I want to have a Rem 700 30-06 rebarreled in same cartridge and looking for recommendations on a smith for that work. I don't have a barrel yet either so I'd have to supply one of get one through the smith.
I'd get Douglas or PacNor to do it.You can buy the quality of barrel you want from them and have them install it.The price of ammo these days,spending a little extra on their air gauged or match grade barrel is well worth the ease of accuracy it should give you.I really like my PacNor barrel,it shoots really well and it's easy to load for.I've heard Douglas has a quick turnaround of a few weeks lately.
The only issue you might run into is that a lot of barrel manufacturers do not like doing sporter contours in stainless steel. If you end up with a heavier contour than you have now the rifle is going to be very front heavy.
But if Douglas or Pacnor can duplicate the Rem sporter contour in stainless, those are perfectly good options. Other options are getting a barrel from Lilja or Benchmark or whomever else will do the same contour and then having a local benchrest gunsmith install it.
Regardless, it's worth noting that a rebarrel job will probably cost more than replacing the rifle and will also take longer, and you'll lose money if you ever decide to sell it.
The folks I have used for rebarrel work who all built tack drivers have been Pete Pieper in Texas, Mike Bryant in Texas, Shaen Rifles who does a lot of work for people here on the forums, and S&S precision in Texas. They're all benchrest/precision rifle gunsmiths...they don't have apprentices or assistants. For all of those guys you will need to ship them all your parts. Shaen is quick but the others have a long wait time.
The smiths I have seen not-great work from are often old school local gunsmiths. The barrel gets installed but often the chamber is not quite concentric to the bore and it's a lot more work to get the rifle to shoot, or the rifle only shoots a few loads well...in other words just like a factory rifle.
Surely there are few competent 'smiths in the Spokane/ Cour d' Alene area. Seriously. GD
Give Greg Sweezy at Gold Creek Rifles in Carlton, WA. a call. Greg is a very talented 'smith and specialiizes in both high end stuff as well as quality rebarreling for nice hunting rigs.
Good shootin ' -Al
https://goldcreekrifles.com/
Thanks for the recommendations above.
And I'm sure there are good smiths in the Spokane/N. Idaho area but I don't know who they are.
Jim Kobe in Bloomington Mn has rebarreled a number of rifles for me, with Shilen and Lilja barrels. The results have been excellent. Almost all of these were stainless, with the biggest bore being 7mm (7 Rem mag). Most of these are sporter contour.
Edit: I forgot about the 338 win, also stainless sporter
I came across this old post and thinking that I'll have a SS barrel made with a Rem 700KS contour to finish 0.600" at 24"
Checking with Hart to see if they'll make one up.
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/6508368/2
Have done quite a few with the Remington Magnum Sporter contour.
ER Shaw did one for me several years ago. Remington 700 in 270, rebarreled to 338-06AI.
My customers tell me that I have good turn around times.
If you have the barrel and It don't need to be blued I can usually turn it out in a week or less, blueing will have to take another week or so
Hop over to
www.accuratereloading.com and contact DPCP a gunsmith who posts in their gunsmithing forum. He uses Douglas barrels.
I've had Hart do 2 for me, Rem 700 from 243 to 6.5Creed and a Zastava from 7.62 to 6.5 Grendel, Cerakote as well.
One of the best is not very far from you. Karl Kampfeld, Kampfeld Customs in Sandpoint, Idaho.
I’ve had hart do 4-5 of my varmint rifles and they’ve all shot extremely well. Pac nor has done 3 and Douglas 2.
I prefer to have the people making the barrel screw it on. In the rare even a barrel won’t shoot the barrel maker can’t point their finger at you gunsmith.
Pac nor and Douglas can have your barrels blued if that what you want.
I wouldn’t hesitate to use any of the three mentioned again.