Building a 338lm on a savage

[Its only light]

Hey all got a couple questions for you experts out there. My buddy and I are piecing together a 338 lapua. I've got the barrel chassis and basically everything besides an action.

I have a wanted ad placed for a factory savage 338 action but so far no bites. I imagine not too many people buy one of those and end up parting them out.

So my question is what mods need to be made to a standard savage long action other than the bolthead. Like feed lips opened, bolt stop work, etc? I would like to hear any and all advice, opinions, rants, or whatever.

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[alphadogg56]

You won't save any money, why not just buy a stiller and be done with it.

 

[RedDirtRifleman]

Yeah, you can't go at a Savage build backwards like that. Solo actions are hard to come by.

 

[Its only light]

Just kinda how it happened. Wasn't really a plan til I had most the pieces. Nobody using a standard savage action on these?

 

[Its only light]

Obviously a stiller would be ideal but as said the parts were all here before I decided to do this. Basically leftovers from my action. So I bought a bolt head and figured I could make a savage long action work.

 

[Dirty D]

Savage builds all of their 338LM rifles on a supersized action, the mag and ejection ports are larger than the long actions, the action threads are a large shank vs. a small shank on the short and long actions and the action is a solid top vs. the open top on short and long actions. Your best bet would be to buy a used 110BA (godawful chassis) or 110 FCP-HS and sell off the parts that you don't want to use. I don't have access to Savages test data but I seriously doubt that the standard long actions will stand up to the amount of bolt thrust the Lapua round generates, it could be the last mistake of your life. Good luck and be smart and careful.

 

[Its only light]

Hmmm. How sure are you on that? What part of the action is actually supersized? My 110fcp action fits perfectly into an xlr chassis made for the standard long action. Also the long actions are available in large or small shank depending on the chambering. The open top ejection port is 3.8" long. They do chamber the ultramags in these and make mags long enough for them. The lapua bolthead has a .550 lug vs. the .5 lug on the standard chamberings.

I was really thinking I would be able to swap the bolthead out with the thicker lugs and open the feed ramps for the fatter cartridge and effectively have the same thing minus the solid top of the receiver.

Ptg sells boltheads, I thought for this purpose. Nobody has done this?

 

[timelinex]

The magnum long actions are beefier. I dont have scientific data on this, but I've got a 110ba and I've got a savage 10 and the 110 definitely feels beefier in all regards. Maybe someone will chime in and give you an official Yay or nay, but I doubt it.

I'm just wondering what your trying to win out on here? Savage 338 lapuas are about as cheap as you can get for the caliber. For example I'm selling my 110 for 1600 dollars right now in the for sale section. I can't imagine putting a better one together being much cheaper unless your skimping on something or getting certain things for free.... But the bulk of the cost would probably be the action and barrel anyways so.....

I would not skimp on your safety. There is some serious pressure that your lapua rifle has to take, unless your gonna be loading very light but doing this negates any advantage of the 338,seriously consider the 300 instead then.

If you want a 338 lapua on a budget, buy a 110ba and be done with it. Use the extra parts as backup or sell them off. You will be better of for it in the, reliability and safety department doing it that way, rather than sticking with what you already have and working backwards. Keep the barrel for when you shoot out yours (this is a magnum barrel burner remember), sell the chassis any any other parts to recoup some money towards the built rifle.

There's definitely pride in 'building your own', but when people do this it's either to save money or build something high quality and tailored to themselves. In a 338 there's no reason the save a couple dollars(you will blow more in ammo cost trying to find a good load for the Frankenstein) and if your doing it to build something high quality Savage is NOT the action to base it off for a 338. So the only reason would be because you have a spare action for some reason you would want to do a it's a fun project. But the action is the key, not the barrel/chassis etc...

If your dead set on it, I'm not sure of the hurdles or liability involved but an official gunsmith can probably order a 'replacement' action directly from Savage to 'fix' yours.

I'm not a gunsmith or professional anything in the shooting world for that matter, so this is just my 2 cents!

 

[Its only light]

I appreciate the input. I do plan on talking to some smiths this week. Of course safety is priority number one. If its deemed unsafe I will stop the process in its tracks. Not looking for high quality or to save cash, just was thinking I could utilize the spare parts if all I have to do is swap boltheads and minor mods to the feed ramps. My current 338 is plenty accurate for me. I don't see myself going back to the factory barrel on that setup as I switched to a 32" custom barrel and am very pleased.

So its either build it up or sell it off and don't think I will get all that much out of the parts for the same facts your stating. If you have the actual 338 action in searching for then you probably already have all the parts in selling since you had to buy the whole gun to get the action. I may see if my smith can order one from savage. I never even thought of that. Til then I'm going to keep bumping my wanted ad and hope someone comes up with what I need. Ya just never know.