If you’ve never installed a barrel yourself, then I can appreciate that it’s easy to misunderstand what that Brownells product LOOKS like.
That barrel isn’t a drop in part... it’s short chambered, so you still have to finish chamber.
$320 for the short chambered barrel. At least $100 for a smith to install and finish chamber (I’ll assume any Smith will have a .30-06 reamer and won’t charge to buy one), $175-200 if you want it muzzle threaded...
The $700 I referenced was based on buying contoured blanks at $350-385 (check bartlein’s site today yourself for pricing if you like), plus $350 to the smith to thread, chamber, and muzzle thread. Take off $75-100 if you aren’t threading the muzzle. Another $100 off if starting with a short chambered, threaded blank.
That Shilen short chamber LOOKS less expensive than a smith installed blank... until you actually buy the tools do the job yourself... been there, done that, and I’m sure I will again, knowing full well what it takes to install it properly. So you buy that Shilen barrel for $320, then $140 for you to buy the reamer, plus at LEAST a reamer handle for $35-50, and of course, that doesn’t give you anything for action bushings, another $50 for go-no go set, $80-100 for an action wrench, $80-100 for a barrel vise, $10 for cutting oil...
And of course, if you mess up and cut too deep, you’re on the hook to either buy a new $320 barrel, or spend $100 having a smith set back the barrel, plus might as well just pay their fee for doing the install and headspace at that point.
Personally, I prefer the piloted handle and reamer depth micrometer set up from PT&G better than the free hand reaming set up spelled out above, but there’s something like $450 or $500 into that reamer guide kit alone.
If you’d insist on the install yourself, instead of buying the short chambered Shilen blank and taking the risk yourself, you’d be FAR better off to buy a McGowen or PacNor Remage conversion for around $400-450, rent a set of go/no-go gauges for $25, then only be stuck buying a $50 barrel nut wrench, $80 action wrench, and using a pipe wrench to take off the old barrel.
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