The Remington Model 30S of the 1930's

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Fast996

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I bought a Remington 30S Express that somebody has converted to a .375 H&H. It looks well done as a conversion the seller say's it's a painted wood stock. It looks like a custom stock though as none of the Model 30 I have seen looks like this. I noticed it has sharp cut lines and is sleeker. Could be a synthetic?

The rifle has a 26" barrel and the magazine holds 5 down. Love the look of these belly dump rifles. The rifle action was made in 1936 and is an Enfield type.Considering pre 64 375 Winchesters are $2500+ now I thought it would be a good buy at under a $1000.

I'll have it in 3 weeks and report back. I've seen some of these Remington's converted to .505 Gibbs so it must be a stout action.

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.30-06 peak pressures are about 50,000 cup.

.505 Gibbs peak pressures are about 39,000 cup. That's the same as most early 1900's dangerous game double and magazine rifles in 45 through 60 caliber.

Remington modified their tooling used to make M1917 Enfield 30-06 service rifles to make that Model 30 and 30 Express versions. Lots of similarities between them. The original Model 30 was made in 1921 using left over M1917 parts. The Express one started in 1926 to have a rifle to compete against Winchester's Model 54.
 
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Thanks Bart. To my knowledge there aren't many actions you can chamber the 505 Gibbs in.The M98 large ring Mauser and the Weatherby action and this one.The Model 70 I don't believe is large enough.The 30S according to Wiki has been tested to 71,000 cup.
 
71,000 cup is a proof load pressure for normal loads at about 52,000 cup. It's not a normal load's maximum average peak pressure. That's in the range of modern actions' pressure limits.
 
Your model 30 has a lot of Model of 1917 parts to it.

The bolt release and the bolt itself (though probably not cock on close)

It looks like a 1917 bolt would work if you want to go to cock on close! (not nearly as slick as the SMLE sadly)

Safety is the same.

the belly line is the profile for the 6 cartridges it was intended to hold.

I hadn't seen one before so thank you,
 
Remington modified their Model 30 into the 720. Then that to their 721, 722, 700 and 40X rifles. All to keep expenses as low as possible with their version of quality.
 
You've seen a lot more of these than I have, Bart, but I can't find any connection between the 1917-30S-720 family and the 721, 722, 725, and 700 series other than the basic turnbolt concept.

The older guns have flat bottomed receivers sort of like you prefer in the Winchester M70, a one-piece forged bolt with Mauser type non rotating extractor and a receiver mounted ejector.

The later crop,1950 to date, have cylindrical receivers, fabricated bolts, with spring clip extractors and spring plunger ejectors.
I always thought they were a clean sheet post WWII design.

Consider that while the 505 Gibbs has a lower chamber pressure than .30-06 etc., it has a larger case head area to exert that pressure on.
But then A Square put all manner of monster magnum rounds in 1917 and 30S actions.
 
Remington kept the thumb safety at the same place throughout. The cylindrical receiver 7XX models cost half as much to make as the earlier ones. Weighed less, too, which made them popular. Didn't matter that they weren't as stiff.
 
Same place but not the same action, except in the 725. I wonder if they found some 720 safeties and decided to use them up, so they introduced a new model for a while.

Of course a cylindrical receiver, brazed bolt, and stamped bottom metal were economy measures. They were selling against the established Winchesters and literal boatloads of surplus Mausers.
 
Remington modified their Model 30 into the 720. Then that to their 721, 722, 700 and 40X rifles.
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One would have to strech the word "modified" quite a bit to jump the gap between the Model 30 and the 720. They are both bolt action rifles, but that's about as far as the similarity goes. There is a lot more similarity between the 720 and the rest listed.
 
Rear sight base is on backwards. Those screws are the windage adjustment for the turretless scopes of the time. That base makes it a 30SR too. Redfield bases came on the SR. Same bases as the '03A4.
 
One more notch, natman. The 720 is mechanically a 1917 with the same claw extractor etc. The 721 was the first of the Mike Walker economy models.
 
One more notch, natman. The 720 is mechanically a 1917 with the same claw extractor etc. The 721 was the first of the Mike Walker economy models.
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Good catch. The rare Model 720 was the last of the Enfield based Remingtons. Despite the misleading numbering scheme, there is little in common between the 30 / 30S / 720 and the 721-700 family.
 
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