30/284 M-88 conversion.

[longshotz]

Good Day

Looking for a little bit more HP than the .308 has out of my (pre-64 if that is relevant here) M-88. The choices were to rebarrel to .338 Federal or .284 Win. or perhaps rechamber to 30/284. Leaning toward the rechambering.

The question, as if you didn't already know, is have any of you lever-gunners done this on an M-88? If so I'd like to know some details,please and thanks, of the job such as feeding issues, if any and how they were resolved, alterations to the action or receiver that may (or not) be needed, loading data or any other relevant criteria that you think might be useful to me.

In closing I might respectfully request it is not my intention here to start a discussion of what caliber might/is a better choice. For the moment and purposes of this thread the 30/284 is the focus.

Thanks All

[BigSky56]

This gives you a idea of what you can do with the 284 but with only approaching a 06 is it worth the $ spent over what a 308 can do. danny
http://www.rifleshootermag.com/2010/09/ ... dcat_0612/

[Canuck Bob]

I'm not usually caught up in the collector craze but that rifle may be valuable because it is a 284 in a pre-64 88 if it is stock. They weren't common.

[tman]

Federal and Hornady load factory .308 WCF that almost duplicate the 30-06. cheaper to pay for the ammo that to convert and custom load.

[44shooter]

Consider the old 7.5x55 Swiss military round. Case dimensions will be very similiar to 30-284. You might be able to just open the bolt face and run it out of 284 magazines. The advantages over the wildcat would be much cheaper dies and the ability to shoot factory ammo. All 7.5 surplus ammo is the same and is noncorrosive and reputed to be very high quality. Uses standard .308" bullets fine.

That said, I do not think you are going to get much of a power boost either way. At least not within the constraints of the M88 action and magazine. Like tman said, you can do the same in your 308 using Hornady's loading voodoo.

I had a short unsatisfactory fling with a Ruger M77 that someone rechambered in 284. I found out the barrel was bulged after shooting musket patterns. Called Ruger and sent it in. The rifle was originally a 7mm-08. PR lady gave me a quote on rebarreling with choice of 7-08 or 308. She didn't offer 22-250, 243, 250-3000, 284, or 358 so the stock on those barrels must have been depleted. I quickly choose 308. She called back and said it would be no charge despite the fact the rifle both rechambered and damaged through no fault of Ruger. The rifle came back with the metal refinished and shot very well with factory ammo.

After studying the ballistics and ammo options, I concluded I can probably hit just as far with the 308 as with my 25-06, 270, 284, or 30-06. The 308 is now my go to big game rifle.

I would leave your rifle as is and get something else if you really want more power.