I know this is going to sound stupid to all of you but is it possible to re-cut the end of a Remington M700 barrel to fit a Winchester M-70 CRF action? I have never measured the end of a Rem. barrel that was off.

The Remington 700 barrels stub is 1 1/16th threaded 16 tpi and the Winchester (classic) stub is 1".

Is half of 1/16" enough to clean out the old threads?

It is easy to turn down the major diameter of a thread and pick up the old thread.

Rem 700 barrels are popular choices for refitting to small ring mausers .965-.985 major thread diameter. There is .077"-.097" to play with. As for a Win 70 you would be down to around .060" as far as threads; the bigger issue will be as the barrel is shortened and starts tapering, there won't be enough of a shoulder to lock up the receiver.

It is entirely possible to rethread the 700 barrel to fit a Model 70. However, if you wish to use the original chamber without reaming, it will be necessary to make a spacer to sandwich between the barrel and receiver since the Remington tenon is longer than required for a Model 70. If the Model 70 is a pre-64 or Classic with coned breech, the chamber has to be deepened anyway to allow machining of the cone and extractor cut. When all is said and done, it's a decent training project! Regards, Bill.