Can a Remington 700 barrel be fitted to any other "similar" actions without major modifications? (i.e. Howa 1500 or Savage)
Metric threads on the Howa, don't know about Savage.
Remington 700 factory barrels are threaded 1 1/16" X 16 tpi.
Savage barrels are 1 1/16" X 20tpi (small tenon) and 1 1/8" X 20tpi (large tenon)
Howas are asian metric threads.
The cost to rebarrel or set a barrel back using a quailty gunsmith runs $150.-$350.
The cost of a Remington factory barrel $80-$100. The quality on a scale of 1-10 is a 3 or 4 at best.
The cost of a new top end aftermarket barrel blank $275-$375.
Why would anyone use a "used factory barrel" that is inferior to begin with.
Most quality gunsmith will not setback a factory barrel as it is nothing but a headache for the customer and the gunsmith.
Nat Lambeth
I have put Factory new Rem take off Barrels on other guns. I put a 264 Win SS barrel Sendro on a Win. 70 SS Clasic. Gun Shoots a five shoot group at 100 yards around 5/8". Bought the barrel someplace for $100. He had $150 more dollars in it when it left here. The 600 yard one shot kill on trophy Mule deer in Wy. Priceless! Put one a model 788 once, it was a pain in the a..! Shot well, would not like to do that agian. So the Savage thread is Like the 788 I would not do it. I get a new Savage barrel. The Howa barrel is the same thread as the Weaterby Van Guard. I hope this helps!
The only real close fit I know of is for a Farley custom action. Actually, Farley designed his action so a "shot out" benchrest barrel could easily be fitted to a Remington action. For most use, a non-competitive BR barrel is perfectly fine for varmints.
But I doubt anyone would fit a Remington barrel to a Farley action.
I have had great results for the money with new Remington takeoffs sticking them on Rugers and Remingtons. My gunsmith charges approx $120 to install including setback/rechambering. I have found the barrels as inexpensive as $40. Rugers require the threaded shank be reduced by .100" IIRC but the threads per inch are the same. While I will admit that the Rem barrels don't clean up a nicely as a custom, in general they have shot very well.
In the last 20 or so years I have made five 284 win, three 7 rem mags and one of the following 338-06, 308, 30-06 AI, 358 win, 280,22-250, 6mm rem, 25-06, 25-284,7 STW, 300 win mag, 375 taylor. Ah I guess I hav e a problem huh? At least I got to play with all these chamberings in an inexpensive manner.
A gunsmith friend of mine has used Remington barrels on Weatherby actions and vice versa..... why? Good question but before Remmy came out with a .257WBY chambering of thier own he put a few 25 Roy bbls on model 700 actions. Or so I am told.
For me, If I want a different barrel I will spend the extra dollars for a good aftermarket number, but I can see the economy of using a factory take off for some.
I have bought a few barrels and had one re-bored but I am pretty well settled now on what I like and want, not as frequent a barrel changer as some which impacts my decision i.e. when I take the time and spend the money to get a rifle re-barreled I pretty much know what I want, I want it to be excellent right now, and I plan to keep that rifle and barrel for a VERY long time.