Thinking about a browning blr or Remington semi-auto for rebore to 35 whelen. What if any issues would I be looking at?
You aren’t gonna make many friends around here with talk like thatThere is no magic in any cartridge
Thinking about a browning blr or Remington semi-auto for rebore to 35 whelen. What if any issues would I be looking at?
I have a question. What is the difference in cost of reboring versus rebarreling a rifle?
After reading a thread where a shooter's barrel rebored barrel blew up on the first shot with factory ammunition, and it was a barrel that had been rebored from 30-06 to 35 Whelen, I became leery of reboring. I did weigh a F34 contour barrel in 30-06 and 35 Whelen, these were barrels from Midway, and the 35 Whelen was three ounces lighter than the 30-06. A barrel is the most important pressure vessel in the system, it carries almost all of the cartridge pressure, the locking lugs carry very little compared with the barrel. And barrel were not meant to be reused. No one makes the things under the assumption that once the original service life is over, that material can be removed, (weakening the thing) making the old barrel serviceable for another lifetime of shooting. (No one makes tires under the assumption they will be re treaded, and just look at all the tire debris on the road!) It is just safer to buy a new barrel. However, most hunting rifles have less than 100 rounds through them, so maybe reboring a like new barrel is not so risky. But, I don't know if the material and heat treat are any different between calibers, I doubt they are for small arms, but I don't know. I would not rebore a barrel with worn rifling.
I'd contact this guy:
http://www.35caliber.com/index.html
Never dealt with him, but I've read nothing but positive reviews. Seems to be quite a bit cheaper than rebarreling.
There are a lot of variable in this question. If you re-bore a barrel you will have to hire a gunsmith to remove the barrel and then reinstall it again, and the throat will need to be reamed for the new cartridge. Cost of the rebore and the gunsmith could be estimated as much as $300. A new barrel that is chambered and fit to your action by someone like Douglas will cost about $500 and you will have to have a gunsmith blue the barrel. If you buy a barrel that is chambered and fitted to your action from someone like Bartlein the cost could be as much as $750 and you will also have to hire someone to blue the barrel. Some barrel makers only work on bolt action rifles. You would have to pay shipping using either method.
I think the best way to get a low cost barrel is to find one on eBay that was made for your specific rifle and a gunsmith will usually charge less than $100 to change barrels and adjust the headspace. For example, there's a 338-06 Krieger barrel on eBay that fits a Savage rifle and the buy it now price is $350. If I had a Savage rifle I would be thinking about it.
A barrel is the most important pressure vessel in the system, it carries almost all of the cartridge pressure, the locking lugs carry very little compared with the barrel. And barrel were not meant to be reused. No one makes the things under the assumption that once the original service life is over, that material can be removed, (weakening the thing) making the old barrel serviceable for another lifetime of shooting. (No one makes tires under the assumption they will be re treaded, and just look at all the tire debris on the road!) It is just safer to buy a new barrel. However, most hunting rifles have less than 100 rounds through them, so maybe reboring a like new barrel is not so risky.