I have an early 70's Rem 700 Varmintmaster in 22-250 that I'd like to have rebored to something else. I was told by a local gunsmith that due to the hardness of the barrels Remington made at the time, it was it as difficult to rebore them. He suggested putting a new barrel on.

This sound right to you guys? If reboring is doable and cheaper, I'd rather go that route. If not, what barrel maker would you recommend and what smith in Northern CA would you rely on?

I intend to use the rifle for longer range shooting, thinking of something in 6.5mm (I already have a 7-08 and a 308). Thoughts on that too?

Thanks for any information.

Regards.

Reboring is possible,but will cost almost as much as a new barrel and there is no reason to keep the current barrel makings. I would have it rebarreled. Your best option might be to just call Pac Nor and have them rebarrel for you.

Sounds to me like somebody would rather charge you their labor for fitting a new barrel, rather than removing the barrel and sending it to somebody else for reboring....

If you want it rebored, get it rebored. This is about what YOU want.

http://www.z-hat.com/Rebore.htm

http://www.cutrifle.com/

whether the hardness issue is true or not i don't know altho i doubt it. but i did have one and only one barrel rebored - a weatherby #2 contour from 300 to 340. cost $300 or $350 i forget. could have had a brand new barrel for same money. but i don't pay $400 and up for new barrels either. not a bench rest, competition, or die hard pasture poodle shooter. $200 barrels are more accurate than i can take advantage of. as is true of most people who'd admit it.

there is one cost trade off not mentioned - rebore the old barrel equals no stock work which is what i was after in this case as was a custom stock. otherwise is redoing the inletting or paying a special charge to duplicate the contour of your old barrel.

Will, You wouldn't have to pay extra for the contour. I can't think of a barrel maker that doesn't offer the Remington varmint contour as a standard. The only reason for having a barrel re-bored is to save an unusual contour or barrel markings. You won't save a dime by re-boring as opposed to re-barrel. If you got to have it re-bored I would highly recommend Danny Pederson at:
Classic Barrel & Gunworks
2601 Lake Valley Rd.
Prescott Valley, AZ 86314
dan@cutrifle.com

my case wasn't a remington coutour; that was the original poster. mine was a weatherby mark v #2 heavy. mcgowen did it (actually they send it out to i believe somebody in WA state) and told me same thing - no $$ savings over a new bbl. but since the stock was bedded like i like it (glass full bbl channel) and was a good contour and lgt for a 340mag i decided just to try it this once.

it came out fine, is accurate, but was no benefit at all over a new one.