Ideal Barrel for the .308..?

[kc]

I have a .308 that was in a house fire, I got this rifle back in July and my brother wonts to build a Tactical/Target/Bean Field Rifle. I am ordering the Barrel for him, some say get the 1:10 1:10.5? (it will be a heavy standerd for a Remington).
if he shoots a 168gr Bullet out to 400 regularly/ what would you recomend?

He has bought the HS Precision Varment/tactical Stock.
a Burris scope will be bought this week, I dont know what power yet.
the bolt handle is being changed, thats been droped off at the Gun Smith's.
I lowed the weight and creap of the trigger to 2lbs. just about no creap.
I had him get a Picatinny rail.
I am thinking of having the Bolts for the rail changed.

Any advise you can give, I will copy on friday and give to him.
Thank You..

 

[shortgrass]

Firearms that have been in a fire are a NO-NO. Safety issues concerning the integrity of the steel. I just can not see putting a 50,000psi 'bomb' that close to my face, and setting it off. All one needs to do is look at the history of the Springfield 1903. Poor heat treatment in early production, some worked fine for quit awhile but then had problems and were with drawn from service as 'un-safe'. A house fire is uncontroled 'heat treatment'.

 

[Trickymissfit]

Firearms that have been in a fire are a NO-NO. Safety issues concerning the integrity of the steel. I just can not see putting a 50,000psi 'bomb' that close to my face, and setting it off. All one needs to do is look at the history of the Springfield 1903. Poor heat treatment in early production, some worked fine for quit awhile but then had problems and were with drawn from service as 'un-safe'. A house fire is uncontroled 'heat treatment'.

amen in spades! If the fire was very hot you probably drew back the heat treat to under 20 points on the C scale. Just as importantly the bolt is probably even worse yet; let alone the hardened seating surface. I'd send the gun back to the factory, and have them examine it to see if it's safe. Add to this the fact that the stock may have been destroyed in the fire meaning that the action had nothing to keep it from warping as it cooled down. probably a paper weight right now
gary

 

[kc]

Right on guys! The stock was burned on the end and it was in a case the burn melted the rubber butt plate the stock got a touch of melt actualy the rest of the rifle was and is! in real good condition, it just needs a new stock.
Even the guys we shoot with just laughed at the good fortune.

 

[Derek M.]

Right on guys! The stock was burned on the end and it was in a case the burn melted the rubber butt plate the stock got a touch of melt actualy the rest of the rifle was and is! in real good condition, it just needs a new stock.
Even the guys we shoot with just laughed at the good fortune.

Well, it is your decision and it sounds like you will be moving forward with a build. I hope you are correct that no metallurgic changes occurred.

I recommend an 11 twist or 11.25 twist barrel. This is the #1 choice twist in 30 caliber competition. My next 30 cal barrel will be 11 twist. I have an Obermeyer D-3 contour on my 308 and love it.

There are multiple repeated rumors on many forums that Rock barrels are among the very best ever in 30 caliber. I read and see it time and time again. So, that is where I'll be getting my next 2 30 cals in 11 twist (if offered), in 5R rifling.

We'll see what happens.

 

[Oliveralan]

Why are you choosing to ignore the advice of numerous very knowledgable people? While it is probably ok, you may be risking disfiguring someone down the line if the steel gives. Even if it's a 1% chance, that isn't smart in the slightest. Send it to the manufactured and get their ok. No build is that important

 

[kc]

It was in a hard plastic case and it was lined with foam rubber along with paper targets and it never melted and the targets never got as much as a print of soot.
Evey one said it should be OK, even my older brother..there was no sign of any heat on the action, or burn marks. It was just the end rubber was burned about 20o/o and the stock was melted to a dent the size of a quarter. it lookes like you pushed your thumb down hard on the stock and it stayed it sank in about 3/8ths.
as I said the Honey comb foam rubber never melted in the case. or showed any signes of heat damage.

 

[J E Custom]

It was in a hard plastic case and it was lined with foam rubber along with paper targets and it never melted and the targets never got as much as a print of soot.
Evey one said it should be OK, even my older brother..there was no sign of any heat on the action, or burn marks. It was just the end rubber was burned about 20o/o and the stock was melted to a dent the size of a quarter. it lookes like you pushed your thumb down hard on the stock and it stayed it sank in about 3/8ths.
as I said the Honey comb foam rubber never melted in the case. or showed any signes of heat damage.

Under these conditions the action should be fine because the foam will melt below 300o
and that is not enough to change the metallurgy.

As far as twist rate I would chose a 1 in 10 twist so any 30 cal bullet could be used.

I have a 1 in 12 match rifle that shoots great but doesn't like 180 + grain bullets and
will not shoot the 200 or 220 grain at all. (It likes the 168 SMK).

Just my opinion.

J E CUSTOM

 

[kc]

I promis to let my gunsmith know.
Williams will to the work you can call.

 

[Trickymissfit]

It was in a hard plastic case and it was lined with foam rubber along with paper targets and it never melted and the targets never got as much as a print of soot.
Evey one said it should be OK, even my older brother..there was no sign of any heat on the action, or burn marks. It was just the end rubber was burned about 20o/o and the stock was melted to a dent the size of a quarter. it lookes like you pushed your thumb down hard on the stock and it stayed it sank in about 3/8ths.
as I said the Honey comb foam rubber never melted in the case. or showed any signes of heat damage.

That being said, the action is probably OK, but as I said it would still go back to Savage for a better look see. The barrel will be junk from the centeralized heat in the middle of the barrel. (real bad if it's stainless steel). Also it only takes about 700 degrees to start the long term draw back of the heat treat quality (long term). Then if the rifle was hit with anykind of a hard quench (water?) you could well have created cracks in the sharp corners on the action. I just would not chance it, and the look see will be cheap insurance. 4350 Steel is not like hot rolled steel

Think about this; I used to work for a man that had a house fire. In the fire was a Browning Superposed shotgun that came out of Belgum and was one of their hand built guns. He asked me to look at it, and I told Tony it looked to me like the onlything it need was a refinish on the barrels and some new wood. I had him take over to guy that works on nothing but double rifles and shotguns, and is regarded as one of the very best smiths in North America. Eric looked it over, and then said right up front the barrels were junk. The reciever block looked fine to me, but he felt that there was something not right with the way it felt. Turned out that it had warped about .02" (he caught it in the pin holes being missaligned). They packed it up and sent it back to Browning for their opinions (as the insurance company was footing the bill). A year later Tony got a new Superposed identical to otherone (I maybe wrong, but think it has the same S/N). Erick said that if he'd shot that gun, it would have had a massive barrel failure. I never saw the letter Browning sent Tony explaining what they found, but I know they felt it had an unsafe reciever block.
gary

 

[specweldtom]

KC, sounds to me like you dodged a bullet. As JE said, if the foam never got hot enough to melt, no metallurgical change occurred to the receiver or bolt, As Gary said though, the barrel could have warped, even without any metallurgical damage, but you're going to change it anyway.

A suggestion: While you're waiting for a barrel, contact (Remington, or Savage?) and see if they will inspect/test it for you. No harm trying. If they won't do anything, you can do a dye penetrant test on the stripped receiver and bolt to look for cracks. Unless you are experienced with dye penetrant testing, you will need a technician who is, because of all the crevices, corners, pockets, holes, threads, etc. It will be hard to get the dye out of them without overwashing and maybe missing a real crack with the developer.

As far as softening or hardening the receiver or bolt, neither would occur at temperatures below the melting point of the foam.

On barrel twist, I would go with a 1 in 10.

Good luck, Tom