Remington 700 Rebarrel questions

[Bigeclipse]

Hey all,
I am thinking about having my remington 700 3006 Mountain SS rebarreled but I dont have a gunsmith around my neck of the woods. I would like to keep it in it's current stock. The stock comes from factory remington but I believe it is a Bell and Carlson CLASSIC medalist. Anyways here are my questions:

1) Does anyone know of a gunsmith I can ship my rifle to have it rebarreled?
2) I would like to keep the rifle in its current lighter form BUT I think I do want a thicker barrel...if you were to go to Pac Nors website, the current barrel is similar to their #1 contour barrel...I am thinking of going to a #3 contour type barrel to help with the barrel whip effect which means the stock would have to be inletted a bit. What do you think? Also, the current barrel is 22inches im thinking of going 24inches but since this is not a super long range rifle (400-500 yard max) I dont think I need longer for more speed. thoughts?
3) I am thinking of changing caliber. 3006 would be fine for my needs but wondering what your thoughts are. It is primarily a deer rifle. It is a long action so I think that means id have to stick with long action calibers.
4) I am also thinking if this is going to a gunsmith, they might as well bed the rifle after installing the barrel. What do you think costs would be like, I am not rich so I am trying to keep expenses down if i can.

From what I have seen, decent barrels from criterion, shilen, pac nor...etc are about 400 dollars. Bedding a rifle looks to cost about 150 or so dollars, and I am not sure how much the gunsmith would charge for inletting a thicker barrel. Shipping/FFL transfer would probably cost me 50 bucks. so I was thinking anywhere from 600-800$ all said and done. Is this a waste of money? For that, I could buy a used savage 10/110 action and build another savage myself, which recently worked out well for me. It bugs me that the best load I have established for my remington 700 is just under an inch at 100yards. I have tested 3 different bullets and 3 different powder combos. Do I need a better load to get me to 500...probably not, but again...it bugs me haha.

 

[MudRunner2005]

I'd go with a 26" #3 barrel with a 1:9 twist, chambered in .280 Ackley Improved (Nosler/SAAMI chamber), that way you can buy Nosler pre-formed .280 AI brass and ammo for it, and shoot them with no problems.

The .280 AI can shoot about 100-150 fps slower than a 7mm RemMag, but still uses the standard .30-06 bolt face. It's a hell of a caliber. It'll launch the 168 Bergers pretty good.

I hear PacNor does a great job on their barrels. I have also been told they will do your smith work for you, and can true your action, and install your new barrel for you. They should also be able to bed your action, and float the barrel at the same time, for a little bit more money. I hear their prices are pretty reasonable, although I can't give any personal experiences with them. I've just heard a lot about them on here, and never heard a bad review.

Hart Rifle Barrels is the same way. They make barrels, but can do your smith work in-house for you, as well.

http://www.hartbarrels.com/barrels/caliber-and-twist/

 

[clemens]

I was going to have McGowen Barrels in Kallispell montana redo my win mod 70 it was around $560. Look on there web site, they have been good on email returns. Since you already own the rifle and you are sending it to gunsmith I don't think you need to worry about ffl transfer fees, you send it to them and they send it back. Don't quote me in that hopefully someone will chime in on this. Good luck.

 

[Shortmagman]

I just got back from my yearly deer hunt in Neb.. I shot two deer with my Remington Model 7 in 260 Rem. that carries a Hart barrel. A few years ago I sent my gun along with a new stock to Hart in N.Y. and they put a new barrel on my action and bedded the stock. You do not have a FFL to sent the gun to a barrel maker and get the gun back, after the new barrel is installed.

I also sent my Model 70 Winchester to Bartlein and had a new brrel installed.

The cost for the Hart a few years ago was $600+ and the cost of the Bartlein that was done this year was $700+. Was it worth it? It depends on what you expect. I love the 260 Rem and it shoots much better than the factory gun. I am still working on loads for my Winchester and the jury is out on that barrel.

 

[dragman]

index

There you go he is the man I trust all my work too.

 

[Garycrow]

You don't need to go through a FFL to have your rifle worked on, you can ship straight to a gunsmith.

There are hundreds of gunsmiths that can true up and rebarrel a remington M700, it's the most common rifle to rebarrel that there is and most any gunsmith can do it. I'm sure there are several in your area that could do a good job, and folks will be along shortly offering the name of their favored smith. For a long action you've basically got the 30-06, 280, 270, 25-06 and their ackley variations to choose from. You could also do a 6mm-06 or 6.5-06 as wildcats or 6.5x284. I'd go to Southern Precision Rifles or butches reloading and pick one of their in stock barrels once you've decided on a chambering. They stock a lot of barrels and it's much preferable to waiting 6 months to order one. My current favorite barrel is Bartlein, I've used 3 of them lately and all three have been fantastic. A #3 contour is a medium-slightly heavy contour and a good choice for a hunting rifle. Be aware that Bartlein uses a different contour system than anyone else, what everyone else calls a #3 Bartlein calls a #2b. A #3 Bartlein is pretty heavy, the same as everyone else's #4. I personally wouldn't go longer than 24" on anything I planned to hunt with, the very slight amount of velocity you give up is more than worth it for avoiding the headaches that a 26" or longer barrel will give you in the woods.

 

[alcesgigas]

SHORTMAGMAN: Same experience here with Hart, but mine was an Edge. I'd like to add that they're great people to deal with.

 

[Bigeclipse]

You don't need to go through a FFL to have your rifle worked on, you can ship straight to a gunsmith.

There are hundreds of gunsmiths that can true up and rebarrel a remington M700, it's the most common rifle to rebarrel that there is and most any gunsmith can do it. I'm sure there are several in your area that could do a good job, and folks will be along shortly offering the name of their favored smith. For a long action you've basically got the 30-06, 280, 270, 25-06 and their ackley variations to choose from. You could also do a 6mm-06 or 6.5-06 as wildcats or 6.5x284. I'd go to Southern Precision Rifles or butches reloading and pick one of their in stock barrels once you've decided on a chambering. They stock a lot of barrels and it's much preferable to waiting 6 months to order one. My current favorite barrel is Bartlein, I've used 3 of them lately and all three have been fantastic. A #3 contour is a medium-slightly heavy contour and a good choice for a hunting rifle. Be aware that Bartlein uses a different contour system than anyone else, what everyone else calls a #3 Bartlein calls a #2b. A #3 Bartlein is pretty heavy, the same as everyone else's #4. I personally wouldn't go longer than 24" on anything I planned to hunt with, the very slight amount of velocity you give up is more than worth it for avoiding the headaches that a 26" or longer barrel will give you in the woods.

that is surprising you do not need an FFL if going to a gunsmith. How exactly do I ship it then? Box it up and FEDEX? Do I need to claim it is a firearm or something? thanks.

 

[Shortmagman]

I put mine in a plastic gun case and shipped it UPS. The gunsmith will ship it back to you in the same case. Yes, tell them that you are shipping a gun.

 

[MudRunner2005]

Not sure if FedEx will do it....The local UPS store won't even let me ship empty rifle brass or a rifle barrel. Pretty pathetic, I know. It sucks because they're about 2 mins from my house, whereas the nearest USPS branch is about 10 mins. But my local USPS lady is really cool. I just walk in, hand her the package, she weighs it, asks if it's hazardous or fragile, and I say, "No", then I pay for it, and she ships it off. Easy as can be. Whereas the UPS store will freak out if you bring a bag of empty rifle brass in there to ship to someone, they act as if you're a criminal. It's pretty disgusting how pussified the world has become and how stupid regular people are that they don't even know a box of empty rifle brass can only hurt you, if it falls off the shelf and hits you in the head.

 

[roninflag]

I put mine in a plastic gun case and shipped it UPS. The gunsmith will ship it back to you in the same case. Yes, tell them that you are shipping a gun.

i have always used UPS because they are right next to my work. i have one hart barrel and 6 krieger on rem 700. All have been worth what i paid to have installed.

 

[roninflag]

caliber-not sure what deer you are talking about . our whitetail here are about 75 pounds. for mule deer i would get a 30-06 or a .280 or .284.

 

[Garycrow]

The UPS store is separate from UPS and has a company policy that says they won't ship anything to do with firearms. If you want to ship UPS you have to go to one of their service counters, they'll ship it. It's perfectly legal to ship a gun to a gunsmith for repair and for him to ship it straight back to you, Fedex, UPS, and the post office will all do it. Occasionally you'll run into an anti-gun employee working the counter that will try and refuse to take it, some people just get hysterical when you mention "gun". It helps to have a printout of the section of the company's manual detailing their policy to keep them honest, that usually takes care of it. I once had a UPS counter employee refuse to ship one in Meridian MS, getting the manager involved didn't help until I called the gunsmith and had him talk to the manager. He quoted the exact reference in their shipping manual and had the UPS guys look it up, they finally admitted they had to take it. This happened in Mississippi so you can imagine it could be a problem in more left leaning areas of the country. That's the only time I've had a problem out of many that I've shipped. I don't make a habit of telling them it's a firearm, you're not required to and it's really none of their business. If they ask I tell them I'm shipping it to a gunsmith for repair. If they know their rules they'll realize it's OK.

 

[reeldawg]

I don't use UPS. Their store is antigun. I use fed Ex and take it to the store. If you generate the label on th internet on you account it is much cheaper. No FFL required as long as the smith can send it back to your address. I used PacNor to build my 6.5 Sherman. It was back as promised. It shoots amazing. It was my first build and didn't know any smiths in my area. Most of the barrel maker will rebarrel you rifle. I have a friend that's had Douglas do several guns and they shoot amazing.

Jay