What can be done to my Remington 700 without a lathe as far as changing barrels. I would purchase some tools such as action wrenches, head space guages, bolt face lapping etc. I dont have a lathe. Would like to rebarrel my .308 to another cartridge and new stock. I would like to do as much as possible on the amatuer level myself towards accuracy. Any suggestions helpful. Thinking of either 6.5-284 or Varmit cartridge .224 TTH.

Fetchmax,

Having barrel wrenches, headspace guages etc., won't do you much of good when changing barrels and lapping lugs etc., if you don't have the means (lathe) to correctly reset headspace when you're done. When you start lapping metal, you increase tolerances. Without a lathe to make the necessary corrections to the headspace, you are setting yourself up for some possible trouble.

You could lap the action yourself, and then hire a gunsmith to set the headspace for each barrel to the action, then with your action wrench, you could swap barrels without too much trouble.

The Savage rifle with it's barrel nut system is probably better suited for what you have in mind.

Good luck,

Malm

Without a good Lathe and the knowledge and training to run it your basically out of luck. In fact just trying to swap barrels could be quite dangerous to you! You would be better off farming out the metal work to a good gunsmith and concentrating on proper glassbedding techniqe of your stock.-Rob

Any recommendations on a good barrel maker that will fit the barrel to my action,true the action, up and set headspace at a reasonable price. Thanks for the info.

Talk to casey at Pac-Nor! They will take care of you! They are reliable, reasonably fast and nice to deal with. You really can't get a better barrel from anybody.-Rob

Look at the Adams and Bennett web site. I am not suggesting you either do or don't buy a barrel from them, but they have a page that lists gunsmiths by area that do chambering and headspace work. I know the one listed in my area is one of the best for anyone's barrel. It would be at least worth a look.

I have rebarreled several rifles without the benefit of a lathe. When I use take-off barels it's usually just a matter of either lapping the bolt lugs or the barrel-receiver junction to achieve proper headspace. Brownells sells sells threaded & short chambered barrels for no-lathe installation, you would need the usual tools and a chambering reamer. I would also suggest a good book on the subject, two that I've found helpfull are "Gunsmithing:Rifles" by Sweeny and "Accurizing the Factory Rifle" by McPherson.
Good Luck - Kurt

Thanks Kurt. That's what I was thinking. I will get me a book or video on the subject so that I am a little more familiar with it. Minimum things I would need are the barrel removal tools, headspace guages, bolt lug lapping tools and/or hand chamber reamer for the final headspacing. Great , thanks again. Any other input is appreciated.