I’ve had mostly good luck rebarreling 700’s without modification. Though, I rebarreled a 30-06 to 6mm and the cartridges tended to pop out of the magazine on that 700. I’m not positive what the issue was, though I have an opinion. I rebarreled it again to 280 and it works fine.
I’ve rebarreled or rechambered to AI chamberings with no issue on 700’s - 280 to 280AI, 22-250 to 22-50 AI for examples.
Rebarreling a controlled feed with different cartridge shapes has been more of an issue for me. Going from a smaller diameter cartridge to a larger has meant removal of metal.
Not sure how going from a large cartridge to a smaller one would work on a controlled feed, I have not tried that. I’ve rebarreled 98 Mausers to 280 a couple of times with no issues or metal removable.
I bought a Winchester pre-64 chambered in 375H&H AI and it feeds fine with 375 or 375AI. Not sure what if any modifications the previous owner did to this rifle.
I bought a 35 Brown Whelen pre-64 Winchester that would not feed. Rather than removing metal I had the barrel set back and chambered 35 Whelen and it fed fine.
My recommendation is to re-read Mule Deer’s response, it’s spot on.
Last edited by Bugger; 08/06/22.
