7mm Ackley Magnum Questions

[Corrections Cop]

I have a 7mm Ackley Magnum built off a FN Mauser action, guessing from the 50's or 60's from the proof marks. I have two questions. The first is, is thier any value in this gun? It was made back in the 50's or 60's by my great grandfather, he was a gun smith and it is a nice looking rifle. The second question is, that I am also looking into putting a .308 barrell on this gun, would this be worth doing? I am new to this forum, but not new to firearms, I would be having a gun smith do the rebarreling. I took this rifle down to my local gun shope and showed they guy, and he siad I could mabe find reloading dies for this, or re barrel it. I think it would be cheaper to rebarrel it. I was just what you guys on TFL have to say with all the vast firearms information there is on this site. I would even maybe be willing to trade or even sell for the right price.

Thanks

[Mobuck]

RCBS probably has or can make dies for reloading this round.According to "Handloaders Manual of Cartridge Conversions", the cases are easily formed from standard 7MM Rem Mag brass.
"Putting a 308 barrel on" would most likely require a new bolt as well as magazine adjustments which don't usually go well when going from a longer,bigger based ,straighter walled case to a smaller, shorter case.
Value depends on your sentimental attachement to this particular rifle and since you seem to be OK with butchering it into a .308 like you can buy most any day of the week, the value may just be in component parts.

[old roper]

If Ackley build the rifle used his barrel their may be some value if any.

I have couple concerned as to headspacing and what year was rifle actual build. If it was build in the 50's maybe very early 60's good chance parent case was the 300 H&H so it could be his 270 Ackley mag neck up to 7mm.

If the 7mag case was used was it headspaced on the shoulders which I would of done so few unknowns.

With those barrels form the 50/60's accuracy wouldn't be on par with the custom barrels made today so any future buyer or trader would factor that in on a price/trade.

[4V50 Gary]

I'd send images to the gunsmithing program at Trinidad State College. The instructors there may be able to tell if the gun was made by Ackley or one of his students.

I learned that Ackley held classes at his gunshop, which wasn't on campus. The building burnt down years ago and a metal building stands in its place today.

[Corrections Cop]

Thanks for the info guys. The rifle was built by my great grandfather, not Ackley. I did not know I would have to do all that extra stuff just to fit a barrel on (I'm mostly a noob when it comes to smithing) but i'm trying to learn all I can. I was told by the guy at the local GS that I could fire form the brass, but would have to get reloading dies. My problem is, would be be cheaper to get the dies and the reloading equipment, or to get it rebarreled to .308. I hate having this very nice rifle and not be able to take it to the range and shoot it!

[taylorce1]

You have a few options that you could do, but first thing I'd do is take the rifle to a gunsmith and have a chamber cast done. This way you'll know exactly what you have, and what is safe to shoot. My guess is you'll be able to shoot regular 7mm Remington Magnum ammunition out of it. Who knows you might get enough accuracy out of it to be happy with it as is.

1st option is get into reloading, my guess is it will cost you around $300 to get started if you have to buy all new equipment with custom dies. However, if your GGF built it your family may have the dies and other equipment already. I'd ask around with the other relatives who may of received some of his equipment and rifles.

2nd option while at the gunsmith ask about setting the barrel back and rechambering to 7mm Rem Mag. If he is able to do it it will cost around $350 on average. Not too terribly expensive and you can run factory ammunition and never have to worry about reloading if you don't want to.

3rd option is to rebarrel and the most expensive around $700 ballpark. You'll have to stick with a magnum cartridge and the 7mm Rem Mag or .300 Win Mag would be the most practical. It would require so much money to convert back to a .308 that you could probably buy at least two brand new rifles or one with a high end scope for what it would cost.

[Corrections Cop]

Sent an email to RCBS and Lee, now i'll wait and see what happens.

[Corrections Cop]

Thanks for the info Taylorce1

[old roper]

Corrections Cop, I understand your grandfather build the rifle but was trying to point out value.


I just did little more research page 403 vol I Ackley handbook the 7mm Ackley mag was necked up 270 Ackley mag case from the 300 H&H. The case is shorter than the 7 mag and you might be able to set the barrel back as was mentioned to a 7mag.

If you could find dies the article mentioned you could use 7x61 Sharpe & Hart reloading data and the barrel twist should be 1/10 and I should mention shoulder angle is 28 degree vs 40 for the AI.

I think there few gunsmith that post here and I'd ask them about which is best way to handle that rifle.

[Corrections Cop]

Thanks for the info Old Roper. I sent emails to RCBS and Lee last night about reloading dies, just waiting on some replies.

[Corrections Cop]

I have a 7mm Ackley Mag rifle and I was wondering which case I need to use to reload it. Also does anyone know where I can get a set of dies for this caliber? I know I posted some questions about this rifle in the rifle section, but here I am looking for more info on the cartidge. I have some reloading data I got from my local GS.

Thanks

[Unclenick]

I'll move this to the handloading forum for you.

AFAIK, all Ackley Improved cartridges allow you to fire the parent cartridge in them. The pressure then forms that case to fit it. That's one of the features of the conversions.

I didn't know there was an AI version of 7 mm Mag (presumably Remington Magnum). There is a 7 mm-08 AI, though. Double-check the barrel stamping.

Check CH4D for dies. Check the RCBS Custom list.


Edit: Ok. Now see you have a second thread already covering the topic. I'll merge these posts into it. Please don't double post topics. This is partly because you get a lot of duplicate answers, which wastes board bandwidth. It's also partly because folks who are interested may see one thread but not the other and miss out on some information. It's best to keep it all under one roof.

[Corrections Cop]

Thanks Unclenick,

The barrel is stamped "7mm Ackley Magnum" From my understanding I can fire form a 7mm rem mag cartridge, and just get some reloading dies for it.

[Unclenick]

OK. CH has a die set number DS7AckMag ($83.01) which is for 7 mm Ackley Magnum. It's on this page. You'd have to call them and verify what the parent cartridge is, since Remington doesn't appear in the name. I'm not familiar with the cartridge, obviously, or I'd have recognized it earlier.

[William T. Watts]

Contact Keith Gipson at Trinidad State Jr. College, he is a (Gunsmith) instructor there, he may be able to provide more info. P.O. Ackley was the fellow that started their Gunsmith program. You can fire standard 7mm Rem mag ammo and form cases for the rifle providing the chamber was properly cut.. William

Ph#1-800-621-8752 will get their Switchboard or write..

Trinidad State Jr. College
600 Prospect St.
Trinidad, Co. 81082

Attention Keith Gipson

Forget the 308 conversion, if you don't like the thought of a Ackley improved there are a plenty of standard belted calibers to choose from!

[William T. Watts]

One other thought, if your father's rifle is a commercial mauser action in it's present form the rifle would be highly desirable providing the camber is properly cut, if it is a converted military "98" or early 1900's not so desirable. Good luck.. William

[old roper]

Corrections Cop

The 270 Ackley mag/7Ackley mag case is 2.450" long ( 7mag case length 2.500") and rim to start of shoulders is 1.9075" vs 7mag @ 2.040" and they formed those cases from the 300 H&H since it was before the 7mag case out 1962.

You have to set the shoulders back .1325" using 7mag case. One reason they used the 300H&H case is you could cut case at the start of the neck and length be 2.479" and the body dia was smaller so you didn't have to form shoulder. All you had to do is form a neck and could do that pretty easy so IMHO pretty easy wildcat.

One problem using the 7mag case you can buckle the shoulders setting back that much using 7Ackley Mag die vs using some type of form die.

If it was me and someone had dies I'd have GS make chamber cast and send that along make sure reamer used for those dies was the same.

[Unclenick]

Thanks for that information. It's what I was missing. I have no drawing of that round. The chamber cast is a good idea, too. I've seen a couple of older wildcats over the years that had incompatible chambers, even though the labeling was the same.

[Scorch]

The 7mm Ackley Magnum is based on the 7mm Mashburn, the precursor to the 7mm Rem Mag. You should be able to use 7mm Rem Mag cases for forming.

One difficulty in rebarreling a 7mm Mag to 308 on an FN 98, it would require a new bolt.

[William T. Watts]

Don't forget feeding, you may feed by hand each round, no way will it feed from the magazine without welding and recutting the side rails. William

[old roper]

Here some 270 Ackley mag brass

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/284...gnum-box-of-20

[Corrections Cop]

Thank you guys so much for all of this great information. I got a email back from Lee. This it what it said.

Unfortunately we do not have dies for the 7mm Rem Mag AI, however you should be able to use the standard Collet die for the parent cartridge should work, provided that the base to neck/shoulder intersection dimension has not changed. Most Ackley Improved cartridges have less body taper, and a steeper shoulder angle, but the distance from the base of the case to the neck/shoulder intersection is not changed. There is enough clearance in the collet to accommodate the improved cartridge.

I'm also going to try and post of pic of this rifle. I'm going to keep it the way it is, and not do the .308 barrel.

The sheet I got from my local GS had dimensions of the round on it.

Trevor

[Corrections Cop]

This is my 7mm Ackley Mag FN Mauser. Sorry the pic is so big. Also can I use those ackley dies on any press or are they brand specific?

[Corrections Cop]

According to the data I got from the gun shop you make the case from a 7mm rem mag,

Case Prep
Anneal neck and shoulder area. F/L size in Ackley die with expander removed. Trim and Chamfer. I.D. may need neck reaming. F/L size and fireform in chamber

Physical Data (Inches)
Case Type Belted B/N
Case Length 2.47
Head Diameter .513
Rim Diameter .532
Neck Diameter .315
Neck Length (H) .375
Shoulder Length .135
Body Angle (DEG'S/Side) .374
Case Capacity (CC'S) 5.20
Load Length 3.22
Belt Diameter .532
Rim Thickness .05
Shoulder Diameter .490
Length to Shoulder 1.96
Shoulder Angle (DEG'S/Side) 32.95
Primer L/R mag
Case Capacity (GR'S Water) 80.32
Bullet WT 174
Powder WT 60.0 Type 4350
Velocity ('/SEC) 2950

[taylorce1]

Beautiful rifle your GGF built!

Any dies you buy new will work in all the common presses.