i was told i could i could convert my 338 mag up to a .50bmg with a barrell change bolt change, can this be done? i want to convert it to something large for extreme long range shooting, it was made by howa, i all ready have a savage 300 win mag.
I think you got some bad information. Have you ever seen a .50 BMG cartridge? A .338 size receiver is way too small to accomodate such a beast.
Conversion ammo guide interactive, rechambering guide said it was possable,i dont know. they would know better than me.
If it's been done, I'd like to see it, but I sure wouldn't trust it. Even if it was possible, nobody would want to shoot it because the recoil would be brutal on such a lightweight. The .50 BMG is a HUGE cartridge, even the cheapest single-shot bolt action rifle made for it has a massive receiver. I just don't see how you can modify a .338 to fit the .50 BMG, all the dimensions of a typical long action such as width, height and bolt travel length are just too small for this monster round. Please post the link for this "ammo guide interactive rechambering guide", I'd like to see it.
I just checked this out and I don't think you entered the parameters correctly. If I check off the last choice for each question, it'll give me a "Yes" answer for this conversion, but in reality, the action length won't support this conversion. I wouldn't trust this as a guide because it dosen't ask any specific questions as to exactly what rifle action you are starting with. If you don't believe me, take the rifle to a gunsmith and ask him if it can be converted to .50 BMG, and don't be surprised if he laughs at you..... ====== >What type of conversion do you wish to investigate? ReChamber (reboring optional) - Your chamber must have enough metal to form new round ReChamber (no reboring) - Same as above but bullet diameter must stay the same ReBarrel - Existing chamber dimensions are ignored Will your gun's boltface/extractor be modified? No - Same bolt/extractor will be used Yes - Bolt/extractor will be modified (Lists rounds with wider/different type rims) Can your action/magazine support a longer cartridge? No - Keep same max case length (or shorter) as original round Yes - Increase case length by inches (Example: .25) Disregard - Show all candidates, regardless of length
Absolutely, inarguably, positively, no. Not to sound like a *****, but it cannot physically be done. .50 BMG receivers are designed around the... here goes... .50 BMG round. Chamber pressure for both rounds is +/- 54,000 cup roughly, so don't yell at me if I am not spot on, but the physical dimensions of the round will simply not allow it. If you had a McBros action then sure, but in that case the design was intended for a .50 BMG round. Same thing with the Robar, etc. See where I am going with this? (see sentence #3). Good luck.
