Browning A Bolt Re-Barrel

[TTipsword]

Hello all,

I am looking for guidance on re-barreling a browning a bolt 7mag. I was leaning towards 6.5 prc as this will be primarily an antelope, deer gun. I have never had a rifle re-barreled before and am unsure what else I will need to do. Will I need a new bolt face as well? Hoping someone with more experience can get me lined out. Thanks!

 

[Bret GRAVELINE Graveline]

The only thing you need to do is decided what barrel maker you would like, do you want the barrel maker to fit the barrel or maybe a local gun smith, bolt face is the same, however the PRC is a shorter cartridge so feeding may be a issue, i have never have worked with a shorter cartridge in a magazine but I'm sure it shouldn't be a real problem to trouble shoot a fix should feeding be a issue.

 

[TTipsword]

The only thing you need to do is decided what barrel maker you would like, do you want the barrel maker to fit the barrel or maybe a local gun smith, bolt face is the same, however the PRC is a shorter cartridge so feeding may be a issue, i have never have worked with a shorter cartridge in a magazine but I'm sure it shouldn't be a real problem to trouble shoot a fix should feeding be a issue.

I will order a barrel and have a local gunsmith do the work if they are willing to. From some reading on this site I understand a lot of smiths don't want to touch an old browning a bolt.

 

[Dmagna]

McGowan makes abolt prefits, I have one on my xbolt shoots great.

 

[Bret GRAVELINE Graveline]

Shouldn't be a problem, I retired over a decade ago, so any A-Bolt I rebarreled was a older model, when it comes to fitting a barrel to a action its less complicated than say a Rem 700 or a Win controlled round fed Mod 70 or a handful of military bolt actions, in my opinion if a smith shys away from this job, find another smith, both Pacnor and McGowan as well as some others, will copy the factory contour and fit the barrel

 

[sable tireur]

The best advice is to find and select a gunsmith. The work you're requesting is standard gunsmith work nothing out of the ordinary. If they make excuses, move on. Not everything consists of just screwing parts together.

You will need someone who understands feeding because the rails will need adjusting and you might consider a spacer at the rear of the magazine.

You'll get opinions on how it will feed just fine without adjustments but it will need adjusting. Real gunsmiths, not amateurs, are who know what to do.

Here are the dimension drawings for both cartridges for comparison.

Enjoy the process!



6.5 PRC

7mm Remington Magnum

 

[TTipsword]

The only thing you need to do is decided what barrel maker you would like, do you want the barrel maker to fit the barrel or maybe a local gun smith, bolt face is the same, however the PRC is a shorter cartridge so feeding may be a issue, i have never have worked with a shorter cartridge in a magazine but I'm sure it shouldn't be a real problem to trouble shoot a fix should feeding be a issue.

I will order a barrel and have a local gunsmith do the work if they are willing to. From some reading on this site I understand a lot of smiths don't want to touch an old browning a bolt

The best advice is to find and select a gunsmith. The work you're requesting is standard gunsmith work nothing out of the ordinary. If they make excuses, move on. Not everything consists of just screwing parts together.

You will need someone who understands feeding because the rails will need adjusting and you might consider a spacer at the rear of the magazine.

You'll get opinions on how it will feed just fine without adjustments but it will need adjusting. Real gunsmiths, not amateurs, are who know what to do.

Here are the dimension drawings for both cartridges for comparison.

Enjoy the process!



6.5 PRC
View attachment 506604

7mm Remington Magnum
View attachment 506610

thanks for the feedback!

 

[Petersen]

I had an older abolt 2 rebarrelled many years ago.

If I remember correctly, some gunsmiths did not like messing with them because of how difficult the factory barrels were to remove. Some actions would get damaged or ruined in the process of removing the factory barrel.

For cartridge, if you are using a long action, I'd go with 7 prc over 6.5 prc. My abolt did not have feed rails as part of action. These have a clip that snaps in to the bottom metal, so the feeding is dependent on the clip and how you may need to tune it to work. I went to a 25-06 ackley so needed to remove some material in mine because of how much further out the shoulder went.

Lastly, if you want a Picatinny rail for the setup, shoot me a PM. If abolt 2. I had a custom one made from seekins many many years ago. I think I can find it. Lol. I just never used it. The straight 10x scope on it didn't need a 20 moa base.