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I have a Remington 700 that needs a barrel installed . I have the new barrel which is a 700 mountain rifle barrel caliber is .243 . Any recommendations about where to send it ? the smith in town had it since the first of august and hadn't touched it so Im looking for other options. thanks

Hmmm, they have you over a barrel

hope someone can help and not just make bad puns.

Are you converting a magnum or 223 face to the 243? That's a pretty quick fix...could be 30 minutes if you're lucky.

If it's the right bolt face for the barrel. I've switched barrels in a matter of minutes. 8-10 times factory rems will head space, doesn't mean the writing will line up but they head spa e correctly. If it's a custom barrel forget it.

as danny1788 said, about 80 percent of the time the barrel will install easily and have acceptable headspace. the "problem" is in the details, the writing and the cartridge designation may not index properly. that can introduce its own set of variables but it wouldn't leave my shop till it was done correctly.

Thanks for the input guys yes everything is the same meaning the rifle is a Remington 700 243 and I want to change it to a 700 take off mountain contour barrel that is also 243 I also want all the lettering to line up so indexing is something it might need . I'm looking for recommendations of where to send it to have this work done since the smith in town has taken since August and hasn't touched it yet.

I have cut threads and chambered Rem700s.
I have just screwed in Rem700 take off barrels.

Unlike some actions, the Rem700 barrels seem to screw in and clock correctly [open sights top center].

Sometimes some old ones are 180 degrees off and are perfectly upside down when screwed in with the right torque.

I like to use a Darrell Holland recoil lug, and drill and pin it to the receiver. They are thicker and would throw off the clocking.

Not to make excuses for him, but in most locales August is the beginning of the gunsmith busiest season.

Maybe he puts off those jobs that are not critical to get the customer hunting or that he least likes to take on.

If the barrel times up and headspaces when installed, he is finished post haste, if not, then he as some time he has to spend that he likely can not charge fully.

To add a thicker lug the shoulder needs to be cut back or else it changes the headspacing and the distance the bolt nose is in the recess. Not rocket science but you cant just add a thicker recoil lug.

The threads are 16 pitch divide 16 into 1 inch and the most he may have to remove from shoulder is just shy of .062" or 1 thread. If any has to be removed then a reamer has to be run back in to achieve proper headspace.

Have fun..

You are correct Redneck!

Get you a go and no-go headspace gauge and just screw the barrel on and check the headspace. 50-50 chance it will screw on and headspace with no other work

Be patient with your local Gunsmith. You might not be the only customer he has to do work for, and you wouldn't appreciate him putting someone else ahead of you in the order of arrival, so don't expect him to push you to the front of the line.

If he is any good he will be a busy guy....

I run a one man gunsmith shop, myself. I have a good reputation for quality work and consequently, I run a 3-4 month backlog on work. I explain this to my customers when they bring in work. If they know my work, they understand and accept it. It is difficult to find good work AND a short turn around time. Think of it as; scheduling a surgery, having it done, and the total rehab time till you're back on your feet. When put in context, the turn around time might be reasonable.