Rebrreling. Is is worth the money?

[LeddSlinger]

Dont fix what ain't broke jack!

I have a lot of custom barreled rifles and a couple original factory barreled rifles. Guess what is one of my most accurate rifles? A fully original 6mm Remington Ruger M77 tang with an original factory bull barrel...all built in 1968. That rifle will put up oblong 6mm hole groups at 100 yards quite regularly. Its one of those rare rifles that if you miss with it, you KNOW you have nothing to blame but yourself. Paid $450 for that rifle in mint condition about 4 years ago and I would never dream of rebarreling it until that 48 year old barrel just won't shoot anymore. No sense in it when it shoots as good or better than most of my customs.

 

[Beelzebub]

So I guess I'll keep both rifles as they are and maybe change out the barrel on the Model 7 as initially discussed in the OP. Or perhaps buy a couple of after market thumbhole stocks for them.

My optics aren't the expensive Night Force stuff but are good $500-600 stuff bought on sale for those prices. Bases and rings are quality as well. All steel and no aluminum. Rings squared in by gun smiths. Rarely if ever shot more than 20 times a day and always cleaned thoroughly after being fired.

So I see your points about that's about as good as I can expect even with the new barrel(s). I wasn't about to re-barrel the 700 or MK II. I was talking about the diminutive model 7. It is a great shooter with 100's and below. Especially 85's. I guess if I need to shoot something bigger I will use my Model 700 in 270 WSM or Browning 308 or my old, old, old H&R with 243, 30-30, 308 and 25-06 bbls with it. Thanks for talking me out of spending the money. Now I definitely do have money for the Gold Nugget!

Thanks guys.

Lee

 

[KillerBee]

+1, what more do you expect to accomplish? Especially for an old shaky blind guy with a bunch of peaches up his *****!

No offence to the OP but I gotta say, Bravo that is funny! lmao.

If the rifle I bought myself for Christmas shoots like the one you are discussing, it will be one of my favorite go to choices and I would not change a single thing, why fiddle with perfection? )

 

[Beelzebub]

No offence to the OP but I gotta say, Bravo that is funny! lmao.

If the rifle I bought myself for Christmas shoots like the one you are discussing, it will be one of my favorite go to choices and I would not change a single thing, why fiddle with perfection? )

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No offense taken. I thought it was pretty funny myself.

Lee

 

[KillerBee]

With that said in my above comment, If my new rifle does not shoot minimum 1 MOA, I will get it re-barrelled at the speed of light!

 

[Beelzebub]

With that said in my above comment, If my new rifle does not shoot minimum 1 MOA, I will get it re-barrelled at the speed of light!

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If it is a rem 700 or 7 or good Savage I'd send it back to the custom shop and make them straighten out the problem(s). Two years go I bought 2 cheap 700's from Wal-Mart. About $325 each. One was 223 and the other 243. Neither would shoot under 6" at 100 yards/ I sent both of them back with pictures of groups I had shot with other rifles to prove I wasn't the problem and targets with load data of bullets tried. Even 3 different factory loads. They cleaned up the barrel channel on each and for sure did a lot better crown job. Not sure what else they did, but they shoot under an inch now. I gave them both away as gifts once I got them dialed in. I also included 100 rounds of ammo they would group with.

Never owned a Savage, but I would imagine they have pretty god CS also. I'm sure someone here has dealt with them and had a good experience.

Lee

 

[KillerBee]

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If it is a rem 700 or 7 or good Savage I'd send it back to the custom shop and make them straighten out the problem(s). Two years go I bought 2 cheap 700's from Wal-Mart. About $325 each. One was 223 and the other 243. Neither would shoot under 6" at 100 yards/ I sent both of them back with pictures of groups I had shot with other rifles to prove I wasn't the problem and targets with load data of bullets tried. Even 3 different factory loads. They cleaned up the barrel channel on each and for sure did a lot better crown job. Not sure what else they did, but they shoot under an inch now. I gave them both away as gifts once I got them dialed in. I also included 100 rounds of ammo they would group with.

Never owned a Savage, but I would imagine they have pretty god CS also. I'm sure someone here has dealt with them and had a good experience.

Lee

Thanks for that tip Lee!

I bought a Weatherby 300 Win Mag, apparently Weatherby offers a 1 1/2" MOA Guarantee. If the rifle does not meet my expectations, sending it back to them maybe an option.

 

[Bravo 4]

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If it is a rem 700 or 7 or good Savage I'd send it back to the custom shop and make them straighten out the problem(s). Two years go I bought 2 cheap 700's from Wal-Mart. About $325 each. One was 223 and the other 243. Neither would shoot under 6" at 100 yards/ I sent both of them back with pictures of groups I had shot with other rifles to prove I wasn't the problem and targets with load data of bullets tried. Even 3 different factory loads. They cleaned up the barrel channel on each and for sure did a lot better crown job. Not sure what else they did, but they shoot under an inch now. I gave them both away as gifts once I got them dialed in. I also included 100 rounds of ammo they would group with.

Never owned a Savage, but I would imagine they have pretty god CS also. I'm sure someone here has dealt with them and had a good experience.

Lee

FYI, if your rifle will shoot 2.5 moa at its best then that is considered acceptable to Remington. I went through this with them a few years back. Even Browning recently told me 3 moa is acceptable on some of their models. DPMS won't stand for that and will rebarrel and pay for shipping both ways. After half a dozen Savages, never had one I couldn't get to shoot under 1" groups @ 100 yards.

 

[FEENIX]

FYI, if your rifle will shoot 2.5 moa at its best then that is considered acceptable to Remington. I went through this with them a few years back. Even Browning recently told me 3 moa is acceptable on some of their models. DPMS won't stand for that and will rebarrel and pay for shipping both ways. After half a dozen Savages, never had one I couldn't get to shoot under 1" groups @ 100 yards.

WOW, that's crazy! I too have very good hands on experience with factory Savage rifles.

I like SAKO's bold 5-shot under 1 MOA guarantee (Manufacturing | SAKO). My M995 in .300 WM is well under that with my handloads.

 

[Beelzebub]

FYI, if your rifle will shoot 2.5 moa at its best then that is considered acceptable to Remington. I went through this with them a few years back. Even Browning recently told me 3 moa is acceptable on some of their models. DPMS won't stand for that and will rebarrel and pay for shipping both ways. After half a dozen Savages, never had one I couldn't get to shoot under 1" groups @ 100 yards.

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They didn't hesitate or balk at fixing their guns. I bought them for Christmas presents and was going to give them to grandsons 10 and 12. Both shoot my 243s and do well with them. I just couldn't give a kid a gun that would break down his confidence in himself.

I sent them serial numbers of 13 other Remington guns and a couple of Rugers. A half dozen pistols and also included a picture of me sitting on my couch surrounded by over 70 trophies for shooting. They called and email me several times to keep me updated on what they were doing. I thanked them. They payed for shipping both ways also.

If I payed $1000-1200 for a Remington 700 and they wouldn't fix a 2.5" groups shooter I'd take a video camera, a chop saw and a cutting torch to it and post it on You Tube at least twice a day. ;-)

Lee

 

[MudRunner2005]

So I guess I'll keep both rifles as they are and maybe change out the barrel on the Model 7 as initially discussed in the OP. Or perhaps buy a couple of after market thumbhole stocks for them.

My optics aren't the expensive Night Force stuff but are good $500-600 stuff bought on sale for those prices. Bases and rings are quality as well. All steel and no aluminum. Rings squared in by gun smiths. Rarely if ever shot more than 20 times a day and always cleaned thoroughly after being fired.

So I see your points about that's about as good as I can expect even with the new barrel(s). I wasn't about to re-barrel the 700 or MK II. I was talking about the diminutive model 7. It is a great shooter with 100's and below. Especially 85's. I guess if I need to shoot something bigger I will use my Model 700 in 270 WSM or Browning 308 or my old, old, old H&R with 243, 30-30, 308 and 25-06 bbls with it. Thanks for talking me out of spending the money. Now I definitely do have money for the Gold Nugget!

Thanks guys.

Lee

The most accurate rifle I've ever owned was a custom .308 Win. built off a Model 7 action. Had the barrel cut to 20" lug-to-crown, recessed target crown, blueprinted action, bedded and floated into an HS Precision Pro2000 Varmint stock, and had a well-tuned Jewell trigger in it. It would put 3 shots in the same exact hole at 100 yards. It was stolen back in 2008.

 

[TXAoudadKlr]

I can't see a reason to rebarrel it just to shoot a slightly heavier bullet especially if it's shooting that well already. Now if those groups start opening up I'd have very little problem with getting a new barrel with the faster twist rate like you suggested.

 

[COBrad]

Oh definitely hot cars and hookers! Oh wait, you said fast cars and pole dancers, hmmm...

It sounds like your rifles are already shooting great, probably a more satisfying return on investment in cars and women at this point.

 

[J E Custom]

That's a very good question.

If it shoot good and you like it, "NO". if it shoots good and you don't like it "YES".

Everyone that loves hunting and shooting should have at least one custom barreled rifle. But don't cut corners on the barrel, get the best you can find (Don't worry about the cost because the difference between the best and the worst will only be maybe $100.00 and with the expense of a re barrel that's not the place to save money.

The other thing about building a rifle is you can have it built the way you want it and that's worth a lot. I have re barreled most of my factory rifles and have "Not"been sorry that I did (Even the ones that shot good).

Just my opinion

J E CUSTOM