Oddball Caliber.. Useful? Ideas? Suggestions?

[Steveoknievo]

Howdy guys. I am relatively new to the forum. Have been mainly reading older posts instead of asking questions you have already answered in the past. I am fairly new to the world of shooting and am very intrigued by so much information available out there. I have stumbled upon what seems to be an area not discussed much though..

I have come into a Winchester Model 70 chambered in .243 Winchester Super Short Magnum. It's got a chrome lined barrel and it hasn't had more than 20 rounds sent through it. I got it on the cheap from a buddy of mine who needed the dough. I was just wondering what I might be able to do with this action? I'd like to re-chamber it to something that isn't as oddball as the WSSM series, I know that fad died pretty quickly. As far as I can tell, the "Super Short" receiver is shorter than a standard short action, and it's a magnum bolt face which further limits my options. Does anybody have any ideas? Can I buy a standard bolt face and re-chamber this thing into 6.5 x 47 Lapua? I'm just not able to find any information other than the obvious from looking at it!

Thanks for not flaming the new guy, and God Bless. <3

 

[9H_Cracka]

Re: Oddball Caliber.. Useful? Ideas? Suggestions?

Not much - the WSSM action is an oddball action. Good luck finding another stock for it. Not sure anyone is inletting for the WSSM action.

Start with asking Manners and McMIllan if they are inletting for the WSSM win action before moving forward.

Already seen one of these in the local shop that was an orphaned project cuz the stock was not inletted correctly for the action.

 

[Steveoknievo]

Re: Oddball Caliber.. Useful? Ideas? Suggestions?

Very true. If it becomes an issue though, I can always inlet a stock myself, or I can bed the stock it's got. It's pretty comfortable, just needs some bedding and I think that portion would be good to go. (Unless of course I re-barreled it, then I would open up the barrel channel so it free floats.)

As far as getting it to chamber a different, more common round.. It's beginning to look like an impossible task. I was thinking maybe it would be possible to make it part of the 6.5mm family but that is looking pretty bleak at the moment. LOL.

 

[turbo54]

Re: Oddball Caliber.. Useful? Ideas? Suggestions?

FN/Winchester will NOT sell you a bolt. So you're stuck with what you've got.

What's the twist? If you got it cheap, just have fun with it, shoot the barrel out, and sell locally for cheap - to someone who thinks 3" groups at 100 yards is good.

 

[Steveoknievo]

Re: Oddball Caliber.. Useful? Ideas? Suggestions?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: turbo54</div><div class="ubbcode-body">FN/Winchester will NOT sell you a bolt. So you're stuck with what you've got.

What's the twist? If you got it cheap, just have fun with it, shoot the barrel out, and sell locally for cheap - to someone who thinks 3" groups at 100 yards is good. </div></div>

haha sounds like a plan

 

[turbo54]

Re: Oddball Caliber.. Useful? Ideas? Suggestions?

In all seriousness, there are plenty of folks that find 3" groups at 100 entirely adequate, and will kill a lot of deer with a rifle like that. There are many guys that would jump all over a Winchester for $200 or something.

I'm not real familiar with this cartridge, but I believe it outperforms 243Win, though it probably is only twisted enough for ~100gr bullets. Still, you could have a lot of fun with it, and probably do very well out to 700-800 yards.

Or, you could sell it as-is and buy something different that is more suitable for your application.

Bottom line: enjoy it as is, or sell it.