Has anyone sent a barreled action to PacNor for their barrel and having them install it? How did it turn out both for accuracy and quality of the job?

Or do you have any other suggestions for a barrel manufacturer for that same work?

I have a rebarreled Remington 700 Classic that is a 30-06 and want to change it to a 35 Whelen. The price quoted from PacNor for a stainless barrel installed is attractive and the turn around time is 10 weeks.

Or I could leave the rifle alone and use that money toward an elk hunt.

Send it to JES Reboring and have them rebore it to 35 Whelen. ~$225 and less than 3 week turn-around. Can't complain about the accuracy of any or the re-bores JES has done for me.

+1

Dave at ITD would could put on a new stainless Douglas for just a little more than a rebore.

What WiFowler said.

I'd go elk hunting

The only place i would send a rifle to be rebarrel. Their work is excellent . They have done three rifles for me and all have grouped 1/2 inch after i bedded them. I have only used their SS Match barrels.

This is what I'do as. .35 Whelen is cool and all, but it won't kill elk any better than an 06.

Go elk hunting.

OK, I'll be a bit different here. I had an Interarms long action turned into a 358 Winchester by the folks at Pac-Nor. The did an excellent job. They squared up the receiver, worked the lugs to a flush fit and put on a 22" barrel. First time I actually shot it I took factory ammo and put a 5 shot group right at an inch. I have reloads now that have tightened that up to .6-.75". Am I pleased? Yes. Very much so. I'll use them again the next time I'm going to rebarrel a rifle.
The calls for a re-bore are another way to go. JES does good work from all that I've read. If I were to re-bore a rifle, that's most likely where I'd go.
You can go on an elk hunt, 3-7 days or so of fun or you can re-barrel or re-bore and take the 'new' rifle on several hunts in your future.
I'd go with either the re-barrel or re-bore myself.

Go shoot an elk with the 06.

They've done four for me SS SM.

All four shoot excellent.

I wouldn't keep sending to them if they didn't.

I've had both. The JES rebore and the Pacnor barreling. Both were excellent. The JES rebore is the most cost effective way into a 35 Whelen with what you currently have and the fastest turn around.

Ten weeks for a Pacnor rebarrel is optimistic. I knew that before I sent my actions to them and wasn't in a hurry for them so it wasn't a big deal. It was closer to 14 weeks.

If I did a JES rebore, would any chamber work be needed for the 35 Whelen? If so, and I think so, that would be an additional expense and put the entire cost close to having Pacnor install the barrel themselves.

My problems with having the rifle rebored are:

1: If it is not done properly, I would still have to have it rebarreled.

2. The current barrel on it is a Douglas air gauged stainless and I could hopefully sell it to offset some of my new expense.

3. Selling a rifle that is rebored is very difficult over one that is rebarreled.

The ten week turn around time frame came in an email from Pacnor a few days ago.

As for using the 30-06, I do use that caliber a lot. This particular built rifle, while very accurate, is just not my favorite so I thought rebarreling it would save the expense of buying another rifle or action and another stock. This one has a Manners stock on it and by using the existing action the stock would already be fitted and bedded for this action.

LUCK

1. JES will do it right. The cost of the rebore includes any chamber work. It will come back to you ready to shoot for the price posted.

2. Take off barrels can be hard to sell.

3. Not necessarily so. I had no trouble selling my 375 Whelen. And I sold it for more than I paid for it, reboring included. Rifles in 35 Whelen are somewhat sought after if you plan to sell it.

Reboring will also save you the cost or time of any stock work. With a rebarrel you may have significant stock work to do. With a rebore you have the same barrel with a bigger hole. Drop it in the same stock, go shoot.

200 grain Nosler LR Accubonds in the 30-06 will outdo anything your going to accomplish with the Whelen. As will the 200 grain Partition.

Go elk hunting!

Results of my Pac-nor barreled Interarms in 358 Win. 3 shot group:



5/8" group with a 15mph 1/4 wind.

Go hunting!

I am leaning more and more to just going hunting. Maybe sell the custom 30-06 I was going to rebarrel and have a larger hunting fund.

If you sell it, what you gonna hunt with?

Had one re-barreled by Pac-Nor. A 30.06. Pleased with the job, would not hesitate to use them again. Shoots .75" with my favorite 30.06 reload.

You can't go elk hunting for the price of a rifle barrel.. Rifles can be fun every day of the year..

Guy wants to rebarrel a "custom" 30-06.

I get the suspicion that he is unsatisfied with the custom. Rebarreling may become an act of throwing good money after bad.

I have another choice or two that will work for elk.

The custom built one is very accurate but no more accurate than a less expensive one I have.

No but you can usually buy a tag or pay the majority of it with the cost of a re-barrel. A Pac-Nor barrel will cost over $600 installed by them, that's more than the cost of an Non-Resident tag in CO.

A tag for an out of stater is just the tip of the ice burg..

It is, but the first step to any hunt is getting a tag.

You state the very reason I sold my only custom rifle. It liked only one load...130 BT and 60 gr. H4831...and that was the ONLY load it liked!

I already had two other rifles that would shoot pretty much anything I fed it out to 300 yards...just as consistently and almost as accurately.

I actually took it back to the gunsmith. It did not perform up to his claims.

After waiting 13 months for a job that was promised to be completed in 6 months, and after waiting another 6 months for attention to the problem that was promised in 4-6 weeks, and after another 3 months of non returned phone calls...I drove to the shop, and got my money back.

I don't lump all gunsmiths together, however, I have only found one who has kept his estimations for completing his work. Better yet, if he cannot, he tells you up fornt, and puts you on a waiting list. Too bad he is retired, and only does limited work for long-time customers.

Everyone has their own prejudices, but if I had a 35 Whelen, I'd pay money to have it rebarreled to 30/06 if I was going elk hunting. And that's from having 30/06s and 35 Whelens.

I had Pacnor rebarrel a Montana in 7mm-08. Still working on finding the best load, but hot or cold it holds POI very well, and is a huge improvement over the factory barrel.

If you can pull your own barrel, and use a depth micrometer, Pac-Nor can deliver a ready to shoot barrel without having to have your action for fitting.

Just need to provide them with the measurements from boltface and boltnose to receiver shoulder.

They did a Palma contour match barrel for Sako TRG-42 for me and even the engraving I asked for lined-up perfectly! Was a few years ago, but total cost of $365ish including delivery for best quality SS with chamber job on finished 26" barrel. Not every barrelmaker was cozy cutting metric threads for the Sako. Very fine job in all respects.

Not all rifle decisions are the most practical. Sometimes we just want what we want.

The Douglas 30-06 will be easy to sell.

Do what you think will make you the most satisfied.

Only thing more worthless than a 30'06 is a 35 whelen.

Have had a couple done by them and A buddy has done 2-3 and every single one is sub MOA. Best rebarrel/action truing for the money IMO.