Installing/Removing/Reinstalling A Remington 700 Barrel
- Thread starter msg.drew
- Start date
If you have the money to buy another action, you have the money to buy the tools and do it yourself. If you don't want to buy the tools, take it to a 'smith. If you don't want to pay a smith, sell your rifle and buy another that fits your needs. It's not hard...
Cost of bubba twisting a receiver or otherwise wrecking a rifle - $700-$1200. How can you afford NOT to get someone competent to do it??
Cost of a gunsmith swithching barrels should be $200 or so, dependant on how much machine work is needed to make it index and headspace properly.
Cost of tools to do it your self (don't use a pipewrench on a rifle for god's sake...) $150-$400 for a vise, wrench, gauges. If you do it yourself you'll still probably need to get a gunsmith to adjust headspace and indexing, in which case the money you spent on tools is mostly wasted anyways. Or you could buy a lathe for $5000-$10,000, learn to use it and do it yourself.
In terms of cost, the least expensive option is to use a gunsmith, or better yet buy another rifle in the configuration you want.
lejarretnoir
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- 162km from Connaught
You answered your own question and the best part is you did it yourself.Cheap way out is to sell the barrel and buy a 700 sps varmint 26" in 308
seriously - if someone simply wants a 700 factory barrel removed it is about a $10 job. If they want a factory barrel screwed on and the headspace checked ( not corrected but simply checked) it is about a $10 job. If they want the barrel to index properly (sights/printing lined up correctly and the barrel machined to do that and then the chamber cut to the correct headspace) you are probably looking at $50 to $150... and that would include removing the old barrel.
If you don't have the capability to machine and fit the barrel, why piss around buying a bunch of tools just so you can do part of it...
If you are not a mechanic - do you have an engine hoist, a car lift, a tire changer, a wheel balancer?
Sounds pretty easy, doesn't it?
Hey there drew
"You people?" Which, the 'smiths or advisors? Sad but true, for what is expected of a smith, what they lay out for specialized tools etc and, what they actually charge, you may have to keep selling just to be one.
I totally get where your comming from...we used to share the same perspective! I've learned the hard (expensive) way. I still turn wrenches on my own (and every flippin' neighbour's) car. I have my own "motivators". I will never, ever crack a transmission again!
You can pull and, swap your own barrels. Lots of non-smiths do. You can also pull your own slivers out without going to a doctor... The way I've come to see it, the doctor will treat my un-pulled festering sliver equally as well as my botched one. A smith is in the same boat. We live in a nation where there aren't enough of them [docotrs and smiths]. Some stuff you can do at home for any reason (perceived cost, learning, I'm a hands on guy...whatever) some, you do need an actual history of learning for. Turns out, my local smith won't let people watch...worried about trade secrets! Also turns out, my family docotor won't show me how to do appendectomies from the home...
If you do proceed, please take photos and, document how you did it, where you ran into issues (hopefully few) and, any cool tricks you pick up on the way! If you go to a smith, be sure to thank them....they are few and, far between. Have an occupation where even if they try to "specailize" are questioned on: Metalurgy, woodworking, machining and, for our safety, explosives and, tolerances! Spent all this time learnin' n' workin'! While the temptation to work as an employee, with benefeits and, a good wage, working a lathe or mill in a machine shop must be calling!
I do some work on my own shootin' irons. I've even bought beaters to learn on. Some of these things just aren't viable "at-home" projects unless you can afford to make the mistakes that come with learning.
Or, to return to orig question:
You can...at the least you'll need: Action wrench, barrel vise, go-gauges to start. Real books have been proof read, unllike the 'net....grab one from the library.
Hey there drew
"You people?" Which, the 'smiths or advisors? Sad but true, for what is expected of a smith, what they lay out for specialized tools etc and, what they actually charge, you may have to keep selling just to be one.
I totally get where your comming from...we used to share the same perspective! I've learned the hard (expensive) way. I still turn wrenches on my own (and every flippin' neighbour's) car. I have my own "motivators". I will never, ever crack a transmission again!
You can pull and, swap your own barrels. Lots of non-smiths do. You can also pull your own slivers out without going to a doctor... The way I've come to see it, the doctor will treat my un-pulled festering sliver equally as well as my botched one. A smith is in the same boat. We live in a nation where there aren't enough of them [docotrs and smiths]. Some stuff you can do at home for any reason (perceived cost, learning, I'm a hands on guy...whatever) some, you do need an actual history of learning for. Turns out, my local smith won't let people watch...worried about trade secrets! Also turns out, my family docotor won't show me how to do appendectomies from the home...
If you do proceed, please take photos and, document how you did it, where you ran into issues (hopefully few) and, any cool tricks you pick up on the way! If you go to a smith, be sure to thank them....they are few and, far between. Have an occupation where even if they try to "specailize" are questioned on: Metalurgy, woodworking, machining and, for our safety, explosives and, tolerances! Spent all this time learnin' n' workin'! While the temptation to work as an employee, with benefeits and, a good wage, working a lathe or mill in a machine shop must be calling!
I do some work on my own shootin' irons. I've even bought beaters to learn on. Some of these things just aren't viable "at-home" projects unless you can afford to make the mistakes that come with learning.
Or, to return to orig question:
You can...at the least you'll need: Action wrench, barrel vise, go-gauges to start. Real books have been proof read, unllike the 'net....grab one from the library.
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My philosophy as well, including working on my own car. I bought a Remington action wrench from Brownells and a barrel vice from Ebay. I have swapped out a few Remington and Sako barrels now using Pac-Nor prefit barrels. It probably doesn't save you any money time you factor in the need for a finishing reamer and the go/no go gauges, but I like to do the job myself. If you want to get into more serious work a lathe is necessary, but with the short chambered barrels from the likes of Pac-Nor and Shilen it is quite straightforward to screw a new barrel on and headspace it.
Starscream
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Southern Alberta
$400 was the quote for a prechambered prethreaded savage barrel to be installed on a Stevens 200, and you don't get to keep the old barrel.
Either I'm getting jipped or that info is old and prices have gone up...way up.
I believe he is speaking of swapping factory barrels. If you are buying another barrel that has to be factored in. Look, it's not rocket science. A few measurements will tell you if your project is viable without lathe work, and that's the big issue. A few hand tools (vise, wrench, headspace gauges, a good depth micrometer) and a little research will let you do that part. If you screw it up taking it apart (believe me, it's been done), that's the expensive part of the lesson. I've R&R'ed a lot of barrels over the years. Some WILL require a lathe to make work properly and safely. The trick is to proceed as far as you can go with the tools and knowledge you have, and to know when you've reached your limit. then you go to a pro with ALL the right tools. FWIW - dan
