[loader]

I have a Savage Scout in 7-08 with 20 inch bbl and noticed that Midway has Adams & Bennett barrels in 358 Win for the Savage 110. With the Savage lock ring technology for the 110 action, my guess is that I can safely headspace this bbl simply by screwing it down on a good fired .358 case and tightening the lock ring. This would give me an inexpensive "switch bbl" compact rifle.

Will this approach work? I don't want to go to a gunsmith every time I change bbls, so if it is problematic, I don't want to buy the bbl.

 

[RugerNo3]

Your thoughts are correct, but the sights may not work out properly.
Sharpshooter's Supply is a Savage Haven , IIRC. Run a Google search to be sure and they have the barrel wrench, etc.

 

[IDShooter]

loader,
From a safety standpoint this should work fine as long as you are careful in headspacing. But as RugerNo3 said, it is quite unlikely that your point of impact will remain the same between barrel switches. If you don't mind rezeroing (and truthfully I think that's a pretty small price to pay for multi-caliber capability considering the cost of that A&B barrel ) I think it should work! IDShooter

 

[loader]

Ruger3 and IDShooter -

Thanks for the quick response. I almost forgot about the wrench!

The new 358 bbl is to be indexed and tapped for a front sight and used with the existing receiver peep sight. For the 708, the factory base mount will need to be modified to avoid the need to remove the base when changing bbls. It has 2 receiver and one bbl tap in the Scout tradition - the scope is mounted forward of the bridge.

 

[whitehunter35]

Gentlemen,

I think that it sounds great if feasible, and if the headspace is right, a fellow would have a dandy little rifle in 358, a cartridge that I have long standing respect.

What I would be cautious about, is the switching back and forth. Is the lock ring concept flexible enough to be rotated multiple times back and forth? Would this stress the workings and still give a solid locking arrangement, reciever wise? This is what i would be very curious about, and honestly, i have no clue.

Sig / Sauer has done some work with multi barrel rifles that has the bolt mate direct into the barrel, and thus eliminating the need for a reciever, as we understand it. The switching of barrels is incredibly easy, but, it does require the rifle be re-zeroed between barrel changes.

I had to do some serious thinking about the bolt, barrel, and reciever relationship, before i trusted the SIG arrangement, and this question is a whole new slant on that orginal thinking. I surely would be curious to hear how it worked out if you decided to pursue it. Just be careful.

Steve

 

[loader]

Whitehunter35 -

Yet another very good point. I may have to call Savage on this one. I do know several match shooters that use the Savage 110 action because it facilitates swapping bbls, and they might know something about the wear rate on both sets of threads over time. If there is sensitivity, I will keep it in the 358 configuration as the default condition and swap in the 708 only on rare occasions. I can duplicate the 708 with reduced loads in my 270 WSM, but have nothing like the 358 on hand.

I too have followed the SIG technology, and it seems sound. The new Remington series also locks into the bbl directly, but is not a swapping set up. The older Rem 7600 and 7400 series locks into the bbl as well. These change out with a drift punch.

 

[Garth Dial]

Why not buy a set of .308 headspace gauges and use them to set all those switch barrels? They will headspace any cartridge based on the .308 case unaltered below the neck.

 

[loader]

GARTH -

This is a grand idea. I will order them. I can add a 260 Rem and a 243 Win BBL later and use one guage. Actually, a 25-08 is a very, very good wildcat, and I would consider that as well.