i purchased a 1st yr. Remington m700ks (with Brown Precision pounder)last year for $325..with the intent of rebarrelling it to 257 roberts.the Remington custom shop will rebarrel it to my specs in 257 for $400.00 which is the same price as Pac-Nor or John Lewis will do it for $550.00.. I could have the only ks in 257, they will guarentee accuracy and my 3 other ks's shoot sub 1" groups but my heart says use John.. what do you think?

If you get rem to do it, you said they said that they will back it up.. Ask them HOW LONG till it gets down..

400 is a far price, for barrel, mounting, tuning and bluing..

jeffe

Speaking strictly for Myself, $400-$550 seems WAY to high. $170 for labor and bluing, plus the price of the barrel, is very reasonable. That's what I'd charge if I was doing it.
There is a WIDE variation in the prices of barrels. But I can tell you (from 32 years experiance as a gunsmith) high price dose NOT mean that the barrel is better. I have made LOTS of rifles that will shoot honest 1/2" to 5/8" groups with barrels that only cost $60-$110 (at the time). 90% of the accuracy using todays barrels, is from the quality of the gunsmithing.
That's not to say that I can make a bad barrel shoot great, but it is saying that I can't tell much difference between a $400 Walther and a $140 Douglas. I have used about 70-80 E.R. Shaw barrels in my life, and the worst shooting gun I ever did on one shot just a little over an inch at 100 yds. Several of them shot under 5/8" and a few shot under 1/2" Shaw barrels only cost about $115 threaded and chambered.

Just food for thought..........

Oh, Oh! Here we go on the Shaw barrels again! I would charge about $350 for a Chrome moly rebarrel and an extra $100 or so for stainless and this would DEFINITLY not be a Shaw, it would be Shilen.

to chamber a barrel that's not a mag cal and no extractor cut in the barrel i charge $150.00 that is thread chamber and crown, the reamer i would use would be from dave kiff and it would cost me $150.00 for the reamer and $50.00 for the go and no go gages. so to chamber your barrel it would cost me $50.00 but my next job on that cal i would make money. as for a good barrel i have been getting my barrels from tim north at broughton barrels.for reg contores the price is under $300.00 for ss. or you can get a barrel from bow clark for about $170.00 and they shoot very well but are not as smooth inside. www.parrysgunsmithing.com

If your Rem. action is a stock unit, and you are going to the expense of putting a quality barrel on it, you may want to look into having your action trued. A good action job can do as much for accuracy as the barrel. I would definatly stay away from Remington for any accuracy work. A good bet might be an outfit like Hart barrel co., they can supply a barrel as good as any, chamber and thread it, and do any action work you want done, all in one stop. Good luck Bob

Pacnor has done an excellent job for me over the years. My route to a reasonably priced "custom rifle" is to find an action ($300ish) and letting Pacnor true, chamber and finish the action/barrel for $400, then hunting down the stock ($150-200) and putting it all together myself. I know some might not consider this custom but they are all set up the way I like them as far as balance and weight, they all shoot under an inch with hunting bullets and they are all reliable. I still cant figure out what goes into a rifle to justify the $3-4000 prices I have seen on custom stuff. I cant honestly imagine there could be any improvement in field performance.