Gunsmith to swap barrel on a Remington 700

[Guest tkemo648]

In the near future a barrel swap my need to happen on my Remington 700 in .270 win. I have found a relatively good deal on a heavier contour varmint barrel for the gun and I think I may upgrade. The barrel I have found is a factory Remington take off so the fitting and machining should be minimal to zero. Does anyone have a recommendation for a smith in the cookeville are or within an hours drive that does quality work and won't beat you up on the price?

[Guest mrkirker]

Might be more of a hike than you want, but Predator in Knoxville did a fine job on a 700 'classic '.270 to 7mm converson for me. Stock inletting included.

[Dolomite_supafly]

Remington 700 take off's rarely are drop in. It almost always requires some sort of machining. You might get lucky and only need a little off the shoulder but if it is already at minimum headspace you are going to need to have it rechambered, which is going to increase the cost substantially. Not sure how much of a deal you are getting on the barrel but plan on spending $200+ just to have it fitted to your action and that is if everything goes reasonably well.

Another option:

There is a gunsmith that is making Savage type barrels for the Remington 700 that use a barrel nut to lock in the proper headspace. You can put the new barrel on at home with common hand tools. Basically you screw the Rem-Age barrel in to the proper headspace then lock it in place with the barrel nut. The barrels he is using are quality McGowen barrels. These are much higher quality barrels than any Remington barrel. And again, these can be swapped at home by you. If you can change your own oil you have enough skill to do this on your own.

Northland Shooters Supply has introduced their full line of Rem/Age Barrels. The Rem/Age Barrel Package is a McGowen Stainless Prem. Match Grade Barrel that is completely finished and fully chambered using our new NSS Rem/Age Barrel Nut. As the name Rem/Age implies these barrels are a hybrid combination of the Remington Model 700 Rifles and a Savage style Barrel Nut mounted barrel.

The Rem-Age Barrel Nuts are priced at $28.00 with a barrel order or $45.00 by themselves. The Rem-Age Barrel Nuts are designed to work with the Savage Barrel Nut Wrenches so no difficult to find tools are required.

Just to clarify, using the Rem-Age system, swapping your Remington 700 Barrels will no longer require a Gunsmith any more than a Savage rifle does. I would like some input from you Remington 700 shooters as to what calibers you are most interested in.

Current Barrel Inventory:

26" - 204 Ruger - Varmint - 11 twist - $259.00

26" - 223 Rem. - Varmint - 9 Twist - $259.00

26" - 22-250 Rem. - Varmint - 9 Twist - $259.00

26" - 6 BR Norma - Varmint - 8 Twist - Matte - $259.00

26" - 243 Win. - Varmint - 9 Twist - $259.00

26" - 25-06 Rem. - Varmint - 10 Twist - $259.00

26" - 6.5-06 (wildcat) - Varmint - 8 Twist - $259.00

26" - 260 Rem. - Varmint - 8 Twist - $259.00

26" - 308 Win. - Varmint - 10 Twist - $259.00

Don't see the caliber you are after? Save $10.00 on Barrel Orders placed with Northland for "Drop Ship Delivery"

Jim Briggs

NSS

Contact Information for NSS:

E-mail - briggs.j-b@q.com (that is Q.com not G.com)

Phone - 763/682-4296

Fax - 763/682-6098

Mailing address:

PO Box 333

Buffalo, MN 55313

The hardest part is going to be removing the old barrel. On Remingtons it can be a hassle but it can be done. Make some oak blocks and put them in a vise using sugar for grip. Or you could have a shop remove the barrel for $50 then you add the new Rem-Age barrel.

And you can actually adjust the headspace to save the brass you reload but that is another story all together. When setting my headspace I use a sized case to set the minimum headspace. This will ensure I get the minimum amount of headspace rather than the max. People run into problems from too much headspace not too little. This helps my brass last a lot longer as well as ensure everything is more consistent within the gun. The loaded round won't move for or aft thousands of an inch like a gun with factory headspacing.

If you do decide to have the factory barrel fitted to your action Predator Custom Shop is the way to go. Their primary source of income is building custom 700's.

Dolomite

[gunrunner32]

I was at Middle TN Gunsmithing over the weekend getting a few pointers on how to properly lay out the threads on a barrel and cut the crown on a Mark 77. GunTroll is very good and with the time spent in set up alone the end product is nothing but quality. He runs a professional shop and his passion is bolt actions. Being in Springfield it's a bit closer than going down to Knoxville. Needless to say I've been working with GunTroll at Mid TN Gunsmithing for a while now and have seen the majority of his work and it's been nothing but quality. Check into him, I don't think you'll be dissapointed by the quality of the work.

[DMark]

.... Does anyone have a recommendation for a smith in the cookeville are or within an hours drive that does quality work and won't beat you up on the price?

Give Ben Schade at the Lebanon Gun Shop a call @ 615-547-9600.

Ben is a real-deal rifleman/shotgunner gunsmith. He has done some jobs for me and I have been very happy with his work.