The .460 S&W Magnum Bolt Action Rifle Project: Part 9: New Magazine

Last time I left off with a magazine that didn’t feed quite like I wanted it. I said that I majorly suspected the length of the .308 magazine was the root of a couple of problems so I bought, and probably overpaid, for a .223 magazine. I reached out for suggestions and got a few.

I received the magazine and got to work on it in short order. At first I had to get the feed lips right where they needed to be. Make no mistake, this is a sturdy magazine as it broke one of the cheap pliers I was using to do the bending. I did get the feed lips where I wanted them fairly easily. The back of the lips was already bent outward from the factory, that helped a lot. I also made 2 other modifications:

1. You can see near the front of the magazine I cut down an indentation on both sides that would prevent the longer 460 case from going down into the magazine. For .223 that indent nestled the shoulder down so that the rounds fit snuggly in the magazine when loaded.
2. I made a relief cut on the indents near the rear and bent them out. That slight relief was needed to get them to bend. I don’t know if you got the hint yet, but this motherfucker is sturdy and I needed those cuts.

After all of the modifications the new magazine worked well. 460 fed great. So did 454. But, 45 Colt wasn’t 100% reliable. That’s when I took a hint from u/jestertoo; I recalled someone said to look at trying to keep the follower upright. That comment made me curious as I was troubleshooting this one, last thing…damn 45 colt. I looked at the .223 follower. And the .308. Both have 1 thing in common. A compound leaf spring with no support at the front. I snagged a spare AR15 Forward Assist Spring (yeah, the one thing I found the forward assist useful for!) and put that motherfucker between the follower’s nose and the middle level of the leaf. Wouldn’t you know it, that kept the follower from falling down and kept the 45 colt feeding perfectly. A little bit of epoxy putty between the spring and the follower holds that thing right where it needs to be! Perhaps if this were to go into production it would need a better spring system to make the feeding more reliable (you’re welcome Savage Engineers…don’t forget the epoxy putty, very critical…).

This damn thing works. I haven’t had a failure yet!

So now, 460, 454, and 45 colt all feed wonderfully. The downside? Well, the original .308 magazine with .308 rounds held 4+1. For 45 caliber pistol rounds they held 3+1. This 223 magazine? 2+1. Yikes!

“That’s awful close to a single shot rifle, isn’t it?” Yes it is…I’ve essentially halved the magazine capacity of this thing. Of course, given more time and enough sheet metal and springs I could probably find a way to make a nice, adaptable 4 round magazine. I’ve got kids, I ain’t got time for that!

“For what you're paying, you could have a real rifle, like the Big Horn Armory Model 90 and have a better magazine capacity.” Are you stupid or something? The cheapest Model 90 in .460 has a list price of $3049. If you count the $500 AR I traded I’m only $1382.71 into this thing, and I could be a lot less into it if I wasn’t a moron. I didn’t do this to make an existing rifle on my own, but cheaper. I did this to make a non-existent rifle, learn something, and cash in the story bit by bit for sweet, sweet fake internet points. So far, I’m accomplishing that.

Big Bore Savage Parts	Price Estimate	Real Cost
Savage Base Rifle	$500.00 new	Traded a Basic M4Forgery with TN Arms Lower ~$500 for a used 10P
Bolt Face	$150.00	$78.25
Slotted Barrel Nut	$15.00	$-
Bolt Body and Screw Fuck Up	$-	$40.40
Whole new Bolt because I'm a complete fuckup	$-	$104.98
Sharp Shooter Supply Extractor Kit	$-	$24
.223 Remington magazine and follower	$-	$39.95
460 S&W McGowen Barrel	$450.00	$511.81
GO/NoGO Gauges	$95.00	$83.32
Barrel Wrench, Rosin, Misc	$75.00
Total	$ 1285	$882.71 and an AR15 I had built from leftover parts.

I’m happy with everything so far just the way it is. Now I have to wait for the barrel….probably buy that Rosin and the barrel nut wrench soon…

Part 1: The Beginning

Part 2: Proving the concept and making the parts list

Part 3: Rifle Acquisition

Part 4: Modify Magazine for rimmed cartridges

Part 5: Ordering the custom 460 S&W Chambered barrel

Part 6: New Bolt Face

Part 7: More Fuckups and a Completed Bolt

Part 8: Fine tuning

Part 9: New Magazine

Part 10: Barrel Installation

Part 11: Test Fire

Part 12: Iron Sight selection and installation

Part 13: Optics or not?