Will a 375 Ruger action feed 416 Ruger ammo without mods?

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vol423

Bearcat
Joined
Feb 18, 2009
Messages
57
Location
Greeneville, TN, USA
I want to swap barrels between a left hand .375 Alaskan and a right hand .416 Alaskan to get myself a left hand .416. I don't have .416 ammo, so I'm hoping that someone has both calibers and can tell me if the .375 action will feed .416s from the magazine.


Thanks
 

Silent Sam

Blackhawk
Joined
Feb 26, 2006
Messages
728
I bet it will feed from the mag, but if you plan on using that rifle on DG or in a DG area I recommend getting with a good smith. Assuming proper headspacing, it "should" be a very straightforward conversion but needs to be absolutely reliable in feeding from the mag, feeding a drop in cartridge and extracting/ejecting a loaded round at all bolt speeds. I agree any difference, if any, would be in the feed ramp. But you just never know until you do it, what you have. Much more difficult conversions have been done successfully, but the devil is in the details. If anything I would expect it would need to be opened up a bit, which is on the easy list of things to do.
 

Con

Bearcat
Joined
Jun 17, 2008
Messages
72
Well ... I reckon it'll work with no modifications. Mates and I have built x3 458AccRel's (shortened and improved 300RUM case opened to 45cal) and used donor 7mmRemMag, 300WinMag and 338WinMag. Not one required any rail or magazine work and we've run 500gr RN projectiles, 400gr spitzers and 405gr fat-nosed pills, as well as 350gr RN, 300gr FN and cast pills. The fatter case just lost us 1 round capacity ... but that's also a simple fix but requires 'smithing. 375Ruger to 416Ruger should happen with no hitch, and any hitches will be absolutely minor to fix.
Cheers...
Con
 

vol423

Bearcat
Joined
Feb 18, 2009
Messages
57
Location
Greeneville, TN, USA
I'm guessing that Con is an Aussie, where the use of the word "Mates" for "friends" is rather common. What I find interesting that he uses the word "reckon". That's very common here in Tennessee in the SE USA, but my Pennsylvania-born wife thinks its use is uncommon and archaic. She would use the word "guess" instead in Con's sentence. She doesn't realize that Aussies and Tennesseans share a common language root of about the same timeframe in the nineteenth century when our ancestors left mother England.

I have found a gunsmith that has done this barrel swap before and it is absolutely no problem.

I have noticed that a lot of Aussies go for the larger calibers. What are you guys shooting down under? In fact I just sold a left hand stainless .375 Ruger to an Aussie. He's working on the import approvals on his end before I have an exporter ship it to him.
 

vol423

Bearcat
Joined
Feb 18, 2009
Messages
57
Location
Greeneville, TN, USA
I just sold a lefty .375 and a right-hand .416, both stainless to a customer for a barrel swap. I've lined up a trusted gunsmith to do the work. He says that it will be cheaper than installing a new barrel and adding sights. I'll then sell the right-hand stainless .375 for the customer to reduce his overall costs for the conversion. One thing that surprised me was the cost of .416 components. Even at wholesale, $51 for dies, $50 for 50 bullets and $45 for 20 empty cases is a little bit of sticker shock! I didn't expect .223 pricing but you don't shoot these just for fun! One benefit for me is that with the buyer's permission I should be able to fire the .416 before I ship it off. After all, I do need to test the ammo to see if it feeds properly, don't I? And I can't ship loaded ammo with the rifle. So I won't have a choice except to shoot a few.
 

vol423

Bearcat
Joined
Feb 18, 2009
Messages
57
Location
Greeneville, TN, USA
Actually, it would be more economical to buy Hornady loaded .416 ammo at $55 a box of 20 than handload at $45 for 20 empty cases. It's readily available from several of my distributors.
 
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