Jerry is selling custom barrels a guy can install himself for what, $600, and get good accuracy. For the people against it, you can still true this action later if you want.
These barrels will not have benchrest quality chambers and crowns but they should be very close and without a doubt much better than factory.
Not everybody can afford a $1000 tune up, the money spent on these barrels will be worth it. I certainly don't agree with Jerry all the time but on this as a good idea I do, many guys will be happy as pigs in s**t with a rekindled rifle and the sport may pick up a few more semi-serious shooters because of it.
Rob, the cost of these prefit barrels is substantially less then $600. See my website for pricing. It can certainly boost the ranks of experimentation and add some excitement to a lot of dusty rifles. A very positive thing for this sport.
These chambers and crowns ARE cut to benchrest quality as my runout guage and holes in paper have indicated. You are getting very good quality work for the $$$ spent.
If you have a look at the Shilen site and the chambers available, many of the tight neck BR type chambers ARE offered. There are FIVE chambers offered for the 6BR, 5 for the 6PPC (any smith you know have this many versions of these chambers?)
All the new popular wildcats are designed using the specs deemed best. Not listed but available include the 6.5X47 Lapua, 338 Edge, 260AI.
http://www.shilen.com/chambers.html
I bet there will be a whole bunch of older wildcats you haven't even heard off that have been used in various competitions and hunting. There are well over 250 offerings.
Reamers are gotten from PT&G with Dave Kiff's guidance. If you know anything about reamer design, you will know that Dave is THE guy to talk to when getting a chamber set up.
Both Shilen and McGowen will even use YOUR reamer and guages if desired.
I know that the 6.5-284 can even be speced for the brand of brass used (Win, Norma and Lapua). That may be BETTER then many gunsmiths who are limited to the reamer on hand.
Before thinking this is some mass produced semi factory operation, you may want to take the time and investigate. Both Shilen and McGowen are producing top quality barrels and their machining is held to the highest standards. Shilen continues to be the largest supplier of BR quality barrels in North America and likely the world.
Shilen holds their predone barrels to the same levels they hold when they build BR rifles for shooters (service not available to Canadians) and given their winning background in this sport, they know a thing or two.
'Smith installed shoulder headspace barrels work great and can be made so that swapping can be easily done (done for decades). However, it is an additional cost which may deter accuracy minded sport shooters from trying out more stuff.
For the cost of an installed blank, you can almost buy two prechambered/threaded barrels of similar quality. The more barrels you shoulder headspace, the cheaper the barrel nut swap becomes.
Barrel nut swaps will not appeal to competition shooters using Rem actions as there are too many things that need to be tweaked on the action to get it working its best (speaking about sloppy machining and poor quality control).
When calc the cost of setting a Rem, the chambering, threading and crowning usually costs $250 to $300 (not including the shipping back and forth which can add another $50). If there are BR quality smiths doing this install for $150, we need to know about it!
The truing/blueprinting and lapping can add another $200 to this. If you really want to make a top shooting Rem, you will also shim the bolt or replace with a PT&G unit. That will add approx $200 more. So you are looking at $650 to 700 just for machine work to set up that action the first time. Add in options like pinning the lug which is very helpful for making barrel swaps a whole lot easier and your costs go up even more.
Remember that if you have done a true full meal deal set up on your Rem action, your barrel threads have likely been changed from factory specs (usually recut to a larger diameter), these prethreaded barrels WILL NOT FIT. All future barrels will need to be cut to the specs of this new 'custom' action. However, if you have a custom action that uses standard threads, these barrels will shoot fantastically.
There is a reason why many will suggest going to a custom action right away instead of mucking with a factory Rem. It can take ALOT of work/$$$ to get them shooting their best. That Savage floating bolt head AND better action QC and features gives you very similar performance out of the box. And factory Savage/Stevens cost less then a similarly attired Rem.
But for the varminter, LR hunter, tactical shooter or just anyone wanting more from their Rem, nut headspaced barrel swaps will certainly do its job for a whole lot less funds spent. The thing to check is the lug contact. If one lug is not making adequate contact, lapping will help.
Ideally, you would just get a Savage or Stevens and save yourself alot of hassle if you want to barrel swap often but if you have a Rem 700 and want to join the fun, you can now.
Let me know...
Jerry
AT THIS TIME, MCGOWEN IS THE ONLY BARREL MAKER PRODUCING REM 700 PREFITS. SHILEN IS CONSIDERING AND MAY START.
