The barrel wall thickness on a .30 caliber M1icon is only slightly more than adequate towards the muzzle, and I have seen many, many M1 barrels bulged from the vicinity of the gas port forward. As a matter of fact, a customer sent me a CMPicon rifle a couple of weeks ago that the spline cuts had been filed deeper to eliminate external bulging in that area so that the gas cylinder could be installed and removed without undue difficulty. That is a very mickey mouse way of dealing with a barrel that should have been scrapped.

I know that some have had M1 barrels rebored up to .35 Whelen, and perhaps new barrels have been made in calibers above .30; but I caution against it and personally would not expose myself to various risks involved.

By the way,the larger bullets of the .35 Whelen bulk up in the clip so that it will only accept 7 rounds. I haven't run that test with .338 bullets, but expect that the same situation would exist. Not necessarily a problem, but something to be aware of.

Roland
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