New Barrel Question

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Fire306

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I have been tossing around the idea of re-barreling on of my Sako AV's. It is currently a 25-06, and I am not entirely sure if I would change the caliber, and if I did I'm not sure what to change it to. The question I have is, where would one look for a new custom barrel here in Canada, and what would be the approx. costs of this project?
If anyone has any thoughts on different calibers to give a try, let me know. I currently have a .222, 25-06, 260 Rem. and 280 Rem. I really like the 6.5-7mm calibers.
 
New barrel blanks run around $450+. Smith work to chamber and install should run around the $250-$300 mark.

If you need to buy a reamer add another $150

There are a few Canadian barrel makers:
Ron Smith
Ted Gaillard
Mick McPhee (30cal only)

There are numerous choices for US manufactured blanks:
Obtunded here on CGN sells Krieger and Tru Flite (New Zealand) barrels (Tru Flite barrel won the Western Canadian F-Class Championships in Winnipeg this year)
Mysticplayer on CGN sells Shillen and McGowan barrels
Joe ***** at *** International usually has collection of Barrel blanks for sale in various twists and contours.
Ian Robertson also sells Tru Flite I believe.
 
CM blanks are $250 and up

SS blanks are $300 and up.

Cost of install $150 to 300

Cal????? Depends on what you want to do. I have built 6.5-06 and 7 Mystic (my version of the 280 improved). Both were lots of fun and great LR cartridges.

Also, had a 270 hunting rifle. Worked just fine on fur but no where near as nice as the other two for reaching way out there.

If you don't mine the recoil, a 30Gibbs or 30-06 improved is also a hoot. I really enjoyed the 30Gibbs I built and it also hammered game with authority. If you build it to suit the heavier slugs ie 208 Amax/210gr Bergers/220gr MK's, you can have a wonderful LR rig that will keep up with the 30 magnums.

Beyond that, you can look at the big bores and cast bullets. Would be a whole new world to explore.

Enjoy...

Jerry
 
It depends on what you want to do with the gun. If this is going to be a hunting rifle, I would choose a completely different caliber than those being used for targets.

I would also use a different quality fo barrel. For a hunting rifle the cheaper magowan or shilen barrels are good. There are also Heym and Montana barrels sold in Canada, and they are actually very cheap. bits of pieces in Vancouver sells them.

If you are trying to extract every ounce of accuracy our of your rifle, well then you want a true match grade barrel. I only sell match grade barrels and this is a bit if an expensive option for a hunting rifle, but many guys go this route if they want the best they can get when all is said and done. I can't see the ecomomy in spending money on putting a cheap barrel on a gun, but then I have a completely different take and bias.

The last option is simply to invest in a new gun. Tikka and sako make rifles that are darned close to custom accuracy.

I'l be straight-up. A krieger barrel and a custom installation will set you back 700-750 before taxes. I don't do the installs... I let experts with excellent liability insurance play with customer guns.

Good luck and if I can help, let me know.
 
If I was to do this it would primarily be a hunting rifle, but that doesn't mean I would want to sacrifice accuracy by using cheaper parts. I love to have a "hunting" rifle that I can take to the range and shoot 1/2" or better groups with it. That means a ton in the confidence department when hunting.
 
Having had the pleasure of using most brands offered in Canada, I can say that you will be perfectly happy from choosing from a well recognised marque regardless of the cost.

More money does not mean better performance.

The type of accuracy you are after will certainly be possible when properly installed and the action bedded correctly in the stock.

Good bullets (many hunting bullets will not shoot 1/2 min no matter what you do), well tuned charges, I would be surprised if you had many 1/2" groups. The rifle should shoot a whole lot smaller.

That is, if you can :)

Jerry
 
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