Changing factory remington 700 barrels

[MXoutdoors]

Ok, this may sound like a dumb question, but if you take off a factory remington 700 barrel in .243 and put on a factory .308 barrel would you have to reset the head spacing or will it work.

 

[tiriaq]

It might, although this is not likely. It might not, which is more likely. The barrels are not intended to be interchangeable. Might be necessary to use a lathe, reamer, etc.

 

[dead meat]

Ya what tiriaq said, as well if it has iron sights the chances of them indexing tdc are slim to none.

 

[justsomeguy]

You need a smith to true things up and fit the barrels to the action, then you can change them yourself but only the specific barrels fitted to the specific action.

 

[JJ-65]

I have the tools and have done a few barrel swaps, maybe i'am just lucky but headspace has always been right on even if the roll stamp is not. Remington, Ruger, and Sako rifles.

 

[tiriaq]

You're lucky. Remington uses three different lengths of boltheads.
Some rifles do have barrels that are more or less interchangeable - Winchester 94s are an example.

 

[dan belisle]

True. But all can be adjusted for with different thickness' of recoil lug. Depending on what tooling you have available sometimes that is easier. - dan

 

[Obtunded]

I think the question has been answered, but understand that once you have your barrel set up for that action (And recoil lug) they are a snap to change, and are automatically and safely headspaced. This is the safest and the fastest way of doing a switch barrel rifle. Depending on the contour of the barrel and the stock style, you may not even have to take it out of its stock to change it.