Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles JES Rebore Issues

Exactly why I'd rather have a 308

Call JES see what he says or if he recommends going over it again with a sort of lapping cut.
Bore Scope see if it is the cutting or inherent barrel voids. Send photos to JES. See if it is localized at the muzzle.
Consider the Tubbs Final Finish it could help.
How about a .375 or 9.3-08?
Maybe try DBC see if it does anything, but this is more for fouling than accuracy.
If mostly at the muzzle try cutting back an inch or two and testing.
Look for a take off barrel and see if JES will rebore it for a reduced price or free. Keep in mind if the problem is voids it wasn't JES fault at all.

All the suggested screwing around in time/money
to 'try and (hopefully) get things right'..after re-bore... 😂

So for this particular rifle, was it just a single Barnes load or have you tried a couple of different bullets/loads?

That could be an issue with certain bullets. I just got off the phone with a Nosler tech, asking why they didn't have 200 NAB load data for the .358 Win. He said that bullet ended up with a COAL beyond SAAMI, so they didn't work up loads.

My pre-64 JES bored .358 has plenty of mag room and plenty of throat for about any bullet. A 12 twist should be good for heavies, but this one seems to like lighter bullets. I'll start with TAC and work up loads for the 200 NAB.

To me, the solution to a JES bored gun, as pointed out by others, is to shoot it a bunch. That tends to smooth it out. Mine cleans easier and seem to be settling down after less than a hundred rounds. With a few sub MOA loads already, I think I'll have more as I load more and shoot more. And to the OP, I did initially have some 2" and 3" loads with lots of fouling.

Stay with it, don't give up. It may end up suprising you.

DF

For phucqk's sake.

Several years ago I had JES rebore a 30-06 to 35 Whelen. I couldn't find any 200 grain load it liked but it did shoot Remington 250 grains really well. In the end I don't believe the gun was any better for any animal in any situation than when it was a 30-06. It just kicked more is all.

Yesterday I killed a bear at 265yds with one shot from one of my many JES rebores. This particular .358 required nearly 200 rounds down the tube until accuracy improved and fouling reduced.

Wayne York charges about $100 more than JES for rebores. He made a barrel lapping machine that polishes the machining marks smooth. Turnaround time is 3-4 months.

He may be able to smooth it out faster than shooting and cleaning it yourself.

As for cleaning, I have found aggressive copper cleaners to be necessary for cleaning JES rebores until they smooth out.

Thanks, Dinny

I have had him do three rifles for me and will send him a 4th pretty quick.

1. M70 338 Win SS Classic I rebored and rechambered to 35 Newton. Rifle shot amazing but once the barrel was chopped so you couldn't see the BOSS numbers it was 20", but the gun shot like crazy

2. M70 P64 300 Wby to a 375 Improved. This rifle also shoots 3 rounds under 1" with 260 Partitions, 250 TTSX's and Federal 300 PT's. I shot it about 25 times, cleaning every 5 down to steel. DBC'ed it and it's just a peach.

3. Ruger Hawkeye 280 to a 9.3x62. This rifle has shot 250 Accubonds with RL15 like it's meant to be a 22-250. Just not a darned issue at all with this one. I will try more bullets later on, but as DF mentioned, they take a bit of shooting to smooth out some, but they are accurate.

If the bore looks a bit rough, try the Tubb's bullets in it. It has saved a few rifles I was going to rebarrel. It lengthened the throat a touch, but accuracy has been easy after that treatment. The barrels were both later P64's with rougher rifling that fouled very badly. Same story as a JES rebore in my opinion. It's work the 35 bucks to try them out and follow the directions to the T and I'd bet a dollar you'll see a bunch of improvement.

Patch Out and brushes worked for the first clenaing after I got it. It was fouled from his test firing.

Then, DBC and repeat shoot and clean cycles until it now cleans rather quickly. And accuracy improves with time and shooting, as many have already noted.

I'm sure Wayne's work will look better thru the bore scope initially. I can do a good bit of shooting for the difference.

DF

Yesterday, I ordered the Tubb Final Finish bullet set.

With Teslong borescopes being about as cheap as a FinalFinish kit, makes sure you 'scope it before you start removing material, even if it's just a polish.
You really don't even have much idea what's really going on.

Here are some quick pictures.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/bniuRh2ZUtCbhmAY8

I will get s video and add it later of the muzzle area. For the 4 inches near the muzzle, copper is really bad and the edge of the rifling looks rolled.

Tub’s kit will also work your throat deeper vs. hand lapping which if done well doesn’t move the throat forward.

Have you showed those to JES? It's obviously a crap quality job.

I agree. I wish I knew his email address. I don’t even know what to say to the guy.

More pictures and a video. Hopefully clearer.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/2CuRHLRxkvyxG5uu5

To me, these mess ups don’t appear to be anything wrong with the metal because several of the mess ups are at the same point down the barrel on two or three grooves/lands of the rifling, but I wouldn’t know the first thing to cutting a barrel myself.

You may have to print the pictures and mail them with a letter. I spoke to Wayne York about this. He does have an email address and he may be able to lap and salvage the barrel.

http://www.oregunsmithingllc.com/

Tubbs final finish isn't going to move the throat any significant amount to matter

JWP my point was the rifle should go back to JES to have them lap it for free...
The more the guy does to the rifle before it goes back to the smith ... doesn’t make a lot of sense so I was suggesting somewhat lightly that lapping would be better.

But it seems like sending it back to let JES fix it wasn’t the goal from the get go... (2nd OP post).