Howdy Guys, I have a Rem 700 in .222 rem, I have purchased a Rem 700 take off barrel in .221 fireball. What are my chances that if I swap the barrels that the headspace will be okay? Any input will be very helpful.
Thanks
Bill

Wmwise,

I would bet there will be some headspace adjustment needed to get the 221 FB barrel safe to shoot or even chamber a round.

This is a simple task to fit another barrel, especially if the headspace is long, just set the barrel shoulder, barrel shank and bolt nose recess back the amount needed and your there.

If the headspace is to short, there are a few things that can be done. If it is within a few thousands or so, simply recutting the bolt lug recesses will generally bring the headspace into adjustment. One can also true up the reciever face to cut headspace by a few more thousandths.

If it is quite a bit short, the only good way to do it is deepen the chamber with a chambering reamer.

In my shop, if this is needed, especially with a round like the 221 FB, I will recomend that the barrel shank be cut off and refitted to the action. By doing this I can get a very good class 3 thread fit to the reciever and totally clean up the old chamber and throat to provide a match quality chameber and throat.

Even factory barrels generally shoot extememly well with this proceedure done on them.

Also, make sure you recrown the factory barrel, this also greatly increases your accuacy potential of the rifle for very low cost.

Good Shooting!!

50

It's a crap shoot.
If it doesn't fit quite right have your gunsmith set it back one turn and re-cut the chamber.
JCN

Over several years Norman Johnson has swapped over twenty factory take-off barrels among several Remington actions. According to his many reports in Precision Shooting magazine and in his direct conversations with me, he has never had a Remington take-off barrel that when properly screwed into another Remington action that did not fit within go/no-go gage tolerances.

Your experiences may be different.

Hammer

I've swapped a few and they have always headspaced.None of them have ever indexed,the sights can wind up anywhere.With scope, not a problem.

Some of it depends on wether or not the action was trued before the .221 barrel was fitted (this is assuming your refering to the .221 barrel from the classifieds). If the lugs have been lapped and the reciever ring wasn't cut to keep the same dimensions before the barrel was fitted then the barrel shank is probably too long. If the headspace is too tight but resonably close or the shank is too long (basically the same thing) it can be cured by using a thicker recoil lug. The barrel shoulder would have to be cut but that is simple compared to refitting the barrel.

If it is a factory barrel in .221 then, as long as your action is unmodified, you probably have a 95% chance it will headspace. I've only had 2-3 barrels out of the 50+ I've tried that didn't headspace on a unmodified action.