Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Custom rifle with interchangable barrels? opinions?

Gunsmith here in Florida builds this set-up and claims to be the best patent/custom rifle to buy. I have second thoughts on changing barrels in the field. What are the pro's/con's you guy's see on something like this?

Here is the rifle.......
http://www.concept42.net/Full_Nelson_Standard.html

Can't imagine the need to change one in the field, the barrel is generally the last thing to break.


Otherwise, it's just money.

It looks pretty nice in the pictures, but I agree with Steely, a field change is unlikely unless you are switching out barrels for prairie dogs or some such. KISS

Only interchangeable system that ever made sense to me is a break action like the Merkel K1 where each barrel has its own scope; or a Winchester take down levergun with different calibers on the same case length.

you can do the same thing with a savage and I would bet it would be a lot cheaper.

They're called switch barrel guns. Actually quite popular with some shooters.

Clarence Hammonds has been doing them for years. Barrel shanks must be exactly the same diameter to make the swap ideal.

As with most things, they are a compromise. I'd much rather have dedicated guns for purpose, then try to get one that will do it all, as the do it alls tend to do nothing well.

I also have to wonder, with carrying the extra barrels and swapping them back and forth in the field, when do you plan to have time to hunt? Keep it simple and focus on the task at hand.

Switch barrel rifles have been around for decades. Nothing new here. I doubt that for a hunting rifle you would see any need. For a BR rifle they are common as dirt. Switch does not necessarily just to change ctg, it can be a barrel change with and identical ctg.

For some reason, I've always wanted one. Extreme Rifleworks does the mods to the action for about $100. I'd like to have a 264 bbl to go with my 338 Win Mag. Though I agree with the others, I have zero need for a in the field swap capability.

Rick from Extreme Rifleworks has been a close friend of mine for many years. He is a master at the switch barrel rifle. He also does the best stock(bedding and inletting synthetic stocks) work I've ever seen.Rick has recently moved his shop back to the lower states from Alaska, he is now located in Nebraska

All my 700's are switch barrels, but not to be done "in the field", though, and no patent needed.

Once you have a couple barrels chambered/fitted, you just need a barrel vise and an action wrench. Either the lug is pinned, or you use a lug alignment tool to index the lug. Pop off the first barrel, unscrew it, screw on the new one, snug it down, and re-sight it. Or have two scopes in quick release rings. No need for an index mark, torque wrench, or go gauge.

The Blaser is this way as are many military and LE systems... THere is no fear of any of them.... Only thing is this.. you get what you pay for... too many times on these sites we talk about $100 dollar like it makes a difference...we penny pinch on that but I have seen guys throw more money at a girl they just met in a bar than the modifications on a gun..we penny pinch our own craftsman out of work, thus how we get all the [bleep] from China and overseas..
I have shot the Blaser system and it is sweet.. the craftsmanship on the weapon is outstanding...

remember the lower you go the more things you needs.. barrel vise etc.. also, when a good artison of weapons puts it together, it will work forever...

Even if you only have one caliber for your takedown, it makes travel very simple. It fits in a suitcase.

Hi guys
I just found this site by accident today.
about the switch barrel Idea I have been buying new take off barrels to do this very thing. With 3 Remington 700 BDL's and 3 barrel nuts from Pac-Nor I have 12 different caliber barrels to fit on them now. My reason being to save money almost all my barrels were bought for less that $100.00 each and this is alot cheaper than buying 12 new rifles.

Using factory takeoffs and a Remington 700 with a pinned recoil lug has been how I played with a lot of different cartridges. Probably been doing it 15 years. After a while though, some barrels stay on a lot longer and the others tend to drift away. And in some cases, I like a cartridge enough to get a good custom barrel made.

It is a good intermediate step for shooters who are knowledgeable (i.e., can handle headspace safely) and handy, but cannot thread and chamber their own barrels.

Dude, there is nothing complicated about switching out barrels on Win, Ruger, and Rem's as long as you have a barrel vice and an action wrench.

All it takes is a c clamp and a table top of sorts to clamp to.

You are done with the whole affair in 10 minutes or less.

When the gunsmith chambers the barrel, it is headspaced at that time.

All of my bolt guns are switch barrels, customs and factory.

The really nice thing is that you only have to buy the barrel, makes an excessive compulsive person just go crazy.

I use a bore sighter to get a picture of the (x,y) data where the rifle is sighted in at on each barrel. By keeping records of that data, you can go back and forth between barrels and be 1 1/2" or more closer to your exact sight in point.

Savage is the only action that you will ever have to worry about setting the headspace on unless you add a barrel nut to a conventional action such as Rem, Ruger, or Win.

I suggest that you contact www.sinclairintl.com and get a catalog on their barrel changing vises and action wrenches...they are cheap and of high quality.

I used to bolt a barrel vise on the grill guard on my pickup on each and every p. dog hunt. I had up to 3 calibers per action, I changed them out right in the field, usually 10 minutes max when I got distracted watching my partner splatter p. dogs.

Good luck!