Barrel reboring

[Sam7157]

Does anyone have any history with a rebored rifle? Was looking at a savage 308 that has been bored to a 358 Winchester.

 

[42769vette]

Who re bored it?

Id probably steer clear of it unless it was done by a pretty reputable company. Its pretty rare someone re bore's vs just re barreling, especially on a savage because they are so easy to re barrel.

I shouldn't say steer clear, I should have said figure into the price of the gun a new barrel.

 

[red_zr24x4]

I agree with 427, why would someone re-bore a Savage when it could be re-barreled in about 10 min.
Something to think about

 

[Sam7157]

JES out of Oregon only charges 225 to rebore barrel. That includes return shipping. Read some good reviews. Turn time is only 1 week. You send the barrel and action. Comes back ready to be reinstalled in your stock. Have not had any luck finding a barrel and tools for that price.

 

[DownByTheTracks]

ER Shaw makes a 358 Win barrel kit, with tools for $199.

 

[Sam7157]

Midway sells them for that price when they have them. ER shaw said $250 and they might have one by October. I could not find any on the internet, or local gun shops.

 

[JimfromTrafalgar]

Unless I'm missing something, it would seem to me that the process would require some very expensive equipment at the least. Not to mention getting the job done so as to remain absolutely concentric to the original configuration. Other things that come to mind are: what type of rifling process is used? Is stress relief and/or lapping included? Just to mention a couple. I'd feel better with a re-barrel for the most part. Not to say that with adequate research on the company doing the job, I might not see otherwise. It just seems the process should cost more than a new barrel from my point of view.
Jim

 

[engineerpower]

There's a certain economy in rechambering vs. rebarreling. If you rechamber, you either employ a smith or buy the tools and have added the capacity to rechamber more in the future. Tools can also be resold or rented. You also don't have to support money wrapped up in the inventory of 2 barrels.

If you rebarrel, you're left with a receiver-less barrel which does you no good unless you have a barrel-less receiver. Lone barrels may not sell as readily as you like, but could be kept on-hand if you change your mind along the way.

 

[JimfromTrafalgar]

I thought we were talking re-boring, not re-chambering. The 308 is what we would consider a 30 cal., or nominally .308" dia. round. I would have to check to be certain of the 358 Win., but I can't be far off figuring it to be more of a 35 cal., or .357" nominal ? That's not a simple re-chambering, which I have no problem with considering more or less run of the mill type of stuff, as long as twist rate seems to be appropriate. Switching from the former to the latter would entail some metal removal throughout the entire bore. To my way of thinking, a completely different animal requiring a much different skill level. You couple that with whether the company involved is using cut rifling, button rifling, micro-groove, etc. Then I start wondering about final finish of the bore, actual finished dimensions, all of that type of thing. At that point, I'm thinking if you simply buy a new barrel, you can choose among all those options for what you prefer and perhaps even your own style and habits, good or bad. Also from a company that has basic procedures in place for repeatable results. Yep, you do have that problematic extra barrel sitting around collecting dust, but on the other hand, you have that extra barrel available for another potential project too. Not something potentially unusable, and still no new caliber on that rifle that worked well up to this point........
Jim

 

[1911ly]

I think I'd rather orphan a barrel and use a new barrel. As Jim mentioned you'll have the other barrel for a second project or if you change your mind.

But to get back on topic, I have no history with a rebored barrel. Can someone comment (for the OP) that actually has a rebored barrel? No one has chimed in about having one. Just about being against it. I am also curious about it.

 

[42769vette]

Its a bad enough idea, out of all the shooters I deal with, I've never heard of anyone even trying it, so I doubt you get any first hand experience.

Its kind of like jumping out of a plane at 10,000 feet with no way of slowing the fall. I've heard anyone's personal experience with it, but I can rest assured its a bad idea.

 

[engineerpower]

I thought we were talking re-boring, not re-chambering.
Jim

Huh, you're right. I assumed this thread was about re-chambering a barrel rather than re-boring the bore itself and re-rifling. The former is economical and common, the latter absurd.

If you have the equipment to cut a decent rifling pattern inside the barrel, you undoubtedly are set up for producing barrels and/or barrel blanks, not one-off's. That equipment is crazy expensive and specialized, no Joe Blow gunsmith in the shop out back is going to have one.

Compare that to turning and threading a barrel blank. No idea why anyone would do this.

 

[UncleNorby]

With traditional muzzleloaders it was fairly common to have a gun made in a smaller caliber, and then at some point get it bored to a larger bore diameter. I know the same thing is possible with modern guns, but it doesn't seem practical, as others have mentioned.

 

[SSGSAD]

I thought we were talking re-boring, not re-chambering. The 308 is what we would consider a 30 cal., or nominally .308" dia. round. I would have to check to be certain of the 358 Win., but I can't be far off figuring it to be more of a 35 cal., or .357" nominal ? That's not a simple re-chambering, which I have no problem with considering more or less run of the mill type of stuff, as long as twist rate seems to be appropriate. Switching from the former to the latter would entail some metal removal throughout the entire bore. To my way of thinking, a completely different animal requiring a much different skill level. You couple that with whether the company involved is using cut rifling, button rifling, micro-groove, etc. Then I start wondering about final finish of the bore, actual finished dimensions, all of that type of thing. At that point, I'm thinking if you simply buy a new barrel, you can choose among all those options for what you prefer and perhaps even your own style and habits, good or bad. Also from a company that has basic procedures in place for repeatable results. Yep, you do have that problematic extra barrel sitting around collecting dust, but on the other hand, you have that extra barrel available for another potential project too. Not something potentially unusable, and still no new caliber on that rifle that worked well up to this point........
Jim

Jim, the .358, is made from .308 brass, just like the .243.... don't know about pressure difference.

 

[Sam7157]

Home - Reboring by J E S. JES Reboring, several good reviews.

 

[Leo]

I would not be afraid as long as the rebore did not make the barrel walls too thin. I owned a Winchester that started out like as a 30 WCF that was rebored to .32 WIN spl. There was plenty of thickness left.

The above observation is right. The same equipment to rebore and rifle a barrel could make a new barrel. At one time, being able to make barrels was just part of the gunsmith trade.

There is less labor in a rebore due to the elimination of the initial pilot drill, outside machining, threading and rebluing.

There is also a company that makes a piloted drill to hog out a bad .22LR barrel and a properly bored and rifled liner can be pressed in to the old barrel. I do not think anything more powerful than a .22LR is recommended to be sleeved.

 

[1911ly]

I would not be afraid as long as the rebore did not make the barrel walls too thin. I owned a Winchester that started out like as a 30 WCF that was rebored to .32 WIN spl. There was plenty of thickness left.

The above observation is right. The same equipment to rebore and rifle a barrel could make a new barrel. At one time, being able to make barrels was just part of the gunsmith trade.

There is less labor in a rebore due to the elimination of the initial pilot drill, outside machining, threading and rebluing.

There is also a company that makes a piloted drill to hog out a bad .22LR barrel and a properly bored and rifled liner can be pressed in to the old barrel. I do not think anything more powerful than a .22LR is recommended to be sleeved.

Here's a Larry Potterfield video about sleeving a 22lr. It's off topic but it's still interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ7sQya7tyk

Mr Potterfield is amazing.

 

[JimfromTrafalgar]

SSGSAD,
I hadn't even gotten to the potential pressure difference issues. When talking 308 brass, we're still about the chambering, not bore diameter. Speaking in approximates here, we're talking about removal of .025" wall thickness before the job is done. Then there is chamber length, not just diameter. Many rifle barrels taper of in OD rather quickly once past the chamber area. Lengthen the chamber and you may be getting too near that taper. Picture from the inside, and you'll see that wall thickness near the end of the chamber could get thin mighty fast.
1911ly,
I understand just what you're getting at." Let's hear from someone who's had this done" I'm guessing rather rare, and since safety may be involved, I want to know more than the " I had one done, and it worked well for me" type of thing. I've seen so many gun related observations about someone having done something, they had no adverse reactions yet, therefore must be OK. Anyway, I'm all for some real life experience and still want more info on what goes into performing the job.

 

[djones]

I have a JES rebored savage 11. It was a 308 and now it is a 3 groove 358 win. It is a great shooting, fun and cheap gun to shoot. I plan to hunt with it this year. Poor mans 358 Hoosier.

I have formed commercial or military brass with ease. One pass through my lee full length die and I now have 358 win brass.

PM me if you have any questions. Jesse was a great guy to deal with and did a top notch job.

 

[Hookeye]

A .35 Whelen the result of many a rebore.