rem 700 rebarrel (trouble?)

[XWrench2]

after reading here quite a bit, it looks like a lot of you are actually gunsmiths. this is not competition involved, but i would really like some opnions if this sounds right. i did a really dumb thing and ruined the original barrel on my remington 700 bdl. i bought a new take off barrel from a gunsmith through gunbroker. i then took my rifle and the barrel to a gunsmith to have it changed. when i got the gun back, of course i took it to the range with a box of reduced handloads to try it out. right away, i noticed there was a problem extracting the spent cases, the bolt did not open as easily as before, and the shells came out, but i had to tug on the bolt handle. when i got home, i found the shells were egg shaped after being fired. it appeared to me that while cutting the chamber on the rifle ( i am assuming to get the correct headspace) somehow, the reamer was turned while being off center. anyway, i took it back, and as it turned out, that is what happened. it had been a while so i called him, and he said that he had to order a new barrel from remington. me, being the nice guy that i am, i had been watching gun broker for another take off barrel, and i had run across one. when i told him this, he was estatic, especially since it was only going to be $70.00 including shipping. he canceled the order with remington, and after i took him the next barrel, he installed it. and that is where things got funny. this barrel is installed with the factory stamping facing in the 2:00 clock position, instead of the factory 9:00 clock position. i am thinking that to avoid having a chamber cutting problem, he may have put some locktite on the barrel, set the go or no go guage in the barrel( i am not a smith, and i am not sure which would be used to do this), and screwed it on. calling it good at that. this is only my theory, as he was not there when i went to pick it up, so i could not talk to him. other than the stamping being in the wrong place, it shoots ok, but it will forever bother me. i have decided to never set foot inside his store again, which is to bad, because i was part of the second generation going there. my family is supporting my situation, and also is not going to go there anymore as well. i would like to know, if this is what he did, if this will be safe with no long term problems (it is a 300 win mag). if it had not been a year without my rifle, i may have made a stink about it, but i really missed shooting it. there are times though that i feel that i should have just thrown the whole gun in the trash, and bought another one. thanks for your help with this.

 

[Dennis Sorensen]

Unaltered take off barrels on 700's usually headspace very close on unaltered 700 actions... but the printing rarely lines up... so your barrel could be on tight and have the correct headspace.

To line the printing up requires machining the barrel and using a chamber reamer.

 

[Jim Kobe]

The guy that did the original job for you was way over his head. I just gtot off another forum where the guy said about the same thing. I am simply amazed at how some of these guys get by, hopefully not for very long. My take on the whole thing is inexperience. Don't throw the gun away, if can be salvaged with some GOOD work.

One point I would like to make is about the term "gunsmith". I have had people call and ask if "I am a gunsmith". I usually tell them that I do gunwork, gunsmith is a pretty loose term.

 

[nhkuehl]

Take off barrel

I'm not a gunsmith, but do my own gun work as a hobby and decided to put a Remington 700 .223 take off barrel with iron sights on a Savage just for the challenge. I had retired that barrel at around 5000 rounds when it started keyholing, so I wasn't sure if re-using it would actually be useful and was doing it for the practice if nothing else. That meant picking up the 1.0625"X16T Remington threads and threading to 1.0625"X20T for the Savage. I turned off the Remington shoulder to 1.0625 diameter and threaded the shank between centers and then indicated the barrel in a 4-jaw chuck and parted off 1/2" of the breech end and then faced off the surface until it turned 72 degrees past the sights at top center to give .010" clearance on the bolt nose. I then reamed the chamber until the headspace was correct with the sights at top center (adding .010" to the receiver ring to bolt face measurement). I checked the alignment by stretching a string from the rear scope mounting hole on the back of the receiver to the front sight screw hole on the barrel and all the holes lined up. I cut 1/2" off the muzzle and recrowned the barrel also. The original finish was matte black, but I cold blued the bare metal just for corrosion resistance so I could try it. At this point I was mostly interested to see if that barrel would still keyhole and just threw together a few reloads to test it. At 50 yards I was 2" low and right which was easy to adjust for and then at 100 yards I shot a 1-1/2" group with the iron sights. I put on a set of cheap mounts and a beater 9X scope and shot a couple groups; 9/16" and 7/8". I don't know how long the barrel will last, but I'm going to work up a load for it. - nhk

 

[lefty o]

you have now learned there are gunsmiths, and there are good gunsmiths. the plain gunsmiths outnumber the good gunsmiths by about 3:1. my own opinion is, you learned a lesson, and need to cut your losses and find a different guy to work on your gun.

 

[XWrench2]

so, the $1,000,000.00 question is how do i know who is a GOOD gunsmith, and who is really only good enough for light work?

 

[Bob Kingsbury]

I really doub't that a remington barrel can be ordered from Big Green. Even factory certified warrantee place would have to
send the gun back to the factory. Thinking you were told a story

 

[wnroscoe]

What caliber are you looking for. I have several take off barrels here and one might work for you. I'm not interested in selling them, I'll give it to you.