to my Ruger with minimal issue for example? Just weighing options.
 
Rebarrel your 77 into another 30-06 with a 28 inch tube, run 215 Berger Hybrids with either RL17 or N560, magnum primers and kill critters. Here's what I get with my 30-06, 28 inch Krieger. Almost equal to some factory ammo 300WM.


Screenshot_20230522_110828_Shooter.jpg
 
Depending on the equipment you have not a whole lot of work, admittedly I retired never having worked with a tikka, so I can't honestly speak about them, the come breech of the Pre64 can pose extra work cutting the breech cone and extracted groove, or removing it to say fit the Ruger or med length sako, the older finnbear action had a thread shank of 1:050 so it's not a simple swap on that model, working with the push feed model 70 barrels is a close match to the ruger as well as the older medium length sako forester, I have done some barrel swapping from the older sako to the ruger without a lot of extra work,
 
Thanks again Bret. I have a small collection of barrels, stocks and misc. parts I've collected over the years and I'm looking to put some of them to use.
 
Thanks again Bret. I have a small collection of barrels, stocks and misc. parts I've collected over the years and I'm looking to put some of them to use.
No problem pardner, over the years I had almost as much fun building firearms from misc parts as I did using them, FYI the Remington 700 and Weatherby MK 5 are a close match as well.
 
Hello all. I have an older Ruger 77 in 30-06 that I was considering taking to a gunsmith and having it converted to a .300 WM. I know the bolt face would need to be opened up but what about the bolt rails? Would they need to be opened up as well? What if I decided on a short mag? I know most will probably say just sell the 30-06 but I'm curious
35 whelan?
 
If Memory serves, and its not what it used to be, the very first shortmag (7MM) was a wildcatted 404 case and a 77 rifle. Almost sure it was Shooting Times, but could have been somewhere else. Also pretty sure Winchester got sued over the 7 and had to drop it. Shame, it was the best of the lot. Still have one. Lazeroni did a series too, but I'm thinking he used the 416 case or similar. You can open the boltface and run a shortmag on your 77 and it will mag feed I think on the long action. It will on a short one.
 
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