I recently got the .338 Federal bug, and have been looking at several different options....all of which get fairly expensive quickly. I'm now looking at simply sending a youth model Remington 700 .243 ADL to JES and having them rebore to the Federal, and then replacing the stock. This is by far the cheapest alternative, with a pretty good turn around time.

Anyone gone with a rebore and regret the decision?

Nope...My 88 shoots better after the rebore than it ever did as a 308... Satisfied JES customer.. Go for it.

That is a very cool rig.

JES did a 35 Whelen for me. No regrets.

No regrets. He’s done 35’s, 9.3 and 375’s for me.

The only word I’d say is don’t have him stamp it. Find a person who can mill the old stamping off and restamp it nicely. Shooting wise, they’re top notch.

A 338 Fed and a 338-06, both shoot very well. Turn-around was quick.

He did my .375 WSM and cut the barrel. I will agree with beretzs that his over-stamp was not great. I will probably have it re-done. Overall though I think the rebore was well done.

Jason, go for it!

All too often, folks on here are all for the standard 308 or 30-06 cases necked down.

Within that ill-conceived double standard, god forbid if a guy takes the very practical step up to the medium bores, on that same standard case.

338 federal, 358 winchester, 338-06, 35 whelen and the 9.3x62 mauser are what i consider to be the best cartridges for Bison, Caribou, Moose and Bear. On smaller animals, they damage less meat than the 3000 fps stuff that everyone craves.

He's done several for me and they have all been excellent with quick turn arounds. I'm considering sending a Savage 340 bolt gun to be rebored to 38-55 or 35-30-30.

No issues here. Just do it.

JES does a lot of 358 WIN conversions, and when they show up on GUNBROKER they sell fast. After shopping for a used factory 358 WIN rifle and looking at the prices JES rebores are a real bargain

Another satisfied JES customer. A .358 and a .35 Whelen. Both shoot great, Whelen is as close to a tack driver as you can get launching 250gr RN bullets. I simply call it my "hammer".

He turned a 270 Win. into a 9.3x62, accuracy was excellent.

But if I had kept it, I would have had his XXX stamping over the .270 Win, milled off and tastefully engraved with the new chambering.

Jerry

What does a rebore cost and what is the turn around time? I have a Savage in 7 Rem mag that I’d love to have rebored to 30 cal. I’ve always wanted a 30-338. I believe it is the most underrated 30 cal mag!

Elk Country

He only does .338 bores and greater, except no .416s for some reason.

He’s done four for me so far, three 9.3x62s and one .30-30 to .444. He’ll get more of my business.

Thanks pabucktail!

Another JES fan. He recently turned a .243 into a .358 and chopped the length for me. I had him leave the factory caliber stamp and had the new one laser engraved before finishing. Quick turn around and a nice guy to talk to.

No.
GladI had it done.

9.3

Turned a stainless Rem 700 from a .270 to a .35 Whelen. Works great.

Jes did a .30-06 to 35 whelen for me on a M70 featherweight barrel. The work was great, great turn-around and the gun shoots very good, but bad judgement on my part for going with a featherweight barrel. The rifle is now somewhat muzzle light which I'd prefer the opposite and the recoil at the rifle's over-all weight with scope is really harsh, at least to me. I wish I would have used a standard grade (pre-64 M70) barrel instead.

I think JES stamp is a Trade Mark!

g

No regrets here, have 3 of his re-bores now and looking at another. They all shoot great, a .30-30 to .375Win, a 30-06 to 9.3x62 and a 308 to .358. Looking for a donor now to do a .400 Whelen on just for chits n giggles

Unless he hasn't updated his website, JES doesn't bore .452, correct?
I have an urge to re-bore a .308 donor to Raptor for Ohio trips. Not that I don't have enough strait walls to bring........

Couple videos just after I got my gun back,.Course I gotta shoot and see . 200 grain speer hotcores

Nice

The rebores I've had done so far were hinged floor plate/internal mags. Any reason to think a Browning rotary mag in 30-06 would struggle to feed 35 Whelen or 9.3x62?

30/06 to 35 Whelen, 2 week turn around. Absolutely no regrets - other than my old hunting partner now has the rifle. Go for it! Terry

99.9999999% I've heard great things about JES rebore. However, years ago, I bought a Rem760 from JES that was rebored to 9.3x62. Very cool in theory but I had issues getting it to shoot. Long story short, after multiple factory ammo and reloads, I bought a No GO gauge...... and it chambered. I cant say I know what that means 100% but it spooked me enough to swear-off ever buying or ever having a rebore done or owning one.

That said...I sold the rifle to someone who had more faith than I......and I wish I still had the rifle to continue the detective work....

If that was the case I’d have bet a dollar he would have taken it back, taken a thread off and made it rifle.

He did a 35 Newton for me. Had a rough chamber. 2md time around it was perfect though.

I had him turn my Montana into a 358win. I'm happy with it.




If doing a m700, a "remage" setup could also be another option. Did that when I turned a burned up 22-250 into a 450BM.

Very nice.

That said, I have an abused 7600 in .270 that's going that direction to become a 9.3x62. Mighta fooled with a 35 caliber but I'm already set up for the 9.3.

338-06 for me. Shoots 210 Partitions great, no regrets.

Is that even possible with a 760 barrel?

Yeah I regretted it. I sent him a Winchester 670 to do a 35 Whelen on. The gun of course was noticeably lighter when it came back and would only shoot 250 grain with any accuracy. That combination made it punishing to shoot on the bench

Now that you say that, I’m not sure. I am not sure if a thread would alter it enough to change reassembly.

I good experienced gunsmith (note i did not say a machinist who thinks he is a gunsmith) can do miracles.

I recently bought a used Remington 700 in .270Win from Cabelas for $285OTD. It had a nice steel tube Redfield in Leupold rings and bases which I removed and plan to sell but I digress…..I sent it to JES to rebore to .35 Whelen and cut and crown it at 20”. I’ve been “shooting the barrel in” so I haven’t been focused on or worried about accuracy yet, in fact I still need to bed it. Just for giggles I decided to fire 3 rounds to see if it printed reasonable groups despite it needing to be bed. I set the target at 50 yards and fired 3 rounds of factory Remington 250gr PSP Core-Lokts….they were all touching and the one ragged hole that was made gave me great confidence that the potential was there for an accurate, hard hitting, easy carrying, fairly lightweight “woods gun”.

I was really pleased with how pleasant the rifle is to shoot. I’ve shot 200gr Federal Fusion, 200gr Remington Core-Lokts and 250gr Remington PSP Core-Lokts and they all felt the same recoil wise. I expected to notice a difference between the 200’s and 250’s but multiple side by side comparisons and I still can’t feel a difference.

The communication, price ($275 for rebore, cut & crown at 20” and return shipping) and quick turnaround (~2 weeks) from JES was excellent and so far his work appears to be just as good.

I fear that if this rifle shoots as well as it appears to JES will be reboring more for me in the future. I have a brand NEW 1965 Winchester 70 in 7RM that would be great as a .338wm. I don’t have a need for a 7RM and I’m not too keen on having another caliber to feed. I do have another .338 that could use some company and that Winchester might be the ticket…

AcesNeights,
Congrats on the 35 whelen. Typical story, how accurately these humble, blue collar JES rebores shoot. Youre a pretty thoughtful fella, giving credit where credit is due. What are your thoughts on this:

There are so many of us whove had JES rebore mundane rifles to something unique, interesting and powerful. A group gift from accross all the shooting and hunting forums is in order for his hard, timely work.

I bet a bunch of folks would pitch in to a group gift around the holidays

Maybe we could all pitch in and buy him an engraving machine to replace his number and letter punch set.
That's been my only complaint with his work, namely the caliber markings are poorly done.

308 to 358 in a savage, a real shooter when it come back, weatherby 223 to a 350 legend again same result both just shoot really good.

Thanks Mainer…. I always enjoy your posts and your pictures as well as the details regarding your rifles. I’ve heard nothing but good things about JES so it was an easy choice, especially when so many guys that I respect here have had great luck with his work. I’m looking forward to getting this rifle bedded and dialed in but I’m pretty sure it’s my new favorite rifle…..of course I’m going to put the best exterior coating $10 and a rattle can buy. 😁 I really like the Triggertech Primary that I put in this rifle. I’d put the same trigger in the pre-64 ‘06 that I’m doing next but those old triggers are too good to replace … at least on a hunting rifle and they can be made to be really sweet without much effort ….as you well know. I found some 250 A-Frames for it but I’ll probably use mostly 225 TTSX or TSX. I also found some .338 275gr A-Frames for my other rifle that one is a .338wm. I need to replace a sky screen for my chronograph since my buddy shot it but I look forward to seeing what speed I can get from the 20” barrel.

PS….I’d contribute if you put something together.

Curious on your "despite needing to be bedded" comment. Why assume it needed to be bedded before seeing how it shot?

Jess rebored an 1885 Highwall in 30-06 to 35 Whelen. I went with a 10 twist and it shoots 3, 180 TSX, 200 grain Hornaday, 220 Hammer, 225 TSX, and 250 Hornaday into 1/2 MOA or less for at 200 yards I'm using Power Pro Varmint and CFE223 powder

JES did 2 for me, 7-08/.338 Federal and .270w/.35 Whelan.
Excellent work and timely servIce.

He has done 2 for me, also. Both 06 to 35 Whelen. First one had issues.....Remington 7600 that kept blowing primers. Every load, every shot. Sent it back and Jesse discovered the tooling was getting worn. Recut the chamber with all new stuff and did extensive testing, duplicating the loads I was shooting, plus several others. All done over a Chronograph. He included the results, along with the fired brass, when he sent the rifle back.

I was impressed with the service and the extra effort, to make it right.....so much so, that I sent him a Ruger MKII to do the same conversion.

Both guns shoot "a skinny inch", with anything I run through them.

Andy3

I've had 3 done by JES. A CZ from 30-06 to 338-06, an Interarms Mark X from 30-06 to 9.3x62, and a Rem 700 from 30-06 to 9.3x62. No regrets what-so-ever. If ever come across another Ruger 77 tang safety in 30-06 that uses Rem 700 rings and bases and has iron sights, I'll send it off to JES and have him rebore it to 9.3x62.

FWIW, on the last 9.3x62 rebore (Rem 700) I asked Jes to mark the caliber, et al on the underside of the barrel shank rather than stamp X's and remark on an exposed surface. In turn, I milled out the existing caliber marking and had that mill cut engraved with the proper caliber.

Good deal Aces on the rebore. His stuff does shoot pretty darned well in my book. I usually DBC the bores after I get them shot in a little but I’ve never been disappointed in his work.

Here's a link to my .358 Win project, a JES rebore.

Pretty long, but some good info.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...15163238/358-win-pre-64-fwt#Post15163238

DF

Good point and one I expected to be called out on. 😁. The reason I think it needs to be bedded is because it feels “loose” in the forend and just doesn’t feel like it should. My OCD would feel like it’s not quite completed and I’d hesitate to feel confident until I tightened it up.

Plus there are no downsides to having a bedded rifle. I can't say the same about an unbedded rifle.

A barrel vibrates when shot. If it shoots great but feels a bit loose in the stock, but bedding it, it could change the harmonics and worsen how it shoots

I’ve never seen one shoot worse after bedding.

DF

That CZ is about my favorite rifle. Had it cerakoted graphite black soon after I got it from you.

Notice the word Could..........

Did you read that in an Outdoor Life article?

I'm curious if anyone has paid extra for more grooves or just rolled with the standard 3?

I saw that. But don’t think even “could” is probable.

At worse, no better. Generally a well done glass job is a positive.

DF

IMO, three works great. More wouldn’t be worth the extra to me.

DF

Has anyone had a 375 H&H rebored and chambered to 458 Lott ? I have left a phone message JES regarding this.

I think .411 is as big as JES goes? At least, I think that's the largest bore I remember seeing on his website. Maybe he does others by individual request?

His website actually lists the 458 as a rebore option, and “458 Mag” is listed a chamber option.

On a 760 you cant set barrel back you have to get right first time.

Bud had Jes rebore a 06 to 35 Whelen and he regrets it.

Ah, you're right about 458. Was looking at the example page. Interesting that he skips 416.

What was his regret?

BTW, I’d never rebore one that was a shooter.

DF

I’d go ahead and rebore a shooter if you’re making something you need, like say an ‘06 into a 9.3.

Agreed, if you want good burger start with good meat. Reboring a shooter increases your odds.

Pa,
Right on bud. If i called in a 55-70 inch antlered moose, that popped out of the willows head on at 10 yards id rather the rifle be a 1.5 moa 9.3x62 mauser, than a one hole 270 winchester or 06

Then on the upper end of distance im comfortable taking moose, ive had that same 1.5 moa nine-three drop moose and caribou at 400 and 500 yards.

I have a new Weatherby vanguard 223 with a 20" threaded varmint weight barrel that is factory cerekoted Grey. I've thought about having them rebore it to 350 legend so I could use it to shoot heavy subsonic cast bullets. Does the JES process mess up the factory finish much? I'd hate to ruin a brand new cerekote job when I could send in something else instead. I wonder how fast of twist they could do.

Bb

Not sure about the finish question, but how fast of a twist are you looking for? There aren't a whole lot of long .355" bullets I know of that would need an especially fast twist, can't imagine needing more than 1/16.

Well, just dropped a 20" Remington 700 .243 off in the mail for a JES .338 Federal rebore...hope to have it back by the first of the year!

He returned my call. He said that he could rebore the 375 H&H barrel to .458 and chamber to 458 Lott. He did say he would have to rent the reamer for the Lott and that would be a little extra cost.

That doesn't surprise me. He's such a nice guy... if he can do it, I can't imagine he wouldn't.

I own three and they all shoot great. Be Well, RZ.

And I'd never parted with it . . . . .

I haven't, mine have all been 3's. Might try a 4 one of these days, just for the heck of it.

Yes, he certainly seems like a good guy. It was a pleasure talking with him on the phone.

😅😅
If it’s any consolation it’s not a safe queen. Took it to South Africa in 2013. The PH was impressed with the 210 Sciroccos I was using. Whenever an elk hunt materializes that’s the rifle I’m taking.

I was going to do that just because 4 is "normal", but having tried the 3 I think it may be superior. I shoot A-Frames out of mine (.375 WSM), which tend to be high pressure because it's hard to engrave them into the lands - the partition is too hard to compress. But on this barrel they behaved much more like a cup & core in terms of pressure. I think it's because there's not so many lands and none of them are directly opposed. The partition just doesn't get compressed as much.

It's a sample of one, but I got better results than I expected.

Did a 308 to 338 Federal for. Quick turnaround and it is a shooter.

Yep.

Especially in my case; price an original .358 Win, Pre-64 FWT....

DF