Rechambering my Ruger MK II

[Barnesboy]

Hi everyone, Ive been thinking of either rechambering my Ruger MKII 30-06 to a 300 Win Mag or trying to trade my little fishing boat for a 300 Win Mag or Ultra Mag. I would love a 300 Ultra Mag but can I do a long action 300 Ultra Mag? Sorry for all the question Ill be asking but Ive never dealt with any caliber bigger then a 7mm mag.

 

1) If I rechamber my Ruger what barrels would you guys recommend I check out and what kinda of muzzle breaks work the best for a 300?

 

2) Is there gonna have to be work done to the action so it can cycle the 300 smoothly?

 

3) What kinda of stocks to you guys perfer for the bigger calibers? A heavy one to help with the recoil a little more or a light one for the pleasure of not killing your shoulder hiking around all day?

 

4) Is there any local gunsmiths that you guys recommend to do all this work and who is reasonably priced? I plan on getting the parts first before taking the gun to be built so that maybe itll be a little cheaper. I live in Cottonwood Arizona but willing to go to phx or tucson for a good gunsmith.

 

Thank you guys ahead of time for all the info. Work hard, Hunt harder.

[roninflag]

most builds are off Remington. I would sell the ruger and start with a Remington.

[STOMP442]

With the amount and cost of opening the bolt face and modifying or replacing the extractor it may be a better decision to sell what you have and buy a magnum if a magnum is what you have to have. Truth be told the ol 06 will kill anything the big magnums will. It may not have a cool factor and it may not be sleek and sexy but there is a reason it has been around for over a hundred years. It just works. If you want to upgrade and get a bit more performance while your at it the 6.5-06 Ackley or .280 Ackley would work really well on that action and bolt face. Rugers are very easy to re-barrel and straight forward. Down side to the Ruger is there is not a lot of options for stocks out there. You are pretty much stuck with a Boyds or Houge. As far as smiths go I can help you out there if you are interested shoot me a PM and we can talk about it.

[Barnesboy]

most builds are off Remington. I would sell the ruger and start with a Remington.

 

If the gun wasnt so sentimental to me i would just sell it and buy a remington but the gun has a lot of sentimental value to me. Thats why i want to use it for a build.

[lancetkenyon]

Like Stomp442 said, build a .280 AI. You can shoot the 7mm 180s and be golden.

Or rechamber to a .30-06 Ackley Imp. It will up your speeds by 100fps or so with your current barrel. Or get a new 26" barrel (assuming your current factory barrel Is a 22") and do the same as above to get even more speed. Anywhere from 150-200fps more than you are getting now I would assume. Gets you some more horsepower.

 

To be honest, the cost of rebarrelling and chambering your rifle, you can keep it as is and buy a new one in the cartridge of your choice. Sportsman's Warehouse has the Rem 700 BDL LR on sale right now for $649.00. Then you have 2 rifles!

[10Turkeys]

What you have read on the above post are just about gospel. I had a Ruger 77 Mark ll, that wouldn't shoot, after having the action trued, and a Douglas barrell put on and bedded, I could have bought two Remingtons. On the upside I later put a Hart barrel on it and it was a tack driver.

[forepaw]

I understand wanting a .30 cal. magnum, but what are the uses intended? In some ways, they are not the best as an all around rifle, though they will pretty much do it all. It comes at a price though - more barrel wear; more noise and recoil; a heavier rifle in order to tame recoil; a longer barrel in order to take advantage of all that powder you will be burning; possibly a more critical choice of bullets, in order to find something that shoots accurately but also will hold together when a shot presents itself at close range; and etc. I am not anti-magnum, I just think it is worth being realistic about how much better off you will be with one. They will take game reliably at very long range, but if you don't practice, and tune your rifle and loads, and are tempted to try long shots, you could end up with long hikes after wounded critters, or find your wounded animal with someone else's tag on it.

 

With rifles there is no free lunch. If one is light and handy and easy to carry, then it is difficult to shoot well from field positions; magnums can be heavy and bulky to carry, but settle down quicker from an improvised rest (assuming you are in good shape and get your wind back quickly). If you load for reduced performance, in order to make noise and recoil more user friendly, then you are right back at '06 performance - maybe not as good. With today's powder and bullets, the old traditional cartridges are still pretty useful, and capable of better performance than you might think. Some of the high-performance factory loads place the '06 in magnum territory, something you will know the second you touch one off.

 

For longer range use in states like AZ, where there are no big bears, and using scopes with reliable elevation adjustments, you can do very accurate long-range shooting with lighter calibers. They are easier to carry and more fun to shoot, in general, and modern streamlined bullets arrive with enough energy to kill elk and mule deer as far as you can keep your shoots on a paper plate from a field position. .30 and .338 magnums will absolutely buck the wind, and hit hard at unbelievable distances, but you still have to put the bullet in the right place!

 

Hope that helps.

 

forepaw

[dse]

I would also go either 280Ai or 30-06Ai. A few years ago I rechambered my old 30-06 to the Ackley version. I've been impressed with the results. A 180gr Swift Scirocco @ 3000 fps and I'm working on a load for the 200gr ELD-X @ 2850 fps.

[sjvcon]

.280AI. Krieger, Brux, Bartlein, Rock Creek, Lilja, Shilen and several others. Depends on preference to Cut or Button Rifled, and if you want 5R or what? Get the right twist for the grains you want to shoot. Good bedding and trigger (Timney has a good one for the Mark II).

[300RUM]

If the action is long enough for the win mag it's probably long enough for the ultra, the OAL spec for the ultra is only 0.260 longer. I have not worked with M77's much but there would probably be more machining needed to open up the inside of the action so the larger cartridges would feed from the mag. Between that and the bolt face / extractor modifications that is a lot of money sunk into machine work. If you are attached to the rifle why not keep it like it is and buy another rifle that is a magnum? As far as breaks go I run a OPS on my 300RUM and love it. The design of this break creates a cone to the rear of the rifle where the decibel level does not substantially increase over an un-braked gun. If you fire it on a hunt without putting in ear plugs you will still be able to hear afterwards. They are available through brownells.