Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles JES reboring

I have a Wards Westernfield Mauser (Heym) in 30-06 that I think would be a good candidate for either a 338-06 or 35 Whelen. Is the 338-06 A-Square the same as the 338-06 I have in my reloading manuals?
JES doesn't have an email address on his site and doesn't give any shipping directions, Does he want the entire rifle or just the barreled action? Curious about anyone's business with him.

I usually send the whole rifle to him. Stock and all so he can test fire it after doing the work. His shipping address is there on the site as well. I will put a note in the box telling him exactly what I want along with POC, address and phone number to call if he has any questions. I will usually send him a check Separately as well. Usually within 7-14 days my rifle is back in my hands.

I’m not positive on the 338-06 vs the A-Square but I think they are essentially identical.

He told me to just send the barreled action. I did and it all worked out.

Oh, and you have to call him. He's old school. And even though he only had my barreled action he still test fired it and told me the results.

Don't know if it's a consideration, but the Heym Mauser is an intermediate length. The mag box is opened up to accomodate 30-06 length rounds, but long, heavy bullets might be an issue.

I've had Jes do several re-bores and I always just sent the barreled action. All were done quickly and shot great.

another question, The bolt won't close on my reloads. Does fine with factory. Would what JES does likely fix this?

Are you full length resizing?

yep. Shot them in several other 06's fine. Not this one. Factory is fine.

Sounds like a head space issue. If full length re-sizing doesn't fix it then I would consider doing a chamber cast to see how the dimensions differ. If they are off a chamber re-bore might be in order. This is something you may want to consider as you might want a shorter custom throat due to cartridge OAL consideratons if you want to use a longer bullet.
This can be done with out altering the chamber but if you want loads that could be used in other rifles might be worth doing.

I’d send it to JES. He will sort out the headspace issue when he rebores it. He will test fire it with ammo and make sure it works. I would speak with him about the seating depth you would like to use. I’ve seen him short throat a couple of Whelens.

Can’t go wrong with JES. He rebored a Savage lightweight hunter for me from 7-08 to.338 Federal and it’s a true shooter/thumper rifle. Very happy with all aspects. I sent him the complete rifle minus the scope.

Interesting stuff. What’s the general cost of a rebore?

Yes,you have to call him.He probably wont answer,but he will call you back.Just talk to him about what you want and also put it in writing when you send a check.I sent a Remington 700 to him.All he wanted was the barreled action and he did test fire it.I had him rebore my 30-06 to a 338-06.I went with 5-groove and that was $250 for the work including return shipping.I was really please with the work and it shoots really well.

$225 for 3 groove as of August.

For 225 bucks it's kind of a cool option to try something out as well. That's how I ended up with the 375 Ackley... Now, I kinda like it and after shooting it some, I really like it. A bunch less money than a rebarrel and I was able to keep the old P64 looking pretty original.

I had the same problem with one of my rifles. Called RCBS and they asked me to send my dies and 5 fired cases. A couple weeks later, I received a custom die set at no charge. My reloads fit the rifle fine after that.

I had the same problem with a set of RCBS dies with one of my rifles.Worked fine in a couple of other rifles,but not the one with a tight chamber.Changed the dies and the problem was gone,From what I understand,they start with a reamer that is slightly oversized and use it until it wears down and reamers to the undersized demention.If you have a tight rifle chamber,your die might not be sizing the case down enough to chamber easily.

I had JES do a M70 into a 35Whelen/AI he got the chamber right but the throat was short so I had to send it back to him and pay shipping both ways but he did lengthen the throat at no charge. It thinks it's a sniper rifle when I do my part. He doesn't lap the barrel so expect it to eat cooper and fowl till you get it smoothed out.

ok fellas all the rebore sounds interesting but I got a question. if I send JES a 270 win to rebore to 280 rem can he redo the caliber stamp/engraving on the barrel to denote caliber the rifle is now?
thanks,
Big Ed

1) you can't rebore from 270 to 280

2) I don't think he does anything much smaller than 8mm for rebores

3) XXX's stamped over current and the new caliber is stamped.