I spoke with a local Smith on the phone today inquiring about having a new barrel put on my Tikka.
He said for removing the factory barrel, chambering, threading the tenon, turning the shank to fit the receiver bevel, and putting the new barrel on will cost $600 not including the barrel price. Bead blasting would be an extra $100.
He also said he would have to make a relief cut in the factory barrel to get it off, and also wasn't sure that a 284 case would feed from a Tikka magazine properly, even though he has worked on tikkas.
He seemed very nice and honest. He said it costs so much because the threads on the Tikka barrels are metric and it takes him about 4 times longer to thread them than other barrels.
But should I pay that much just to have a new barrel fitted to my rifle? I would think if he's charging that much he'd get my factory barrel off without ruining it.
I thought a barrel chambering and fitting wouldn't be more than $400ish.
He said for removing the factory barrel, chambering, threading the tenon, turning the shank to fit the receiver bevel, and putting the new barrel on will cost $600 not including the barrel price. Bead blasting would be an extra $100.
He also said he would have to make a relief cut in the factory barrel to get it off, and also wasn't sure that a 284 case would feed from a Tikka magazine properly, even though he has worked on tikkas.
He seemed very nice and honest. He said it costs so much because the threads on the Tikka barrels are metric and it takes him about 4 times longer to thread them than other barrels.
But should I pay that much just to have a new barrel fitted to my rifle? I would think if he's charging that much he'd get my factory barrel off without ruining it.
I thought a barrel chambering and fitting wouldn't be more than $400ish.