Rebarreling Rifle Help/Question

[ECVMatt]

Hello to all,

My son is eight and getting ready to start shooting center-fire rifles on a more regular basis. Up to know, we have been shooting .22's, 17 Hornet, and the AR. I would like to start taking him hunting and want to get him a bolt action hunting rifle. I have a neat old Remington 700 in 6mm that was my ranch rifle while I lived in TX. I reload, have tons of brass and loaded ammo as well. The only problem is that I shot the heck out of that rifle in TX and the barrel is worn out.

So...I thought about getting it rebarreled. The only problem is the cost. By the time you get the barrel, have it cut, threaded, and fit to the rifle, the cost seems to be around $500 dollars. Now the broke teacher in me starts to chime in at this point and think about just getting him a new Ruger American, Howa 1500, or somthing along those lines, spend less money, and just call it good.

I guess I am having trouble figuring out why you can buy a whole new rifle for the cost of buying and fitting a barrel.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me. I would like to stick with the 6mm if I do decide to rebarrel. I have looked at ER Shaw, McGowen, PacNor, and some others.

Thanks for any help,

Matt

 

[Curator]

Check out E.R. Shaw. They rebarrel rifles for very reasonable prices.

Are you sure the barrel is shot out? I have seen many 6mm and .243 rifles that were suspected of being shot out completely revived after a thorough copper-cleaning. Since you have somewhat given up on this barrel, try this:

Use a good fouling solvent like acetone or auto brake cleaner to clean and degrease the bore. Plug or cap the muzzle with something that won't leak. Remove the bolt and with a "turkey baster" fill the bore right up into the chamber with "janitorial-strength" ammonia cleaner (10%) Stand the gun on its muzzle over night. The next day pull the plug from the muzzle and see how much blue liquid comes out. Re-plug and do it again for another 12 hours. If the solution comes out clear, dry the bore and take it to the range.

Provided you did a good job of getting ironed on powder fouling and grease out of the barrel beforehand, this method will completely remove ALL traces of copper fouling. Yeah, yeah, the nay-sayers will claim it may hurt the bore, but many gunsmiths swear by the results. Personally I have revived several 220 Swift, .22 hornets, .243, and 7mm Magnum barrels as well as countless neglected military surplus rifles using this method. Bore-scopes revealed absolutely no etching of the metal but no copper either. Accuracy returned immediately!

 

[Corn-Picker]

I would guess that the price of re-barreling is so high because a) it's custom work and b) they use higher quality materials/processing.


Are you opposed to ugly plastic rifles?

The TC Dimension has an adjustable LOP (good for a youth or short guy like myself), and you can change calibers very easily. You could start him off with a 243, and switch to a 308 for only $150. No gunsmith required, the necessary tools are included and it takes five minutes. If you go across caliber groups (e.g. 223 to 243), then you would need a new bolt ($125) in addition to the barrel. They are MOA guaranteed, they have a nice trigger, and TC isn't too bad to deal with if you need customer service.

They aren't pretty, buy my TC dimension in 223 is the most accurate rifle I own, and the capability to change calibers and LOP is a nice bonus. I think I paid l about $570 or so for mine a little over a year ago, looks like they cost $580-$600 now.

http://www.tcarms.com/firearms/bolt-action-rifles/dimension/complete-rifles

 

[rcmodel]

Look for a good take-off barrel.
Lots of people take off a perfectly good factory barrel and replace it with something they think is better.
ER Shaw probably has a dumpster full of them!

There must be thousands of them out there waiting to be used.
6mm may be a little hard to find, but .243, .308, etc shouldn't be.
Just be patent and keep looking.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Factory-NEW-Remington-Model-700-243-Winchester-Barrel-/181339956176

http://www.gunauction.com/buy/2290653/remington-mod.-700-take-off-barrel-in-6mm.-rem

rc

 

[hentown]

.243 is almost identical to 6mm. I'd suggest a Remmy ADL Youth model from Wal-Mart. Should be a little over $300.

 

[1948CJ2A]

If it were me I'd rebarrel in 6mm Rem. Sounds like you've already got the reloading components.

+ 1 on ER Shaw. They've done 3 custom jobs for me and I've been pleased with the results.

 

[Sav .250]

Gun shows...........if you have any.

 

[ECVMatt]

Well I did a modified version of Curator's suggest, 5%, and a ton of crud did come out. I will repeat until clean and then shoot her again. If that doesn't work, I guess it is off the ER Shaw. I love this rifle and would hate to retire it for good without some effort.

Thanks guys.

 

[bullzeye8]

How much does er shaw charge to rebarrel?

 

[ECVMatt]

I haven't figured that one out yet. I hope the aggressive cleaning will help. I hope to get out to the range in the next few weeks to give her another go..

 

[witchhunter]

If you rebarrel it with a quality barrel, it should shoot lights out better than a factory barrel. But, for your son, he might not be able to realize the potential. Therefore, a "take-off" makes sense too. I've seen em for 25-50 bucks.

 

[rcmodel]

It's pretty easy to figure out.

http://www.ershawbarrels.com/scb-price-list.php

rc

 

[StrawHat]

WHy not contact one of the rebore guys and get it rebored to 260 or 308?

 

[WVRJ]

You can buy a whole rifle for less than you can buy a barrel,but it won't likely shoot like one with a good barrel.Look at a lot of guns that are for sale,and you'll probably see a pile of Remington 770's,Savage Edge and Axis,and so on.I would rather put 5 bills in a good rebarrel on a 700 action,and be almost sure it'll be a good shooter.I still think back to this past deer season when a friend of mine tried to sight in a bargain 30-06.It was shooting 1.5 MOP.(minute of paper,as in all it could do to stay on a 11X8 inch target at 100 yards)

 

[hartcreek]

I am a firm believer of kids starting with a single shot. You know your area would a 20 gage shotgun not work for deer plus he can also bird hunt? Twenty some years ago I would suggest finding him a single shot rolling block but A much less expensive way is a Handi Rifle. Put on the 20 gage barrel for bird hunting and a .243 or 7.72X 39 or what ever he or you want for deer hunting.

 

[spitballer]

I finally had to get a new barrel for my Rem 700 this year and I was hoping to do it as cheaply as possible and maybe learn something at the same time. I understood the principles involved with fitting and finish chambering, but in the end I decided not to tackle it myself because by the time I bought all the tools and gauges it would cost the same as having it done professionally. Nevertheless it might be an interesting father/son project. Good luck to you.

 

[ECVMatt]

You can buy a whole rifle for less than you can buy a barrel,but it won't likely shoot like one with a good barrel.Look at a lot of guns that are for sale,and you'll probably see a pile of Remington 770's,Savage Edge and Axis,and so on.I would rather put 5 bills in a good rebarrel on a 700 action,and be almost sure it'll be a good shooter.I still think back to this past deer season when a friend of mine tried to sight in a bargain 30-06.It was shooting 1.5 MOP.(minute of paper,as in all it could do to stay on a 11X8 inch target at 100 yards)

I am with you on this one. I would rather have him start on a Rem 700 that should last him a good while, than a budget rifle. There is nothing wrong with those and I have a couple of friends that swear by the Ruger American, but this rifle carries a lot of family history. I will have some time off soon and shoot it with the scrubbed/super cleaned barrel. If it is still not up to par, then it will go off to ER Shaw for a new tube.

 

[LAGS]

Re-barreling a rifle can be as expensive as buying a new rifle.
But don't throw the old gal under the buss just yet.
Hang on to her and rebarrel it when the time is right.
That will give you time to decide what caliber you want to rebarrel the rifle to, and if it will be passed down.
For now, buying another rifle to fit your needs is a better option with limited funds.
But look at the use you got out of the old rifle, and it has paid for itself many times over.
So , consider giving back to it, and stay with something you have a history with also.
I hate it that we live in a disposable, throw away world.
The mighty dollar seems to guide us at every step of out life.
So , look at a rebarreling as an investment in the future.

 

[firstshot425]

EVCMatt.... You can never replace "family history". I have a Rem 700 Mtn LSS that I've had for a lot of years and a lot of memories. I just did a custom rebuild on it with a Bartlein barrel. I probably spent a lot more than I should have, but now I have a new rifle with a lot of history and memories.

I think you are on the right track. If you are patient and persistent, you can find an like new take-off barrel in your caliber choice for less than $100 and getting a gunsmith to swap out the barrel shouldn't cost more than $100. (I had one done for $85 once) In my book, this definitely beats the heck out of flipping the coin on a new cheep rifle and your son gets a great rifle with some family history tied to it.

 

[GLShooter]

You could find a good Savage and screw on a Black Hole barrel with little effort and be ahead ofv the money curve. You can't argue with sub-half MOA performance for under $300.00

Greg

 

[osprey176]

If you do decide to rebarrel,make sure you have a stock that fits your son. Usually this means a shorter stock,a good father/son project. I cut off an inch at a time and save the sections,so with a saw blade width thick spacer,I can add them back on the rifle as they grow.You just fit a new pad each time you lengthen the stock.If your old stock is too pretty to cut,you can find plenty of 700 stocks on E-Bay. Might even find a youth sized one and save some work.You can handload to his level of comfort,as a 6mm might seem intimidating to an eight year old.A low power scope,mounted a little further back in the rings should help him shoot better too.I started my oldest son hunting at eight with a shortened 20 gauge.He is hooked for life.

 

[JerryMander]

ITD Custom just rebarreled a rifle for me. Cost around $450, took about a month, beautiful rebluing.

From what I hear, ER Shaw takes upwards of a year, costs around the same price, and ITD uses nice Douglas XX barrels.

http://www.itdcustomgun.com/