Tikka Long Magazines for .308 length rounds

[Idahotrophyhunter]

If I cant/don't sell my tikka 308, I had an idea to run by you all. Can I take a long action magazine and load 308 rounds a little longer (assuming they chamber fine) and be good to go? Specifically looking at trying 190 AccuBond long range.

 

[Anonymous]

Can't think of a reason why not. The SA and LA rounds are in the same receiver.

 

[jimbires]

I think the bolt stop will be different between a short action round , and a long action round . meaning I don't think the bolt will open back far enough to be able to feed from a long action magazine , without modifying or replacing the bolt stop . .

 

[Darkhorse]

Here's what I'm thinking on this. But I haven't tried it yet and due to the expense of the magazines I might not.
First you'll need a longer .30 magazine.
Second I don't see why the factory bolt stop cant be filed a little at a time until it's just right. I think the bolt stop for a long action will be excessive.
Third, once the OAL and bolt stop is worked out, then the rear of the magazine will need a permanent filler. Like JB Weld just to keep the rounds in place.
The bolt stop is also the bolt release.
I know it's been done but I can find little info.

 

[Tobey284]

Seems like the easiest thing to try would be to swap the bolt stops short for long and see how it feeds from an '06 mag. Should probably check the throat first to make sure you CAN seat the bullet out far enough to make it worth messing with.

 

[pharmseller]

I bought a bolt stop kit from Brownell's for my 7mm-08. Go to their website and search for Tikka bolt release kit.


P

 

[Thebear_78]

I saw this on another forum
Third, I wanted to run heavies in the rifle, but I did not want to single load. So I traded my 308 mag for a 30-06 mag. I then trimmed the bolt stop back with a dremel and had a long action. I thought this was a solution until I tried to run some rounds through it. It jammed on every round. To fix this I made a magazine insert (I cut the lid of a berger bullets container to the right dimensions, stacked the strips up and melted them together.) I then cut the back of the feed ramp off and epoxied the insert in the back of the magazine. I left myself 3.100" of usable magazine length. The 208's touch the lands at 3.080" and I am going to run everything 0.020" off the lands in the future. The 190 ABLR touches the lands at 3.065". It now loads flawlessly.”
http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd4 ... 196968.jpg

 

[Darkhorse]

Second I don't see why the factory bolt stop cant be filed a little at a time until it's just right. I think the bolt stop for a long action will be excessive.
Third, once the OAL and bolt stop is worked out, then the rear of the magazine will need a permanent filler. Like JB Weld just to keep the rounds in place.
.

That is one of the things I was thinking about when I posted this. When making modifications we must always keep in mind the design parameters of the operation of the rifle. If we are too far outside of these then we run into problems. I just did not see anything good coming from all that extra length with a short cartridge.
But now that I know about the feeding problem I think I would go into this with a plan.
First, Find out the OAL to where the bullet engages the rifling, this would be considered max OAL. Then load for accuracy and shoot single shot for groups until it is determined if there is a benefit or not.
Then trim the bolt to just work with the new OAL and stop there. It can always be trimmed a tiny bit more later if neccessary.
Next would be a filler of some type to allow just a tad over OAL to fit in the magazine. I would work with a dummy round to get just enough that round works in the mag and doesn't stick.
Now, everything from factory loads to custom handloads should chamber, in theory.
Since, I have a .308. And since I'll be starting serious load development after this deer season, this very much interests me. But, if I can find a couple of loads I like without any mods. then I won't touch anything.
Even though the bolt stop and mag are some kind of plastic, you can't just go out and buy them for a couple of bucks. With Baretta's prices you might be talking about $100 or so bucks to replace these 2 items.