Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Switching Barrels

I have a barrel wrench and vise, and access to aluminum jigs and tooling.

Have any of you made a switch barrel(s) using witness markings, headspace gauges, and a minimal amount of tools (use a 700 Rem , for example, NOT Savages! )?

How did it turn out?

I have a tutor on such things, but am interested in the knowledge of the 'Fire.

Sweet Louise, stop it. Been awhile since I've thought about doing likewise, I've got enough irons in the fire.

Oh, I really wanna tell you, but I'm in the dark right now....


(Didn't stop me from making some leaps.....)

Still don't know why some type of key couldn't be milled in barrel/receiver or even something in the stock to 'hold' it in place as it were.

If you check out a take down Savage 99 it's just a simple twist with your hand, but it's keyed to match the forend so it stays put. Can like only needing your hand to screw a tube off.

I'm sure there is a reason, but I don't know what it is. I've toyed with it a far amount and have no doubt once I retire and get a mill/lathe I'll have to experiment.

I`ve done 3 rifles as switch barrels. All have been custom actions, but the same principle applies. The Borden has a separate lug which is not pinned, it is just like the Remington. For unknown reasons to me Borden doesn`t like to pin recoil lugs. No witness marks needed with a well fitted Kliendorst recoill lug indicator. No headspace gauge needed, just a barrel vise. Mine is an aluminum with 4 bolts held down with c-clamps on the base and an action wrench. The huge advantage with a switch barrel is 1st all the chamberings you can play with, but most of all the price of a really good glass is justified, as now you don`t need several of them, and the expensive McMillan is now justified as it will be multiple purpose, and the labor on bedding is just spent 1 time in the beginning. I spend most of my time shooting now at distance and with target rigs, as I visit 600 and 1000 yd venues close to home. It has been a blessing to me as the cost of a new barrel is all it takes for a new competitive rifle. I have a S/A Remington at my smith now that has all the bells and whistles that Greg Tannel offers. It will end up wearing several barrels too.

Seen the Savages and TD Win. 92's, both very neat systems.

Not asking for anything out in the field, nor superfast, with minimal marking on the gun; just 'cause.

Neophyte technology; would be best for me....

I have had 2 takedowns built locally
-Win. 70 magnum in 4 calibers
-Rem. 600 mag. in 2 calibers
-both are built on the Kifaru model - hand twist on use a lock screw on action into barrel there used to be more good info. on their site on this but they have not been builing for awhile
-Win. is better in that it does not require recoil lug to be pinned
-Kifaru style stock is better in that you can turn a barrel out even with a rear sight without touching the stock also nothing gets stuck in the barrel channel
-Win. shot okay 600 shoots tiny groups
-have since aquired a Rem. 700 takedown 308/243 where the smith used an old 700 bolt as an action wrench of sorts - barrel in vice/turn action off it - have not had time to do anything on it
-have another Rem. 600 just made it a 308/260 switch barrel but have not shot it or tried barrel removal - a different smith
-I have read article suggesting this is okay for bench rest but somehow not good enough for hunting it would seem that if done to normal smith standards there is not problem
-the screw lock on the barrel is mostly window dressing as the rifling should be opposite? to the barrel threads and shoot tighter not looser 1 exception was a freinds AWP 338 Lapua which did shoot loose on its own and was retorqued by the importer
-hope this helps

I have a Marlin 322, Sako action, with 4 barrels; 17 Rem, 222, 223, and 6x47. The barrels have parallel "flats" milled on either side, just forward of the receiver, and reference marks on the bottom of the action and barrel. The barrels go on hand-tight with an empty/fired case in the chamber and then get a gentile "nudge" with a wrench to turn the barrel the last 1/64" and align the reference marks. It shoots fine, but I think that it is a PITA to change the scope settings for each barrel/cartridge, so it doesn't get used/shot very often.

Jeff

Now your reading my mail....

Thanks for the ideas/info fellas!!

Nate

I have a few switch barrel rifles, Rem 700 in 22-250 and 22-250AI, Sako L461 in 222 and 222Mag and a Win Mod70 classic in 270Weatherby, 300WinMag and 338WinMag.
All have the barrel shoulder as the stop, no witness marks are necessary. The Rem has the recoil lug pinned for ease of use and it's a Tubb.
Your gunsmith should be able to get the fit up right so that when you tighten the barrel, which BTW is only nipped up from finger tight, the barrel shoulder stops the barrel at the right point.

Thanks again everyone. The wheels are certainly spinning!

Now that you mention it, that should work. The action has an integral lug, so its not a question of pinning.

One problem not mentioned much,the rifle is always in the wrong caliber. I started with just one Savage,now I have two.

Thinking a 264, 300 and 338's overlap to the point of not mattering; none are "wrong" (grins)

I'm no fan of the 7mm, but may snag one of those too.

whats wrong with a savage?
i did a model 10 last year and it shoots 1/2 moa

Perhap because the Savage 110 family is the poster child for the "life is too short to hunt with ugly rifles" philosophy.

Jeff

(Written by a guy with several ugly, but good shooting, Savage 110 series rifles.)

The barrel shoulder acts as a stop, forget headspace gages or witness marks unless you are dealing with a Savage.

All of my rifles are switch barrels, got a shelf full of barrels and all of them are Remingtons and customs. I had Rugers and Winchesters which were switch barrels also.

I have only had one Remington action with a pinned recoil lug. Brownells sells a "lug locator" that will locate the lug the same
each time. I thought the pined lug was a total waste of money.

I used to go p. dog hunting with a barrel vise bolted to the grill guard on the truck, swapped them out right there in the field in matter of minutes.

Having multiple barrels for single action sure makes for inexpensive customs because you only have to invest in one stock, one scope, one trigger, etc.

Changing barrels on Rem's, Win, Rugers, and customs is really a very simple operation.

Also, using a bore sighter, when a particular barrel is sighted in, take an (X,Y) reading and write it down making a record of each barrel as it is sighted in. As you switch back and forth between barrels, you will find that you are usually within a couple of inches of perfect zero after you switch out the barrel, going back to the (X,Y) reading that you recorded.

This type of thinking is "outside the box", but it sure opens up an entire new world of new possibilities for calibers that you have always dreamed about acquiring.

For example, my 30/06 is also a 270 and 25/06. My 7 Mag is also a 257 Weatherby with zero freebore, 300 Win Mag, and 300 Ultra Mag. 22/250 is also a 243. 223 has two barrels with two 223 AI's also.

I had a Winchester that was a Custom 257 Weatherby with zero freebore and it also was a 7 Mag.

A ruger 77 had a custom #6 taper in 308 that I used the factory stock on, plus a McMillen Hunter bencrest stock that I used with a Benchrest light varmint Contour in 243 AI.

When the gunsmith installs the barrel, it is headspaced forever, unless you are talking about a savage. Savage also has the option of using bolt heads that change out for about $19 each, so you could go from a 223 Size bolt head to a 308 size bolt head in minutes, or even opt for the mag size bolt head.

What is really nice about this option of switching out barrels is the fact that you can also have multiple bolts for the same action, one of my 40X's has a 223 Size bolt, and a 308 size bolt.
Savage really makes the option of multiple bolts a simple one.

I encourage any one reading this to fully explore the option of swiching out barrels on their rifles. You can really explore many of the calibers that you once only dreamed about since you only have to buy the barrel.

Good luck!

Good luck!

keith,

That sums up what I am thinking, Thanks!

Barrel No.2 (new, unfired) is on its way......

I've done many Savages - but since you don't want to hear about that I'll say no more.

I've also done several Rem. 700s. Factory take-off barrels for the Rems. almost always (~ 90%) headspace fine if you simply twist them on to factory torque specs. Those that don't headspace get sent to the smith, after which they have all gone off and on the receiver headspacing beautifully. FWIW the ones I've done don't return to sight-in as well after rebarreling as the Savages.

Good luck with yours!

Thanks,

I did say, for example, a Remington.

But the barrel is marked Sako (grins).

Three barrels down; Factory Sako's NEW unfired, 'cept for the original 300 Winny