Gunsmithing Remington 700 223 ar15 magazine conversion

[Memberberries]

A little while back I bought a Remington 700 adl tactical in .223 with a 24" threaded barrel for not very much then scored a deal on a PTG ar15 dbm and started the process to mate the two together. I had a spare hogue pillar bed stock laying around so I decided that would be my project. It took a lot of time and adjusting on a mill as well as finding the right magazines to get the double stack feed lips to let the rounds be high enough for the bolt to reliably strip them from the magazine. (if you're trying this save yourself the trouble and get ss mags, give up on pmags)

Now I've got it down to chambering. The rounds have a tendency to run into the back of the barrel face(it's flat) and jam causing you to have to drop the mag and pull the bolt back then forward again to feed them.

My idea is to pull the barrel and silver solder a cone onto the back of it while clearancing the front of the bolt lugs for the cone. I might also have to slightly chamfer the chamber lead in and cause my cases to be less supported by a few thousanths so I'm not completely sold on this approach. Can't chamfer the front of the bolt or it won't strip the rounds. At this point I haven't pulled the barrel so it's still as received from remington chamber spec and it shoots about .6 with 50gr sbk's so I would like to get it sorted. It's a really fun 400yd gun when it's cooperating.

Has anyone else fitted one of these? If so how did you address the issue?

 

[Friday]

I’ve got a PTG ar15 conversion bottom metal sitting in my safe they fit so sloppy in the bottom of my stock it is one of the worst machines pieces I’ve ever seen lol I did not install it and went with another APA bottom metal and aics mags

 

[Memberberries]

I’ve got a PTG ar15 conversion bottom metal sitting in my safe they fit so sloppy in the bottom of my stock it is one of the worst machines pieces I’ve ever seen lol I did not install it and went with another APA bottom metal and aics mags

This one fits a bdl inlet super tight, it also fits magazines a bit tight but I changed that. I don't have any problems with the bottom metal itself just trying to make an action intended to feed from a single stack work on a double stack.

 

[Friday]

I never got that far with mine I was so upset with the way it fit in my stock

 

[supercorndogs]

I would cut my losses on it. M5 inlet AI mags, they work with out a bunch of work and they don't hamper to 2.25 OAL.

 

[Friday]

I would agree

 

[Memberberries]

I've thought about that but it's kind of a challenge now. The gun has a 1/12 twist barrel so it's never gonna need loaded long for heavies, just varmint loads.

I've yet to find anyone who posted what they did to make these work but they wouldn't sell them if it wasn't possible

 

[gnochi]

I've yet to find anyone who posted what they did to make these work but they wouldn't sell them if it wasn't possible

I wouldn’t count on that.

Have you tried bending the front of the magazine lips in slightly, and the rears our slightly, so the cartridge goes in with the tip of the bullet slightly more centered?

Also, if you have a “3 rings of steel” bolt/barrel interface, you can do a wide chamfer that doesn’t go deeper than the counterbore to give you a pretty large alignment aid.

 

[MarinePMI]

I wouldn’t count on that.

Have you tried bending the front of the magazine lips in slightly, and the rears our slightly, so the cartridge goes in with the tip of the bullet slightly more centered?

Also, if you have a “3 rings of steel” bolt/barrel interface, you can do a wide chamfer that doesn’t go deeper than the counterbore to give you a pretty large alignment aid.

Umm...he's trying to use AR mags, right? Not sure bending feed lips will work too well...

 

[Friday]

PTG quality is extremely hit and miss I do think you can make it work but it may take a gunsmith to do some machining on the feed Ramps

 

[Memberberries]

I wouldn’t count on that.

Have you tried bending the front of the magazine lips in slightly, and the rears our slightly, so the cartridge goes in with the tip of the bullet slightly more centered?

Also, if you have a “3 rings of steel” bolt/barrel interface, you can do a wide chamfer that doesn’t go deeper than the counterbore to give you a pretty large alignment aid.

I've worked on magazine lips and gotten it better but not completely there. The soldered cone idea was to keep the full counterbore and get the same result. I'm thinking I won't know which I prefer until I pull the barrel.

As for the "you might need a gunsmith" comment, I'm posting about already taking a mill to a gun in the gunsmithing forum...

 

[gnochi]

Umm...he's trying to use AR mags, right? Not sure bending feed lips will work too well...

If he’s using polymer magazines, no dice, but I’ve had good luck adjusting metal feed lips to point the bullet tips into the chamber. That let me get proper ammo feeding for my 6.5 Creedmoor AR.

 

[MarinePMI]

If he’s using polymer magazines, no dice, but I’ve had good luck adjusting metal feed lips to point the bullet tips into the chamber. That let me get proper ammo feeding for my 6.5 Creedmoor AR.

For .223 AR mags, which are mostly aluminum? Uhh...okay...

 

[gnochi]

For .223 AR mags, which are mostly aluminum? Uhh...okay...

These guys, which have steel feed lips conveniently enough, and I’m running for my AR-15 and my AR-10: https://lancer-systems.com/awc/advanced-warfighter-magazines/

I didn’t know that most AR mags are aluminum; bending those is def less than optimal.

 

[Sniperstud]

How about trying HK steel AR mags.

 

[MarinePMI]

AR mags in a .223 bolt action rifle. Uhhh...why?

smdh....

 

[Memberberries]

How about trying HK steel AR mags.

Haven't tried the HK mags, mostly been sticking to 20rd because the length is too much on a 30rd for shooting prone.

 

[Memberberries]

AR mags in a .223 bolt action rifle. Uhhh...why?

smdh....

Why not? If it's just a slow twist barrel it won't stabilize heavies anyway. 55gr fit just fine.

 

[Friday]

Had a Mossberg 5.56 bolt gun for years took AR15 mags it was awesome for shooting coyotes and what not

 

[Memberberries]

Thought I'd post a follow up to this, I tried all the different magazines that I could get my hands on and determined that the feed ramp is wrong on a Remington for a double stack. The feed lips on the ar15 mags are pretty short and the round is completely free for a period between the back of the chamber and the front of the feed lip which leads to consistent feeding when the rifle is on bag/bipod but when running it on a barricade or any more dynamic environment it has problems.

Instead of putting a tapered extension on the back of the barrel or anything crazy like that I just dropped an aics dbm in it and have been shooting the gun all the time without issue. To my knowledge nobody has successfully managed to install the ar dbm on a 700 and get it to feed as well as an aics magazine.

 

[vh20]

Sounds like the old saying, "Discretion is the better part of valor," is proven correct again. Good decision for the solution, and glad you got it sorted. Thanks for posting your project.

 

[krw]

I bought a Rem Mod 7 in 223AI off here several yrs back w bottom metal that takes AR mags. If a Bear is charging, give me something else!! It runs pretty good with 223 ammo, but with 223AI rds it is finicky. I would Happily trade stk and bottom metal for another Rem Mod 7 stock with some good metal BDL style bottom metal

 

[PinkMistResearch]

Thought I'd post a follow up to this, I tried all the different magazines that I could get my hands on and determined that the feed ramp is wrong on a Remington for a double stack. The feed lips on the ar15 mags are pretty short and the round is completely free for a period between the back of the chamber and the front of the feed lip which leads to consistent feeding when the rifle is on bag/bipod but when running it on a barricade or any more dynamic environment it has problems.

Instead of putting a tapered extension on the back of the barrel or anything crazy like that I just dropped an aics dbm in it and have been shooting the gun all the time without issue. To my knowledge nobody has successfully managed to install the ar dbm on a 700 and get it to feed as well as an aics magazine.

Hi, I just searched this topic to see others experience with the PTG AR mag DBM. I machined the inside of the reciever to the specs provided online, bolted it together, messed with it for 5 mins and it works like a dream. Standard GI mags, the only thing (that I decided makes sense) you need to cycle the bolt quickly. Otherwise it is fidly to chamber the rounds. I like it.

For people asking "why" a Rem 700 with an AR mag. New Zealand has had a full communist take over, all "scary" looking rifles banned.

 

[Memberberries]

Hi, I just searched this topic to see others experience with the PTG AR mag DBM. I machined the inside of the reciever to the specs provided online, bolted it together, messed with it for 5 mins and it works like a dream. Standard GI mags, the only thing (that I decided makes sense) you need to cycle the bolt quickly. Otherwise it is fidly to chamber the rounds. I like it.

For people asking "why" a Rem 700 with an AR mag. New Zealand has had a full communist take over, all "scary" looking rifles banned.

That's better luck than I had. Mine kept running the nose of the bullet into the back of the barrel. I got it to where I could run it with 99% success but every time I let someone else shoot it they had would jam it. I think I could've worked over the feed ramps a bit and made it more cooperative but the finniky nature of running the bolt really got annoying as this is my "buddy rifle" at the range. Now with AICS mags I get zero complaints.

I wanted doublestack because of shorter mag lengths.

 

[PinkMistResearch]

That's better luck than I had. Mine kept running the nose of the bullet into the back of the barrel. I got it to where I could run it with 99% success but every time I let someone else shoot it they had would jam it. I think I could've worked over the feed ramps a bit and made it more cooperative but the finniky nature of running the bolt really got annoying as this is my "buddy rifle" at the range. Now with AICS mags I get zero complaints.

I wanted doublestack because of shorter mag lengths.

AICS is so much easier and you don't have to machine the reciever.

 

[x462290]

I tried the PTG route over 6 years ago to no avail. It is some of Dave Kiff's rainbow stew and snake oil to slip$$$$ out of our hands. This follows along the line of his other products and marketing techniques. Save your money and time for better products.