Rebarreling

M

MikeWithTheBike

New member
Rating - 100%
8   0   0
Hi guys,

This is probably a dumb question, but I wanted to confirm: if you're switching calibers on something common (say, a Remington 700), is it fair to say that bolt faces and actions are fairly standard, and the barrel is often the only thing that needs to be changed? I'm not talking about going from a .222 to a .338, but as I'm considering different 6mm cartridges, do they all use a 308 bolt face, the same action (I think they're all short actions?), etc? So going from a 308 to any 6mm just requires a new barrel, and switching among the 6mm's just requires a new chamber cut into that barrel? Do any of them use a standard 308 or 223 mag?

Thanks for the confirmation... Or for setting me straight!

Mike
 
Everything should be the same, just need the new barrel. Assuming the case is .308/30-06 based and is approximately the same OAL as a .308, everything should be the same. However, you may encounter some feed issues depending on how far the round deviates from the basic .308 cartridge.
 
You are sort of, more or less correct, but not at the same time.

There are lots of 6mm and other calibers that use a standard bolt face. (260, creedmoor, 6x47 Lapua, 6x284 etc etc.) But there are a few calibers that use smaller bolt faces, some are 223 sized, and some are in between. (6PPC??? I think)
Also a handful of magnums, they are mostly wild cats, as stuffing a 6mm bullet on top of a magnum sized case, although cool, won't last long.

Most of the non magnum 6mm casings will feed from 308 AI mags. However if you ran say a 260AI you could potentially run into some feeding issues with the blown forward shoulder on the case.

Say you went from a 308 to a 260, it could be done with literally just a barrel change. If it were me and it was apart and being sent to a smith, I would have him true up the action as well.

Any smith that you are going to have do the barrel work will be able to answer your questions. Without being more specific in your post it is hard to be more specific on our end.

Most 6mm calibers will work in a remington short action.
 
Factory 6mm Remingtons are made up using short actions. If I were going to set one up, I'd use a long action, so the bullets could be seated out.

Generally, short actions with the medium (.308) bolt use the same magazine set up, just as '06 faced long actions do.
.222/.223 use a slightly different receiver than .308; the feed rails differ. Mechanically the same otherwise.
 
Great - thanks guys! I'm leaning towards a 6x47 Lapua, but I'm not entirely sold on it yet. Just trying to learn what's the same/different compared to 308. I appreciate the input!
 
I'm in same boat but with a different .308 based cartridge. That being the .338 federal.
Ideally my finished rifle will be a short action rem700 , 19" barrel and detacheable mag system.
Not being all that familiar with the rem700's , I'm not even sure what the "best" donor action is for me to use that fits my end goal. I'm hoping I can just buy all the best bits and send it all off to Guntech or TacOrd and have them do the fun stuff I'm not set up or learned enuff to do myself. LOL
 
45ACPKING said:
I'm in same boat but with a different .308 based cartridge. That being the .338 federal.
Ideally my finished rifle will be a short action rem700 , 19" barrel and detacheable mag system.
Not being all that familiar with the rem700's , I'm not even sure what the "best" donor action is for me to use that fits my end goal. I'm hoping I can just buy all the best bits and send it all off to Guntech or TacOrd and have them do the fun stuff I'm not set up or learned enuff to do myself. LOL
Click to expand...

Depends how patient you are. You might be able to find a nice Ti if you're really patient. Plus the take off parts could be resold on the EE to offset build costs.
 
MikeWithTheBike said:
Great - thanks guys! I'm leaning towards a 6x47 Lapua, but I'm not entirely sold on it yet. Just trying to learn what's the same/different compared to 308. I appreciate the input!
Click to expand...

Your choice but why go for the oddball case. Stick with the 243Win and a tight twist rate for heavy bullets. This will also shoot short/light weight bullets well and if it's put together properly will be every bit as accurate and as versatile.

Also, you could get a jam nut like that used on the Savage/Marlin and make up a switch barrel rifle in every cartridge configuration that uses a similar bolt face and mag length. A friend of mine put one of these together a few years ago. I think he bought the nut and first barrel from Mystic but I'm not sure. It only takes him about fifteen minutes to switch out the barrels and that includes head spacing. Last time I chatted with him he had at least nine different cartridges/barrel combos. He is settling on 243Win, 257-08, 260Rem, 7-08, 308Win, 338Federal and 35-308. There are also a couple of 22 and 8mm wildcats. All on the same rifle with the same jam nut with different barrels that can be quickly changed out. He has a few tricks for screwing them into place which seem to get him on target very quickly after the sight in which is needed with each switch.

Other than the wildcats the barrels were cheap take off barrels that had the threads extended to accept the jam nut. He likes being able to keep his inventory of firearms minimal and is quite happy with his system.
 
Last edited:
A bit of an old thread but could someone help me learn what is needed to convert a donor 308 Remington 700 to 6.5 creedmoor? Just a barrel? How about a donor 223 700 to 6.5 creedmoor? Same thing or is the action/bolt different than the 308?

I'm trying to source a cheap donor rifle and I don't care what caliber as long as the conversion to creedmoor isn't too much work.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom