Need advice on best fix for a "shot-out" B-78

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Easyrider

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I have a mid-70's model B-78 Browning single shot, chambered in 22-250, which I have owned and loved since it was nearly new. This rifle rode around in the truck with me every day for many years, and shot some pretty big deer, countless coyotes, mudhens, gophers, crows, you name it. I sort of gave up shooting for 15 years or so, and just got interested again a year or so ago. I found I couldn't hit a bull's ass with a shovel full of oats, and just wrote it off to lack of practice. Just for fun, I bought a Savage .17 hmr last summer, and what do you know? My shooting skills came back! The bad news is that I still can't hit s**t with the 22-250. It appears to be shot out. :( It did have literally thousands of hot hand loads shot thru it over its lifetime, so I guess that isn't surprising. My question is this: can this rifle barrel be sleeved satisfactorily, or is a re-barrel better? I have seriously considered just trading it off and buying another Savage, but, man, I love that rifle. I took it out of the closet yesterday and sat with it in my lap, fondling it for a long while. It really is a thing of beauty!
While we're on the subject, anybody got any suggestions to improve the trigger on that thing? She may be a beauty, but she has a nasty trigger...the rifle, I mean...no witty comments about wives, gf's, your car, your Harley, etc.
 
Have you cleaned the accumulated copper out of the barrel? Checked scope and mounts? Any damage to the crown? If barrel is indeed "worn out", you need to rebarrel or possibly rechamber same barrel, you can't reline a high pressure caliber. The gun/action is a beauty and worth making new again.
 
No you can`t fix it, send it to me and i`ll send you a couple of hundred crappy tire dollars. :p If you don`t like my offer take Ben`s advice. I stupidly sold mine 15 years ago. :(
 
A good cleaning and check for crown damage or stock warpage may be required before doing anything rash. It's odd that it shot okay when you put it away and is now useless.
Maybe the forend have warped against the barrel due to humidity during storage. If it is worn out a new barrel is the answer as selling it with a shot out bore will not bring much of a price.
 
B78

Is it an oct bbl? I would be interested in purchasing if you would like to sell after doing the investigating outlined above. The other option would be to send it to Ron Smith and have it bored to .243 0r .257 and make a 243 win or 257 sav or roberts. That way it retains all the things you love and good for another 10,000 rounds. Really would love to purchase it though, if you're interested.

Douglas
 
I'll give you $500.00 for it right now ..................... ;)


Or .................. you can clean the barrel of all powder & copper fouling.

Use a good all-round cleaner like Hoppes until it appears clean then clean again with Barnes CR10 or Sweets 7.62.

After a dozen or so copper cleaning patches you will likely uncover more powder fouling under the copper you just removed. Again clean with the Hoppes (or your favorite cleaner) until the patches again look clean. Repeat with the copper cleaner.

Repeat as required until no more powder or copper remains in the barrel.

BTW, I have bought several "shot-out" rifles over the years that required nothing more than a couple of hours of elbow grease.
 
Easyrider, I'll see the $500 from Boo and raise another 100!!

As all have said I would give it a good cleaning if you haven't done that already and check the crown. Sound like you would like to keep the rifle so if were up to me it would make a great......
257 Roberts
 
I agree with the cleaning and close inspection - it is odd that you put it away ok 15 years ago and now it doesn't shoot well. If there is a problem, it may just be throat errosion. In that case you could have the barrel set back and rechambered. Or just rechamber in something like .22x64 (.25-06 necked down to .224").
 
Cleaning was the first thing I tried when I couldn't hit anything last spring. I used some Shooters Choice, and thought I gave it a pretty good go. I readily admit that I don't know much about cleaning techniques, and am real guilty of neglect in that regard. I will investigate this idea further.
Boring the barrel out to a larger caliber...that's an interesting idea I hadn't thought of, as is re-barelling, of course. Re-barrelling pretty much opens up all kinds of possibilities, one being .223. The cheap factory ammo appeals to me some, I really don't have much interest in reloading unless I have to. .243 is a logical choice, either for a new barrel, or rebore, as is .250-3000 Savage, the parent of the 22-250. I don't get much joy out of recoil any more, so the bigger cartridges don't appeal to me much, although a new barrel with the little vent doodads at the muzzle might help that... If I want to get the #### kicked out of me, I have a 1886 Winchester in 45/90 that will adequately take care of that job. Also, I have another '78 in 30-06, for bigger game. It is truly a beauty, heavy barrel, fancy wood, real nice shape.
Thanks for all the "generous" offers to buy the rifle.:)
 
IMG00299-20110326-1012-1.jpg
 
What about what Ben mentioned - the scope mounts? Or the scope itself. Maybe replace the scope with another one and test it again.
 
If you do anything except set barrel back and re-chamber....I would keep the same cartridge head dimension, so you don't have to #### around with the extractor.
 
Easyrider said:
. I used some Shooters Choice ....
Click to expand...

........... which in all honesty does next to SFA for copper.

Use a real copper cleaner - and watch for layers as I mentioned earlier - and you should be good to go. Accuracy in the small bores like your 22-250 can go to hell quickly once they get fouled.

I think the bidding is now up to $650.00 eh? ;) LoL (Worse case scenario is the throat is eroded which is a fairly simple thing to fix. In this case set the barrel back one turn and re-chamber to 22-250 AI)
 
'boo

I have never seen a rifle shot out to the point that it quits grouping altogether, that can be fixed with a single thread set-back. I believe on the 78 that is only .062" and it has been my experience in setting back shot out barrels that you only get another 500 or so shots till its gone again. This has been concurred by Ron Smith and Bevan King. It also amounts to nearly the same amount of work as rebarreling.
 
ive had a few shot out rifles that couldn't be fixed with any remedy.

one was a ruger 77 270wsm
and the other was a carl gust 6.5x 08

those were some serios pain in the arse

did the thing shot when it went into the closet?
 
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