Have Win M70 Classic S/S in .300WM. Had Boss cut off, shortening the barrel from 26" to 22.25". Muzzle blast is louder, more recoil and loss of velocity. Not satisfied with accuracy for handloads worked up so far, but need to try other combinations and also compare with factory loads. I am very strongly leaning toward rebarreling wi 26" Douglas Premium S/S barrel. Is their a better choice for this application? (This is hunting rifle- not for BR.) Before some of you jump on me; I am well aware of the pros & cons and tradeoffs of barrel length. However, I want the extra 4" for burning the powder which makes the .300WM more powerful than the .30-06. If I am going to carry a short-barrelled .300WM I might as well be using a 30-06. ( Not to denigrate the 06, its an excellent round; it just does not have that extra poop of the 300WM.) I have used 26" barrelled rifles in Alaska and African bush and length does not concern me. I care more about what happens when the gun goes BOOM. What I have read on this and other forums is that all the major barrel makers produce equally excellent barrels, albeit for different purposes. Further, that as important, if not more so, is the selection of the smithy to do the installation. That is, his skill in squaring/truing receiver, barrel & bolt face; chambering and fitting. The question then is, who to use? How to find such a person. I only know of one such shop in my area I would consider, but I have only used them once. Do not know how skilled they are for this job. The shop is JRH Advanced near Grass Valley, CA; two of the smiths are Jack Huntington, founder, and Shawn Davidson, one of his two partners. Anyone know anything about them. I could also send the rifle to Douglas & have them do it. I assume they would do a good job. Cost is always a factor, but not the only, or primary one. What costs am I looking at? For barrel? For installation? For shipping? Any recommendations for smiths here on West Coast- or elsewhere? What about turnaround time? Now for a seperate, but somewhat related issue. If you want to improve accuracy for any rifle- bedding work can be done, recrowning, etc.- but what are your thoughts about squaring/truing the receiver, etc.- before consideration of a new barrel? What is cost for doing so? Thanks in advance for your input.

You might want to call RCBS in Oroville. They used to have a really excellent gunsmith working for them, doing this sort of thing for their customers. Probably they still do, or at least know of one or more in the area which they could recommend.

I believe they barreled/chambered a lot of rigs for folks like Dave Scovill, etc.

Send it to me--problem solved!

To answer some of your first questions, there are several excellent smiths on this board that could do your work. Toomany Tools (John Farner) above has shown some outstanding work, as has Jim Kobe, Vapodog, Westpac and others. Do a search and you will fine a lot of answers.

For costs, I just sent mine to Jim Kobe for a re-barrel this morning. He is going to furnish the barrel (he prefers Shilen for lower overall cost than Douglas), install it, replace the safety and do some feed rail work for me, with blueing, of course. His fees are reasonable, as are the rest of the smiths I mentioned above. Email them for estimates. On the particular rifle I am having done, I shipped through USPS since this is the first time UPS got pissy on me. Shipping the barreled action was about $20, insured, delivery confirmation, express mail. As for time frames, I have waited as short as 2 weeks and as long as a year. Again, ask the smith.

As for the squaring/trueing question, If it isn't square, it isn't as likely to be accurate. Just my opinion. It is worth the money.

You should be getting what you want from what you have. The two most important things I have found affecting accuracy are the crown and the bedding. If both of those are correct then you may need a new barrel. After all Winchester spent about $25 on that barrel. I have done exactly what you did for customers and the rifle has always shot tighter groups. You loose some velocity but not that much and can usually get much of it back reloading. Just cutting the "boss" off shouldn't have changed the effective barrel length so you shouldn't be seeing a change in velocity. Squaring and truing an action helps but it usually doesn't make a big difference because most modern actions are reasonable square and true to start with. The exception to this is when you build a rifle on an old military action, like a 98 Mauser. Just my thoughts, but if you still want to rebarrel I can do it, two weeks time.

JRH Advanced Gunsmithing is one of, if not the only shop I know that has an actual barrel finishing machine, capable of reboring barrels, and finishing them. They do barrels for very high priced firearm companies.

If JRH is within driving distance, I'd drive up and talk to Jack, Sean, or Jason about the job. Rebarreling a rifle you can spend as much money as you want, so, it really helps to talk to them about the job first.

What's shipping on a rifle these days? 80 bucks one way, by Fedex or UPS? I don't like any of the non-gun friendly gun companies, and, I don't trust them with my firearms, if I can help it.

JRH just redid their shop, and, it might be well worth driving up, just for that.

Sincerely

GS

PS
Jack is a gunsmith with a college degree, and, the only other one I know is Hamilton Bowen. JRH's prices have always been the most reasonable of the top gunsmiths, or at least the ones I've worked with.

GS

Posted 18 July 2009 11:16
Hi
I saw your post on the rebarreling project.
Jack and Sean have done the best work for me, at the best price, of anyone I've worked with in nearly 30 years.
Save your shipping costs, and either call, or drive up and see their new shop.
They are one of the few shops, like 4 in the US, that can actually rebore and refinish rifle barrels.

Best of luck

GS


The sign of true ignorance is to blame a president for the actions of Congress. As long as we focus on the figure head, and don't cut off the Hydras, we will have an oligarchy, and worse.

+100 on what GS said.

You'd be hard pressed to find a shop more capable than Jack Huntington's -- period. I wouldn't hesitate to commission JRH for the job, and you will find that he is typically more reasonably priced than most gunsmithing shops. Plus, their customer service and turnaround time is second to none and they guarantee all of their work. They have performed all manner of work for me on on my rifles and have built me a number of custom revolvers. I wouldn't hesitate for a moment. Just my .02 cents.......

JRH...Jack Huntington I HIGHLY recommend!He does GREAT work and has done many jobs for me,No Complaints...Just tell Him Tom is still waiting for the Custom 577 Howdah Pistols

Someone above mentioned Jim Kobe for this.
He has done numerous re barrels or "builds" for me, and they are all great shooters.

Here are a pair of 5 shot groups at 300 yards with a 300 Win on a Mauser actiopn that Jack Huntington built for me







Jack's work is secound to none IMHO

Just another thought.

Since a lot of folks rebarrel their Winchester classics, there are probably quite a few .300 Winnie Classic original barrels sitting around that could be had for a very reasonable price.

I guess it all depends on how much you want to spend and how accurate you need to be.

Here is a link to the site.

http://www.jrhgunmaker.com/page2.html