Rem 700 new take off barrel swap

[wheelin454]

I am wondering what is required to change the barrel on a old 7mm with a new never fired take off barrel. I see these new take off barrels for sale for 50$ and wonder how close would the head spacing be? Are all Remington the same from the factory or would you have to have a lathe and a reamer? Any information would be appreciated.


Thanks, Chris

 

[J E Custom]

I am wondering what is required to change the barrel on a old 7mm with a new never fired take off barrel. I see these new take off barrels for sale for 50$ and wonder how close would the head spacing be? Are all Remington the same from the factory or would you have to have a lathe and a reamer? Any information would be appreciated.


Thanks, Chris

The problem with take off barrels is that they are a pig in a poke (You never know whether it will be a good one or a bad one)

But it still has to be head spaced and possibly reamed. All replacement barrels must be head spaced to make them safe.

I have only seen one barrel fit perfect without head spacing out of many.(that is the reason they are normally cheap).

I only keep the brand new take offs to because at least they have a chance of being OK.

After I take them off, I place them between centers to see if they are straight. If they are, I normally set them back one thread and re cut the chamber to head space and have fairly good luck getting them to shoot under 1 MOA. Some shoot a 1/2 MOA but that is rare.

If they are not straight, I make tools out of them. As one of our members says "it is hard to make a silk purse out of a sows ear"

J E CUSTOM

 

[crowsnest2002]

Chris,
All I can say is that I would not guess on headspace. You can thread these barrels to your action, but bolt head size is a requirement to know for what cartridge you are planning on using in your new/used barrel also with action length. I'd suggest you let a competent gunsmith put these take off barrels on your action and headspace to make sure.

 

[MudRunner2005]

If you have your barrel replaced with another new take-off barrel, you might as well get your action trued and they will have to adjust the chamber and fit it for proper headspacing. Should cost you about $125-200 (depending on your smith's prices) to have the action trued and barrel headspaced and installed, if you already have the action and the new barrel.

In my experiences, you can have good luck with a factory barrel if your smith does a good job on truing and fitting everything properly.

 

[wheelin454]

Thanks for all the information.

A couple things, I don't have a gun smith that I go to but have re-barreled savages in the past. If it is a matter of checking a go no-go I am more than capable of that but hand reaming the chamber is to much for me. First I don't think you can do it precisely by hand and I don't want the hassle.

I was looking at the barrels that people have pulled off factory 7mm rifles and thinking of putting one on a old 7mm rifle. These are presumably new remingtons and mine is a old remington "28 years". I would of course check head space with go and no-go.

It sounds like a lot of you have experience with these. If I buy one for 50$ and it doesn't work for head spacing does anyone know a good gun smith in Montana?

The big question is "is it worth the gamble?" you get a good one that needs a smith to fit it, then you still don't know if it will shoot worth a **** anyway. Would I be better of buying a quality barrel?


Thanks again, Chris

 

[AZShooter]

If you have the means to remove the old barrel you can certainly try the new one. I have a friend that swaps out rem barrels frequently. He has had a few that were perfectly headspaced.

As for using takeoffs, I have used many Remington takeoffs over the last 30 yrs. Sure they are rough compared to a custom and are harder to cleanup but the price difference makes the takeoff quite appealing. Dynatek bore coat can help.

As for accuracy I can't remember a takeoff that didn't shoot at least 1/2 MOA with most closer to 1/4 MOA. The reduced cost will allow you (or me) to try different chamberings. Once you find a chambering you really like you could spring for a custom barrel at a later date.

 

[MudRunner2005]

Thanks for all the information.

A couple things, I don't have a gun smith that I go to but have re-barreled savages in the past. If it is a matter of checking a go no-go I am more than capable of that but hand reaming the chamber is to much for me. First I don't think you can do it precisely by hand and I don't want the hassle.

I was looking at the barrels that people have pulled off factory 7mm rifles and thinking of putting one on a old 7mm rifle. These are presumably new remingtons and mine is a old remington "28 years". I would of course check head space with go and no-go.

It sounds like a lot of you have experience with these. If I buy one for 50$ and it doesn't work for head spacing does anyone know a good gun smith in Montana?

The big question is "is it worth the gamble?" you get a good one that needs a smith to fit it, then you still don't know if it will shoot worth a **** anyway. Would I be better of buying a quality barrel?


Thanks again, Chris

If you have a "go" and "no-go" gauge set then why is hand-reaming the chamber too much? All you will need is a Kleinendorst Rem 700 bolt disassembly tool and you can check headspacing with your gauges as you go along...

From what I've been told there's alot of gunsmiths in Montana.

$50 versus $350 just for a blank.....Yeah, I'd say it's worth the gamble. Espcially if you're on a budget like I am.