Need Barrel for Rem 722 in 257 Roberts

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101guns

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I recently convinced myself to buy a beautiful 722 chambered in 257 Roberts. The wood and finish were beautiful. Found it in a pawn shop. Borelight showed good barrel, bolt opened, closed, locked tight, fired, etc. Took it home and cleaned metal and wood. Bought and mounted a Leupold on it and headed off to the barn to sight it in....or so I thought. Bolt would not close on a chambered round. Took it to smith who kept it for couple months. He tried everything or so he said. Even rented a reamer in 257 Roberts. About $150 dollars later, he concluded that someone had removed the barrel, cut off some threads, and set it back too far. Says it is no good without a new barrel. Soooo, I guess I am looking for a barrel. Love the Bob and would like to keep it in that caliber. I have a couple 6 mm's and plenty .243's. I am currently trying to locate a take off from 722 or a 700 barrel in 257. Any help finding one would be appreciated. OR, if you have any other suggestions, I am all ears. Thanks in advance for your time.
Jon
318-381-7935
P.S. Pawn shop would take it back but the wood and receiver are just to pretty to let go....says my heart...not my head.
 
What should I do with the gun? Do know that bolt will not close on cartridge. What do you suggest as options?
 
101guns said:
Took it to smith who kept it for couple months. He tried everything or so he said. Even rented a reamer in 257 Roberts. About $150 dollars later, he concluded that someone had removed the barrel, cut off some threads, and set it back too far. Says it is no good without a new barrel.
Click to expand...

What Troy Fairweather said. Way to much fail going on here.
 
First, I am not a gunsmith...so everything following is open for corrections. I believe what Troy was indicating...typically, when a barrel has been set back, a new chamber is reamed (like what they do to convert a Roberts to AI). If your gunsmith was unable to ream a new chamber - why? I am guessing inexperience, though there may be something with the barrel to prevent reaming (set way too far back so the walls are too thin?). As all above said, try a different smith. Assuming the barrel is OK, a new chamber should ream just fine. Otherwise, I have always dreamed of a Shilen barrel. Krieger would be cool, too....

http://www.shilen.com/
https://kriegerbarrels.com/
 
Do a chamber cast first, measure the results, different gunsmith if competent can do it at a reasonable price. Best to know what you're dealing with.
 
Probably not much chance of finding a 722/700 Roberts takeoff, so you are probably stuck with the other 2 options. 1. Find a smith who can cast/ream the setback barrel or explain why it can't be reamed. 2. replace the barrel with an aftermarket. - many levels of quality are available and most will probably shoot better than the factory barrel if installed by a quality smith.
 
I'll add a couple of thoughts. I built a Roberts for my boy on a Savage action. The first centerfire he shot was an old 722 Roberts that I eventually traded off, so he was partial to the caliber when he took up deer hunting at 30. I bought a used Savage .243 and had a Shaw barrel in Roberts screwed on. It was finish reamed and blued from Shaw. It has decent hunting accuracy.
But, he is not good about saving brass and I got tired of trying to find replacement brass, So, I bought him a 6.5 Creedmoor. It kills deer just as dead and brass is available everywhere.
So, point being, if you have to rebarrel, you have a lot of options with the short action and standard bolt face.
The other thought is - if you find a Remington barrel, it might need more than screwing on anyway. It might headspace correctly, but if not, you are looking at about the same labor as a custom barrel labor rate.
 
Last edited:
257 Roberts is a great cartridge. Send your gun to Douglas or Shilen or a good gunsmith for a rebarrel. Cost will be comparable among these three options. Good luck!

Bill Jacobs
 
No idea why the "gunsmith" rented a reamer. Something sounds fishy. Maybe HE wanted the rifle... I would get a second opinion and not mention anything about the first guy. You did use factory ammunition correct?

Or buy yourself a set of headspace gages, (go, no-go, and field) then learn the proper way to use them and check the headspace yourself. It is not rocket science. If the gages have a clearance cut for the ejector that is good. Worst case scenario is you have to remove the ejector from the bolt if it does not have the clearance cut.

If rifle checks out or not a chamber cast might give you a good idea of what is actually going on.
Good luck and let us know how this plays out.
 
If the bolt closes on an empty chamber but not with a cartridge in the chamber the chamber is not in spec or it is not the right chamber.

Improper setback would be a problem but may not necessarily cause this problem.

May not need a new barrel but will definitely need to figure out the chamber situation AND measure the bore.
 
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