Rifle Build/Barrel Swap question

[viking499]

This might not all flow together, but I will try to ask anyway...........

How many of you have a bolt action rifle that you can or have swap barrels on? Not daily or weekly, but have in the past.

Have you bought a rifle to take the barrel off and swap to something else? What brand, caliber and converted to what caliber?

What about swapping bolt heads if needed? Magazines(internal or external)?

Does someone make "drop-in" barrels?(I heard that some do for Savage actions)

Is there a "universal" action? One that would let you go "big or small" by just swapping out a few parts?

Something similar to this, http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=551777 , but only starting out with a barrel swap.


Figure after deer season is over in a few weeks, I can pick me up a good donor rifle. Just don't know what to look for or what to get.

Looking for a build that would add a barrel in the 6mm to 6.5mm caliber area.

 

[joed]

After I bought a Savage rifle I was told I caliber conversion was easily accomplished because of the design. Well, I'm sick of my .223 so looked at converting to .22-250 with the rifle. The cost of the barrel and parts was close to $400 not counting my time. I priced a new Savage rifle at $460.

Do I think it's worth the effort to convert? No way? Buy another rifle and you'll be farther ahead.

 

[viking499]

The only problem with that is that I was looking at either a 6BR, 243 with a 1:12 twist, or something along the lines of my loved 6.5x55 cartridge (wildcat or other).

Was wanting to do this last year as a winter project, but never had the opportunity to do it.

 

[Howard Roark]

I've built two switch barrel rifles. Presently I have a Rem 700 with .308, .260 and 6.5x284barrels.

There is no magic involved. The recoil lug needs to be pinned to prevent them from turning when tightening down the barrel, I use 50 ftlbs.

After the recoil lug is pinned it is only a matter of chambering and headspacing as many barrels to that action as you want.

The calibers you list I believe are all the same rim size so different bolts would not be needed.

 

[kludge]

How many of you have a bolt action rifle that you can or have swap barrels on? Not daily or weekly, but have in the past.
Have you bought a rifle to take the barrel off and swap to something else? What brand, caliber and converted to what caliber?

I bought a brand new Savage 11 in 7mm WSM and immediately sent it to get a new barrel put on it with a wildcat .358 WSSM chambering. I'm keeping the 7mm barrel in case I ever do any long range (>250 yards) hunting.

What about swapping bolt heads if needed? Magazines(internal or external)?

It's easiest if you buy the rifle that has the magazine, and bolt face you want. But again this is easy to do on a Savage. Getting an action length that works is critical.

Does someone make "drop-in" barrels?(I heard that some do for Savage actions)

www.mcgowenbarrel.com is who I used. My rifle shoots 1/2" groups.

Is there a "universal" action? One that would let you go "big or small" by just swapping out a few parts?

This is feasible with several actions. Take a short action Savage (model 10, 11, 12, 16) with a .308 bolt face. You could have a .243, .260, 6.5/.284, 7mm-08, .284 Win, .308, .338 Federal, .358 Win just by swapping barrels. If you have a long action (model 110, 111, 112, 116) with the same bolt face you can have a .25-06, .270, 280, .30-06, 8mm-06, .338-06, .35 Whelen with just a barrel swap, plus most of the short action cartridges would work fine also... and there are probably a half-dozen other cartridges with the same bolt face that would work.

Want a .25 WSSM for varmints and deer and a .325 WSM thumper for the big game - you can have that too.

Say you want to shoot 6mm PPC or 6.5 Grendel. Now you have to get a bolt face swap too.

Spend a few bucks on a barrel wrench and vise, and $250 for a barrel and you're in business. Oh, and you may need a $30 headspace gauge for each cartridge, BUT in many cases you can use the same headspace gauge for cartridges with the same parent case (e.g. .243, .260, 7-08, .308, .358 Win). Some are a bit different like .270 WSM and 7mm WSM - since they are close in caliber they don't want you to jam a 7mm WSM cartridge in a .270 WSM rifle.

Looking for a build that would add a barrel in the 6mm to 6.5mm caliber area.

OK, so choose a cartridge and figure out what action length you will need, and what bolt face, and start shopping.

Say I wanted a 26" heavy barrel in .243 Winchester for long range target shooting or varminting. I could then start looking for a model 10, 11, 12, 16 Savage or get a Stevens 200 short action for cheap, and then swap out the trigger, stock, and barrel. I could get any short action Savage in .243, .260, 7mm-08, .284 (good luck), or .308.

If I knew I wanted a benchrest gun with a target trigger (ounces not pounds), I might just order a Savage target action, or look for a pre-accutrigger (usually less $$$) Savage or Stevens as a donor.

 

[dougw47]

MidwayUsa has savage bbls for $135 in various calibers. That, a wrench and a go-no go gauge is a lot cheaper than $275...if someone were interested. They have expensive bbls also...