Rebarrel a rifle. 6.5rem mag to?????

[Harold]

I’m purchasing an older Remington 700 in 6.5 rem mag. I can’t find brass or loaded ammo for this rifle…so I am going to rebarrel it to another caliber. Probably 300wsm. Any gunsmiths have any thoughts on this? Where should I buy a sporter barrel that will be blued and fit in this nice classic wooden stock?

 

[midwesthunter]

Leave it, Graf n sons stock brass

 

[Addicting]

Any major manufacturers have steel barrels. Your smith will have to send it out to get blued. I have used Precision Bluing and they have done excellent work. They are a mom and pop shop that has more work then they can ever handle so it takes a while to get stuff back. Send the whole barreled action to them so everything matches. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

Home | Precision Bluing

precisionbluing.com

 

[std7mag]

Or learn to handload.
I formed 6.5mm Rem Mag brass from 7mm Rem Mag.
Not exactly for a beginner though.

If you absolutely must rebarrel, every barrel maker out there can do what you want.
I use E.R. Shaw. They have done well by me, plus they are local to me.
Douglas, Shilen, Hart, Brux, Criterion, Pac-Nor and others are out there.

Be aware though that for some the posted wait times are out the window. Guys ordering in June told March or April next year.

Also if you must rebarrel, i'd be interested in buying the barrel from you.

 

[std7mag]

Any major manufacturers have steel barrels. Your smith will have to send it out to get blued. I have used Precision Bluing and they have done excellent work. They are a mom and pop shop that has more work then they can ever handle so it takes a while to get stuff back. Send the whole barreled action to them so everything matches. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

Home | Precision Bluing

precisionbluing.com

Not necessarily.
Most barrel makers will blue also.
May come to the smith blued already.

 

[Addicting]

Not necessarily.
Most barrel makers will blue also.
May come to the smith blued already.

Didn’t know that. However, with the different grades of finishing, I would still want the whole barreled action done so it would match.

 

[Four22]

I had one done by ER Shaw and it shoots well. Sent the barreled complete action out and it came back rebarreled and all parts blues.

 

[std7mag]

Douglas, Hart, Shilen, Pac-Nor will do the same.

Before all the shortages & backlogs started my E.R. Shaw barrel was $272 shipped to my door. 24" large ring Mauser, 1.5 contour (sporting magnum), 11° recessed crown, polished & blued, chambered in 284 Win.

Same for the 7X57 Mauser but 22" # 1 contour. (Sporter)

They do a beautiful job blueing, but so does Douglas & Shilen.

 

[std7mag]

As i said, if you are going to rebarrel, i'm interested in the barrel.

I would be more interested however in buying the whole, unmolested rifle.

 

[Dakotakid]

Another option would be to rechamber your existing barrel to 6.5 PRC.
It should clean up the existing chamber. This would depend on how prestige rifling is?

 

[p_ham]

Another option would be to rechamber your existing barrel to 6.5 PRC.
It should clean up the existing chamber. This would depend on how prestige rifling is?

The PRC is .14" shorter than the 6.5 Rem.

 

[Pmacc60]

I’m purchasing an older Remington 700 in 6.5 rem mag. I can’t find brass or loaded ammo for this rifle…so I am going to rebarrel it to another caliber. Probably 300wsm. Any gunsmiths have any thoughts on this? Where should I buy a sporter barrel that will be blued and fit in this nice classic wooden stock?

What shape is your 6.5 mag in ? There were only 1500 made in the 700 Remington if you sell it you would pull premium dollars for it. Don’t rebarrel it

 

[Bambistew]

The PRC is .14" shorter than the 6.5 Rem.

They could set the barrel back a turn or two and clean it up. The mag length would be more of an issue I would think. The short actions are quite short, and if you wanted to shoot the longer high BC bullets you'd have to seat them really deep. I have a 300wsm on a rem short action and it will only hold 2 in the mag without binding. It shoots well, but I prefer the short action M70 over the Rem with WSMs. I think most people build PRCs on long/standard actions.

If it was me, I'd just sell it as is, and put it towards something else. Those 6.5RM are fairly rare and should sell for a decent price.

 

[p_ham]

They could set the barrel back a turn or two and clean it up. The mag length would be more of an issue I would think. The short actions are quite short, and if you wanted to shoot the longer high BC bullets you'd have to seat them really deep. I have a 300wsm on a rem short action and it will only hold 2 in the mag without binding. It shoots well, but I prefer the short action M70 over the Rem with WSMs. I think most people build PRCs on long/standard actions.

If it was me, I'd just sell it as is, and put it towards something else. Those 6.5RM are fairly rare and should sell for a decent price.

It would have to be a min of 2 1/2 turns, then your barrel-stock gap is going to look like it belongs on a Savage. The answer to that is of course to glass the barrel channel. Don't know how much work OP wants to put into this.
You're definitely right about the action being too short on the 700 to really get the most out of the WSMs.

 

[Millsworks]

Sell and go shopping.....