Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots Reboring a #1

I'm just musing right now about the idea of reboring a #1 stainless in .243. The idea stems from the fact that I already have another .243. So I have a couple of questions. My first, and foremost question, is who would be a good gunsmith to do this and what would be the estimated cost. My second question is would there be any caliber restrictions. I figure I would have to go with a caliber that had .473 base measurement. I was tossing around the idea of a 6mmbr(just a rechamber) or possibbly something in the .25 cabliber arena. .25-06 being a front runner. Any and all information and opinions would be appreciated.

Bullpup,

There are many things to be considered when attempting to have a rifle rebored.

1st: If one is going to a chambering that is already available, then it is cheaper to sell your rifle and buy another.

2nd: If one is going to bore then the groove diameter (max depth of the groove...) of the intended must be greater than the bore diameter (Max height of the lands...) of the donor barrel. Thus, I've never heard of a custom bbl maker that would bore a 6mm to .25 cal. I believe that two calibers is considered minimum.

3rd: The intended chambering must be equal or greater than the case of the donor. In the case of the .25-06, the '06 case has greater taper than the donor (.243 Win.) Therefore, your options are limited...

A .243 can be rebored to .260 Rem., 7mm-08, .308 Win, .338 Fed, or .358 Win. (Case and headspace are the same, only difference is bore diameter...

Also, One could rebore it to any magnum case larger than .25...
i.e: .264 Win, .270 Wby, 7mm, .300, etc... up to about .35 cal.

Or any of the "Short Mags"

In the case of the .25-06, .308 Win, or 7mm Mag, one can buy the same rifle so chambered, so it would be cheaper to sell yours and buy another...

Generally the cost of reboring is around $225-$350 depeinding on who does it. And at least a 1-2 yr wait. Due to the set-up time, most reborers like to do them in blocks. IOW, they don't like to do them one-at-a-time. They like to have several (Of the same intended bore/groove dimensions) to do at a time.

I have a #1 that was a .22-250 that I rebored to 6.5/'06 (Actually, 6.5/.270... same/same except it has a .050 longer neck length.) and I have another that was a .270 that I had bored to 9.3x62. Really the only reason to have one bored is so that one can have something that is otherwise unavailable.
The other advantage, is that you don't have to mess with the inletting on the stock.

Hope this helps.... Grasshopper

I was warned by a reborer that some barrels, especially Ruger (among others), and especially their stainless ones, may be difficult to get rebored well.

Here is how my .338 Ruger Stainless came out at .358:



It still shoots okay - as far as I can tell, so far- in terms of hunting accuracy.

I had the same warning about SS barrels -- of all makes -- as rebores. But I have had four #1 chrom-moly barrels rebored with complete satsifaction. Three were .243s -- to .338 Federal, .338-06, and .300 H&H -- and last was a .270 --now a 9.3x62.

Al Siegrist of Whittemore Lake MI did the work and soon will be getting a 1V to turn into a 6.5x284.

1B

In addition to the above comments, any rebore is limited by the donor barrel's O.D.

i.e. - Most rebore shops won't rebore, if the result is a barrel that's too thin.

For instance, a rebore of anything to .35 cal (.358) requires a muzzle O.D. of .600". Different bores require other O.D.'s, proportionaly.

.

Thanks gentlemen for all of the comments and opinions. I learned some new things today. This will definately give me some information to consider. It might just be better for me to shoot the crap out of my current barrel and then just replace the barrel when it is done. Thanks again.
BP

Just thought I would add my experience.The top rifle in the picture originally started life in 1975 as a 243 Win.28" Hart stainless barrel,FN 400 single shot action and Canjar single set trigger.
In 1978 I decieded I wanted a little more velocity.It was rechambered to 6MM/257 Wby by Alex Hoyer of Lewistown,PA ( anyone that has any history of long rang shooting should remember the 6.5/300 Weatherby/Wright/Hoyer).At that time it would drive a 100gr Sierra Spitzer at 4025fps through a Oehler chronograph.Finding 5010 powder became an issue and I had it rebored to 257 Wby by John VanPatten ot Milford,PA. Both Hoyer and VanPatten felt there would be no problem with the rebore,and it is still a 257 Wby.During it life it has never shot more than .500 moa in any configuration unless it was my fault.All shooting was done with the 15X Unertl on the lower rifle.When that one was built I switched scopes.
.

That is my experience with reboring,maybe I just got lucky.

Incidently,if anyone wants to experiment I still have the 6MM/257 reamer and dies.With the powders availiable today I'm sure there is one that will work.

Couldn't the 243 be rechambered to 240 weatherby.

The 243 case is larger in diameter then the 240.

I would just second the warning about reboring Ruger hammer forged barrels, which includes all SS No 1 barrels.

The late Dick Nickel did one for me. He said it cut "real stringy", but it worked out OK and shoots quite well.

SOS

Wow! Looks like some galling took place.

I had a Sako, vintage 1960's, Forester carbine rebored from .243 to .358 and it turned out perfect. CM steel of course.
Great accuracy - but hey, it's a hunting rifle. And it cleans up easily.

As previously noted, .25 cal is out. You'll need at least two calibers difference to clean up the bore and bore diameter will be determined by barrel diameter.

Yeah, I'm not sure what happened. I want to give the guy another try before I decide what I think. I waited almost a year for the work and then I felt like I was nudging him to get it done. I don't know if I hurried him too much or if he felt bad about how it turned out and was reluctant to send it back as it was. In any case, the last couple inches of the barrel are a bit bronze in color, presumably due to being quite hot from the re-rifling process. Had he bead blasted the whole thing like we had agreed he would, I would never have known. I hope to give it a good workout when spring comes, just to see if it really is worth the money spent. He did say before I had the work done that he would rebarrel the rifle with a new barrel in the desired chambering if the rifling job did not turn out well enough - at some added expense, of course.

I talked to a 'smith whose specialty is reboring about making a 257 Roberts and the best donor. His hands down favorite in SS or CM is Howa. He also has done numerous 243 to 257 re-bores including Winchester featherweight contours. Each 'smith has their own experiences and criteria.