Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters TO RE-BORE or NOT TO RE-BORE

I had to sell my nice Ruger Hawkeyes in 9,3X62 recently to fund my dive off a ladder.

I recently got a Santa Fe Mauser in 30-06 for a couple hundred. It has a trash stock, but I have a good replacement.

JES Re-Boring will turn it into a 9,3X62 for me for $225.00, including shipping it back. They do the 9,3 as three groove rifling. Is there any drawback to this re-bore?

Not a collectors item, go for it!

Take your $225 and put a new tube on it. I've had 4 rebores and have never been satisfied with any of them.

Ed,

What did you have bored? From what to what, and what gun manufacturers?

Just curious and looking for specifics.

http://www.lothar-walther.com/271.php

I'd go here.

Mike

He re-bored a Tikka .270 into a great shooting 35 Whelen. If I had a donor rifle to re-bore to a 9.3x62 I would not hesitate!!

I would too if it would install, head-space, and blue itself for the price.

The $225.00 is busting my present budget.

I'm curious why Ed is soured on the re-bore route and value his comments and reasons. ???

Also why he tried four times?

None that I can think of. My guess is you'll be well pleased with JES's work. I had him do a 30-06 to 375 Whelen and it turned out great. I've never heard anything bad about his work. He did a three groove on my 375 and it shoots fine.

My 35 Whelen was done by Cliff LaBounty from a 30-06. It thinks it's a varmint gun.

I wouldn't be afraid of a rebore from JES.

I would go for it then. For a realistic hunting rifle in that caliber I'm sure it will be sufficient.

I think Rost had one done that was only giving decent accuracy not great but it killed his moose

Mike

How is his turn around time?

I've had two Pre-64 Model 70 .220 Swift barrels re-bored and re-chambered to .280 Remington by Delta Gun Shop & Clearwater Re-boring (Cliff LaBounty's old outfit) and I'm happy with both of them.

I'd do it again but how many .280s does one person need?

The rifle is now chambered for the most useful and popular cartridge ever.

Just use it as it is. Boring out it's barrel will just cost money and gain nothing but hobby amusement. You can sell it when you find what you want more.

Meanwhile keep searching for a medium bore that's well priced that you like.

I have plenty of others in 30-06, and I do use the 9,3X62 for elk and as a medium bore thumper when in grizzly country, where we pick huckleberries. I still have considerable brass, ammo, bullets, and a set of dies.

Besides...I want one!

I have had a .30-06 rebored to .35 Whelen by Randall Redman and two .357's rebored to .44 Special by Cliff La Bounty. All three shoot extremely well, JES has an excellent reputation as far as workmanship. While I have yet to use JES, I understand that their turn-around time is amoung the best, sometimes little more than a couple of weeks. I waited 6 months or more for my REdman and La Bounty rebores.

Then buy a 9.3!

Boring out that 06 just destroys it's value.

Look on the net.

There are hundreds of 9.3's for sale tonight!

The '06 has little value, and 9,3X62s are expensive. Ask the two who bought my Ruger Hawkeyes.

Can always count on 99 to bring his myopic opinion to these matters. At $200 for for the rifle, $225 for the rebore, and $50 on the high end for shipping both ways the OP is into it $475. Just how many 9.3x62's are available for that kind of money.

Ruin it's value? Really? You remind me of the guy who wouldn't sell me his model 71 348. He had it for sale and it looked rough. Really rough. Almost no blue, the wood was worse and the bore was like a gravel road. When he found out I wanted to use it to build a 50 Alaskan he refused to sell it. All of a sudden it was too fine a collectable Winchester to butchered like that.

Get it rebored and enjoy your new 9.3. It'll be a lot of fun and Jes will do a good job and it'll be just as valuable or more so when it's done.

I had JES re-bore a rough Winchester pre-64 94 30-30 to 38-55.

It turned out GREAT! Would I do it again? YES, in a heart beat!

JES lives about an hours drive from me. Makes it pretty nice.

Virgil B.

Sometimes my expectations are like a few others. Probably too high.

Had JES do a rebore on an 06 to 338-06. It shoots fine. But not like I prefer. Its pretty much solidly 1.25 moa or maybe 1.5 moa. Easy minute of moose as far as I should dare...

It fouls like crazy and I'm on the 3rd treatment of DBC with it.

I really need to call him and ask if I spent the extra cash to send it back, could he relap the barrel?

It may shoot fine with other bullets, but I won't shoot anything but barnes. It also may not foul as bad with others.

All this being said, it would cost double what he charges, to get a good tube on it. at a minimum likely. So take it for what its worth cost wise.

Also even though it fouls, and its been said before, at some point it is fouled period... and it retains its accuracy. Can't really ask for more.

Had a factory 338 win mag do teh same until it was finally coated twice with DBC.

Depending on what you are after for accuracy, that might be the only thing that would steer me away from a rebore.

And others want to know why someone would try 4 times. I don't think I would but I've tried douglas barrels 3 times in my life. I won't ever use them again but I just had to know if it could have been a fluke or two...

JES did mine.

Redding dies, Hornady brass and bullets =

Does the same with the euro-trash Prviz-Prinazi bullets.



Travis

I've had several rebores, one by JES, and all shot well. The JES was a rebore of a 760 Remington .30-06 and it would do an inch or better with most loads. The others were done by Classic Barrel & Gunworks, and shot better than the original barrel, including a .358 STA rebore of a factory Winchester 7mm STW barrel. A friend here in town also had Classic Barrel rebore a .30-06 to .338-06 and it shot very well.

Between myself and two friends, four .270/'06s have been made into three groove 9.3s with stellar results. Turn around is 12-14 days. He's going to get more business from me for sure. I've got a .30-30 that needs to become a .356.

For the OP it sounds like a rebore is the perfect idea to me.

Not a JES rebore…



hammer-forged stainless, but it shoots well enough for whatever a 358 Norma is good for. I could have saved some time and paid a bit more to just have Pac-Nor rebarrel it and had a good barrel.

The $225.00 includes the shipping back to me. I think his prices are great, actually, and I appreciate the comments and replies from all.

This Santa Fe Mauser is a tack driver in '06, but I have others the same, including a 3-digit 1936 Mdl 70. The bluing is 90% or a bit better on the action and barrel, I installed a Tinmey trigger, and it has a low safety from the Santa Fe original conversion. The action is an unknown military 98; Santa Fe used a lot of different ones, I hear. It also has a front sight, like Browning FNs, so I can add an open sight or receiver sight...probably the open sight for my tastes.

I have a new stock with a semi-hog back and cheek piece that is from Interarms I'll bed for this barreled action. The original stock was a nicely figured dark honey-blond, but like so many highly figured stocks, it came apart. Someone glued at it, or I would have repaired it.

I'll tell you folks how it shoots as a 9,3X62 in a few weeks.

Now, I need to find something to sacrifice from my gun safes to fund this moderate project.

JES has done 3 Marlins for me.You can get the twist rate you want.He did one in 38-55,356 Win and 375 Win.They are all super accurate with lead boolits!!!!

not nitpicking but simply curious. What do you consider super accurate with cast bullets?

No. I have a number of rebores, one being a 9.3x62 on an FN done in 2000. My rifle rebores were all done by Cliff LaBounty and all shoot exceptionally well. I also have a couple of sixgun rebore that were done by Al Siegrist and they too shoot well. Go for it.

You have to realize they all wear peep sights.usually around 1 1/2" at 100.I like to shoot at gongs out to 600 yards offhand.That 38-55 hits them pretty regular out there!!!

I have had two 30-06's , an old, well worn pre-64 M-70 and an Enfield, rebored to 9.3x62 and have been more than happy with both. And for $225 I might even start looking around for another beater to rebore.

Cool. I shot irons in competition for years. Can't say that irons are much less accurate than optics at least the years I shot them. Could generally shoot 1/2-3/4 inch groups with them at 100 yard matches.

Norm Johnson did for me:

- 700 Classic 300 H&H to 400 H&H
- 1903 sporter from 30-06 to 35 Whelen
- Browning High Wall from 25-06 to .411/40-82

All, in spite of big holes would cloverleaf three premium bullet @100.

Back in the day, Cliff did an odd ball German Commission actioned single shot rifle that was a black hole from some oddball metric to 9x57. Weighed nothing, had DSTs, leaf sight to 500 meters and exhibited wonderful Guild rifle workmanship.

Was a ball with light loads and cast bullets.

If I had the OPs rifle I would not wait a NY minute.

Are you referring to ditches and grooves like I pictured in my previous post?

How's this, rost....JES rebore of M36 Marlin from 30-30 to 38-55.





Just messing with you. I did shoot that 3 shot group at 100 yds but am not crazy enough to claim it is representative of the rifle's accuracy. This rebored Marlin is the best cast bullet shooter I've ever messed with. Here is the next target I shot that day:







Needless to say, I highly recommend JES's work.

Jess rebored a Marlin 30TK to .375 winchester for me and it shoots great. I wanted a straight stock, 2/3 mag tube and short barrel, and there is basically no other way to get a .375 win in this particular configuration. Not only was Jess affordable his turnaround was less than 2 weeks.

I have a winchester 64 I am going to send to him to rebore to 38-55 and a Mannlicher stocked Whitworth that will go from 30.06 to .35 Whelen or 9.3 X 62 when I make up my mind.

When he did my 375 Whelen it was 10 days from my door back to my door.

When Cliff LaBounty did my 35 Whelen, I spent quite a bit of time picking his brain about the process. He indicated that if a rifle shot well prior to a rebore they generally shot well after the job. That was certainly the case with both of mine. The 30-06 that LaBounty did was a tack driver and it shoots just as well as a 35 Whelen. The Sedgley that became a 375 was a 1-1.5" rifle prior to the rebore and gives the same results now.

My JES rebored 270 Tikka was more accurate after the rebore to 35 Whelen.

Had noting but great results with JES. I'd do a 9.3x62 or 400 Whelen in a heartbeat should the right rifle show up. His turnaround and price cannot be beat.

Cool, that one shoots well. I have an old lever gun too, is the reason I was basically asking about how it turned out.

Some perfect opportunities:
700 ADL in 06'
721 in 06'
M70 push feed in 06'
any 03' sporter in 06'
Ruger 77 in 06
Ruger #1B in 06'
Sears FN in 06'

and so on. Lotsa somewhat hammered 06's out there for +- $300 if you want to experiment w/9.3x62 or 400 Whelen (Make sure you get the G&H/Whelen chamber ! )

My R.F. Sedgley 400 Whelen with correct chamber (original) but could have as easily been a bad bore 06' that was rebored.

The late and missed Mike Petrov wrote a whole chapter in this book (on amazon)
about the 400 Whelen. That's my RF Sedgley deluxe 400W on the left.

Go for it!

Sorry for taking so long to get back to you. I've had two 700 short actions in 308win rebored to 358 Win. The rebore on one barrel revealed an area near the muzzle where the metal wouldn't rifle properly. It was cut back 1.5 in and recrowned. Both rifles were only average shooters and when barrels were hot might bounce bullets anywhere. One was rebarreled to 708 and one to 243 for my wife. The 708 has a 3 groove 1-11 barrel and drills tacks with 120 BTs. The 243 shoots everything well.

Number three was another 700 LA that went to 35 Whelan. The barrel wall, especially the last six inches were marginally thin. The barrel contour on this one tapered suddenly and ended up being really thin. Who wants a Whelan with 18 in barrel? I didn't even shoot, just had it rebarreled. It shot very well, but has since migrated to my sons gun safe.

Number four was a Rem varmint contour in 223 that went to 243 Win 1-10 5 groove. This was set back, rechambered and recontoured and cryoed. All that cost $480. This shot ok, but never could get better than 3/4" groups.
It is my opinion that the results of a rebore are unknown till your money is gone. I'd rather have a new barrel that been QCd befor I buy it.

Question? On the .30-30's to .375 on a Marlin, did they feed the .375's or was other work required? Magazine tubes?

TIA,
Mike

I haven't had JES do a rebore job for me, but I talked to Jesse about doing a 308 to 338 Fed on a Savage 99 and he discouraged me from having it done. Jesse told me that he'd done a couple of 338 Feds on a Savage 99 and the guys were seeing high pressure signs with factory ammo. I figure that any guy who turns away work that he isn't confident in can't be all bad.

I'd rebore it for sure.

Not good luck, for sure, Ed. Thanks for the reply.

I'd be happy with that 3/4" group, however. The 9,3X62 is a 250-300 yard round for big animals, and 3/4" is perfectly fine for that application.

Looks like Larry's back.

My 338-06 that Cliff rebored in 1995 shoots most stuff well but really likes the 225 gr AB. Effective load too.

Curious also about the 30-30 to 375. Have an octagon 94 that would benefit from a bigger hole in it...

W

Nice bears and good groups. My LaBounty 35 Whelen rebore shoots about the same.

IIRC, member "Weagle" had a Marlin 336 rebored from 30-30 to 375 by JES.

Was waiting on him to see it.

Mike

I would be happy with that, including the bruins.

Mike, I don't think any action work or modifications to the magazine, extractor or ejector were required. Mine feeds slick as butter. Jess didn't mention any modifications other than the barrel work.

My experience has been that the .375 puts the whack on deer much like the .35 rem does, but recoils considerably less.

If you don't want to pay the premium but want a Savage 99 in .358, or a Marlin in .356 or .375 I think a re-bore is the way to go.

I recently acquired a decent Model 64 Winchester for dirt cheap because the bore was badly rusted. Although I am very happy with my .375 marlin rebore, I'll probably go 38-55 in the Winchester. Same/Same really and it just seems right to do the Winchester in 38-55.

Thanks Weagle!

Mike

38-55 is the only re-bore for that Winchester. You think right.

I didn't realize that. Makes sense though.

I have a sav 99 308 that JES rebored to 358. I bought the rifle off him (his brother) on GB last year and have another on the way in from him ... a Vanguard 30-06 rebored to 35 Whelen. Well pleased.

Charlie

Can JES re-bore without messing up the finish, or do you have to re-coat the barrel?

Yes. He did my 375 Whelen. Not a mark on the barrel other than the new caliber stamping.

Go a head and have it rebored. JES has done a few for me and I have no complaints.

I should note that I have asked Jesse to place all of his marking on the underside of the barrel. I've taken care of the above the stock line caliber marking via other routes.

If you do have JES rebore it, please wait until you hear back from me, as I have one in his shop now. Should be back in my hands this week. <grin>

You know what you want and what your budget is so you have your answer.

Good luck.