Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Re-Boring...

Anybody used these guys?

Or, has anybody had a good or bad experience re-boring a barrel at all?


Thanks,
Travis

I've had 3 barrels rebored, 1 by the vendor who you've cited, 1 by Jesse Ocumpaugh/JES Rifle Reboring, and 1 by a guy who has since retired. All 3 barrels have worked out well for me. If the options that Mr. Ocumpaugh offers work for you, his work is excellent quality, fairly priced, and turn-around is almost too quick to believe.

Another thing that I like about Mr. Ocumpaugh is that if you ask for a service that he has any reservations about, he'll tell you up front and take the chance of losing a customer, rather than having an unhappy customer. I was looking to have a Savage 99 barrel rebored/rechambered to 338 Federal and Mr. O told me that he had done a couple, but that the owners were seeing high pressure signs with factory ammo. I opted not to do that rebore job and appreciated Mr. O's advice. I think that 24HCF member WEAGLE had a Marlin 336 in 30-30 rebored/rechambered to 375 Win by Mr. O and has been happy with the job. Mr. O's web site is www.35caliber.com.

JEff

Thanks Jeff, good info.


Travis

I've had great luck with Clearwater Reboring.
Butch

I was reluctant to try a rebore. Then I read an article by Ross Seyfried were he had a best grade Champlain rifle with an octagon barrel rebored with good results. I figured if he could do that, I could risk a Remington.

I have since had four rebores done and was happy with all of them. Still own two of the rifles. One gunsmith has retired, the last two were done by Al Siegrist. Al stays pretty busy though, and turnaround time can be very long.

I had a worn out by me McGowan barrel in 300WBY rebored by the late Dick Nickel to my then not done before (I think) 338/8mm RemMAg. Had him stamp the barrel 340 Tyrannosaur. Dick did not lap his barrels at all, they were cut rifled on an old WWll cutting machine so I firelapped mine to break it in real quicklike. Has always been a great shooter, still has an honored well used place in my battery almost 20 years later now. If the tube and hole are straight, no reason why they would not shoot well if done correctly by a craftsman who knows his stuff.

+1

I had Jesse rebore a Tikka 270 to 35 Whelen two years ago, he was the only one that would try a SAKO barrel due to the steel being harder to rebore.

Great job and turn around was 3 weeks for around $275 (he added a surcharge for the SAKO), compared to several quotes to rebarrel at $500-600 and six months it was a no brainer and it is a darn good shooter!

Reboring can be worthwhile or not, depending on the situation. In the 90's I had a new barrel chambered 243AI and threaded for a brake. It went south in less than 100rds because of a manufacturing defect. The barrelmaker basically said "too bad" and the choice was either scrap the thing completely or have it re-bored. Cliff LaBounty - now retired - rebored it to .257, time was about 6mos. What came back was a beautiful top quality cut rifled tube. It's now a very accurate .257AI. Cost was I think about $190. Maybe $50 less than a new blank at that time, not that much, but it also saved the cost of threading both ends.

Mr. Siegrist rebored my Savage 99F from .243 to .264, turning it into a 260 along the way. Great work, but I thought that he had retired.

JEff

Thanks for the input guys. I spoke with Jes on the phone today. I think he'll be getting my project after I get back in the ass end of February.

Further input much appreciated.


Travis

Whatcha doing?

I have an M77 round top in 25-06. It was my first centerfire and I really don't want to change the looks of it but it needs a new tube.

In an effort to keep it all looking the same I'm going to have it rebored. I've decided on the 338-06. New rings and glass as well. Give her a new lease on life. I hope...


Travis

Jeff, I hope that's not the case. I will call him and find out though. Way back, I used to send my firearms to Robert Snapp when I needed a 'smith. When he retired, he recommended Al. Hopefully if Al has retired he will be able to recommend someone.

Al Siegrist rebored a Buhmiller barrel in 257 Roberts to 7mm for me about 15 years ago. It's now a 284 Winchester and shoots as accurately as any other barrel I have; 3 shots in 3/8" at 100 yards.
Hadn't heard that he retired however. Tailgunner who posts here may know. He lives near Whittemore where Al is located.

Al is still very much in business and not that old. He just punched out a custom 22 Hornet 1 H type rifle to .35 Whelen for me.

1B

Good to know! I wonder where I got the idea that he'd retired into my head????

JEff

Travis,
I purchased a Savage 99E that JES rebore had done to a 358 win, don't what cal they started with.]. Got it directly from them. Very accurate. They did a nice job as 260Remguy has mentioned.
Jim

Good to know Jim. Thank you.


Travis

I've been toying with sending him a rifle also.

Funny how a particular topic pops up. I don't remember the topic of reboring showing up 24 hr in years.

I just sent a barrel to be rebored that I call the "bullet eater." It was a ill advised venture. IMO there is no use for a 1 in 7 twist 3 groove 7mm barrel but that is what I ended up with. I sent this barrel to Dan Pederson in Prescott for reboring. http://www.cutrifle.com/index.html

The barrel is a #7 SS Lilja. It will become a .338 cal. Boring is approx $220. I opted to send him the reamer for the rechambering for a very reasonable cost. He says turn around is approx 12 weeks. Looking forward to reusing this barrel.

Dan's machine is a sinebar that does cut rifling. All barrels are 6 groove and twist can be requested. So I asked for a 1 in 5 twist....just kidding.