How long should it take for a rebarrel job. I was told by a barrel maker it would take 6-12 weeks just to get the barrel. I was thinking about that long for the whole project. How long should I expect to wait for this to happen ?

I was just looking at :
http://www.montanarifleman.com/products.html
they quote"
Delivery for rifled blanks is typically less than ten days - contoured barrels, less than three weeks."

Rob, it all depends on how busy the gunsmith is. If he is sitting around waiting for your order, he can have it done 4 hours after the barrel arrives. If he is busy you have to get in line.

I've ordered somewhere around fifty barrels from Hart, Krieger and Shilen this year and 8-10 weeks is about average. Sometimes it's a couple of weeks more or less. Just have to wait until your order is pulled.. The good news is that they're worth the wait..

Thanks for the input just excited about getting it i guess.

It also depends on who does it. Some guys can have a rebarrel job back in short order (generally figure on 2-3 months) if the smith doesnt have to wait long for the barrel maker to get them the product. Then in some cases you might wait over a year for a barrel job. Of course their are no excuses for that however.

-Mike

four hours after the barrel arives? How many coffee breaks does that include?

Must be 2 pots since it only takes 3 hrs after it arrives

rembo, I figured in the Canadian exchange already for you. 3 hours here, 4 hours up there including the time zone

I waited over a year for a M98 to be rebarreled to 7x57, and he screwed it up. Sent it back and it still sucks. The guy had a heart attack a little while back, so I think he is out of business now. He did even worse on my brothers rifle, we sent them in at the same time.

The smith I am now using has a three man shop. The only real waiting is in his shop to get your turn to talk to him.

He claims that Brownell's has many Shilen barrels in stock and that he can get them in two weeks and chamber and install in two weeks more.

So far he has done two for me where I supplied the barrels and they each took two weeks for the labor. There was no bluing involved.

Some take forever to do work but the last smith that retired on me did his work in the same week not counting waiting for barrels etc.

Part of the problem, and maybe the majority of it, is the just in time inventory phylosophy in current businesses. The gunsmith does not want to tie money up in inventory.
My last rebarreling was fairly straight forward I called the guy, asked what he recommended for a medium target weight barrel in the caliber I wanted, .375. He gave me several suggestions, I asked how long, he wandered back into the stock room came up with two possibles. I had the rifle in two weeks.
I'm sure the various barrel makers have quanity discounts and the gunsmith can order those calibers and barrel weights that he has the most calls for. If the gunsmith can't afford to do that then this gunsmith is unreliable because he's likely to bankrupt. Find out what the gunsmith has in inventory! If the gunsmith doesn't have any inventory that's his way of saying your time means nothing to him.
Jim

Im glad I barrel my own. I also keep my day job as it probably pays more since I would loose customers for not having a 5 or 10,000.00 inventory of barrels

Delivery time on a barrel from a large company is one thing. They may be in stock.

A gunsmith that can do it immediately is highly suspect to me. Why isn't he loaded down with work like any good one is?

The one thing you don't want in a rebarrel is a "rush" job.

the actual work should only take from 2 to 6 hours depending on the barrel, the action, the type of equipment your Gunsmith is using. (what kind of lathe, barrel vise, reamers, etc) and whether or not the barrel is short chambered, whether he's working from a blank and will have to taper the barrel, etc.

A retired gunsmith friend of mine recemtly rebarrelled a 98 mauser for me in .308 with a short chambered, ready tapered barrel, and the job took about 2 1/2 hours.

A gunsmith who does a lot of barrel work can fit and chamber a barrel perfectly in about 2 hours if there is nothing unusual about the job and if he is uninterupted. This is a rarity however because the operation usually goes something like this:
I select the rifle to be rebarreled from the rack. It's a straightforward job. Simply replace the barrel on a push feed M70 with a barrel in 280 Rem. similar in contour. I look under the bench and I do indeed have a #2 Shilen on hand so I go to work.
The rifle has a scope on it so the first step is to remove the scope and bases. The scope comes off easily enough but the allen head base screws are wiped out so the wrench just spins around helplessly. Not a problem. I just drive a suitably sized Robertson screwdriver into the screws and out they come. Except for the one that breaks off. This is the front screw on the front base and it appears to have bottomed out on the barrel threads. Carefully, I drill down through the remnants of the screw with a #33 drill. I figure I can now unscrew the barrel with no fear of having the threads pile up and can remove the remainder of the screw afterwards. I flip the rifle over to remove the guard screws. The phone rings.
Twenty minutes later I return to the rifle. I search for a minute for the screwdriver then go pick it up from the desk beside the phone. The front guard screw is in poor shape and is it ever tight! It's tough to get the screw driver to bite so I dig out my impact driver. The phone rings.
A few minutes later I return to the rifle. I can't help but fell a little pleased with myself for not having left the impact driver in by the phone. I fit the impact driver into the screw and reach for the hammer..which, it turns out, is on the desk next to the phone. Finally, the stock is removed and labeled and put in the rack. I pull the old barrel and remove the remainder of the front scope mount screw.
I always put the receiver on a mandrel and take a truing cut across the face so I do this now. This rifle has seen a lot of use and both lugs are bearing fully and reasonably smooth so lapping is a guick and easy affair. I'm feeling good now! The phone rings.
Back at the bench I look around for a couple of minutes to orient myself then, suddenly remembering what I'm working on, I put the receiver in the vice to measure for headspace etc. The bolt face is a bit rough and, worse, it measures a thou and a half closer to the face of the receiver on one side. I hunt up the mandrel for holding Winchester bolts and set the bolt up to recut the face. After getting set up I realize I forgot to remove the extractor. Well, I don't want to have to mess around so I figure I can remove the extractor with tthe bolt in the lathe, and I can! What I can't do though is control the little plunger behind the extractor and it takes off. I'm used to this though and listen to it bouncing off all four walls before touching down in a pile of chips back under the lathe. With some difficulty I get down and reach back for the plunger which I can just see amongst the chips. I can't quite reach it so I get right down on my belly so I can get under the lathe and reach a little further. The phone rings.
A short while later I have explained to a nice lady that I have no interest in purchasing any more insurance and have managed to control the bleeding where I ran my head into the lathe bed when the phone rang. I retrieve the errant plunger and recut the bolt face. It looks good and the measurement's good so I record the figures on the wall behind the lathe (my technique only but feel free to copy). I set the barrel up in the 4 jaw chuck and face it off. I then cut the tenon and thread it. Since my tailstock is set up right on center I can also chamber right in the headstock. I do so to the predetermined depth and everything looks great. I remove the barrel from the lathe and am screwing it into the receiver when my eye falls on the tag (figuratively speaking)and I read the part where the customer wants it throated to accept Sierra 175s seated .329" into the neck of a maximum length case. The phone rings.
Returning to the job I cheerfully set the barrel up in the 4 jaw chuck and dig out my 7mm throater. I then set about making up a dummy cartridge. I don't have any 280 dies but I do have a set of 7mm Mag dies and am able to make up the dummy cartridge once I find my #3 shellholder which I had left in my priming tool. I throat the barrel to take the dummy and, once again remove the barrel from the lathe. I screw the action on and stamp the barrel with the caliber. I remove the action then polish the barrel. I polish to within one grade of finishing before I shorten so I don't end up with a flare at the muzzle. I then cut and crown and finish polishing.
When it's all said and done I have installed this barrel in just a little over two hours of actual working time. I will, however, be about an hour late for supper. The phone rings. I unplug it. Regards, Bill.

Must be Monday

Bill,

You should get a cordless phone.

Paul

Well now I'm double excited since I just aquired a landowner tag in NM for speed goats. Talked to the Smith yesterday had said no problem having it ready by then. Sept 20-21.

I've been waitin' five months so far and I furnished the barrel. OK, the barrel had to be set back some and the chamber recut and the smith had to go to Alaska for two weeks and he couldn't find his headspace gauges so he ordered another set and nobody told him that they came in two weeks ago and, and, and...and I'm gettin really tired of this and that shit.

Sent a action to Krieger to barrel, ten months and waiting, To damn long IMO and I'm a patient man when it comes to such things.

Rob1SG, Those are really tasty if you take care of them right. There is a small creek close to a spot where we hunt in Howe. After the shot, I gut, then skin on the tail gate and drive straight to the stream. Tie a rope around a leg and toss it in. Some people say Antelope aren't worth eating, but they probably kept it in the back of their truck all weekend and wonder why it's nasty. I use a 25-06, it hits them like a Thunderbolt.

LAR45,
Thanks this is my first goat hunt.The rancher has said he will guide me if I want.I think my primary will be my 6mm Rem.Unless I can get the 7mm back in time to do a good break in job on it.I think I'll bring bags of ice in the back of my truck.I have a 150 qt. ice chest.

I saw a smith basically build a rifle in an evening about 35 yrs ago. We went to his shop my buddie hands him an old 8mm he bought for $30. He pulled the barrel. faced the bolt. cut and weled a new handle to it. trued the action. The n proceded to take a 30 cal machine gun barrel he had in the white cut it off. turned a sporter contour then chambered and cut the crown. Next i knew he had it screwed into the action. He installed a new timney trigger and set it for like 3 lbs. Had a used stock that was nice and screwed it together. my buddie glassed the following day. went to the range the next. Gun shot sub moa new barrel and all. The following week he left for deer camp. Now that's turn-around time!!!

Bill Leeper,
Man, You said it!!!
My biggest time eating factor is that darned phone ringing and then getting back to the bench or Lathe and remembering where I was at.

It can literaly eat a whole day. Like today. I was on the phone so much I got nothing done that is worth talking about LOL.

One thing though I will say about the phone ringing.
Even though it is a PITA, I am glad it rings
That means I we eat.

Celt

"...If he is sitting around waiting for your order..." And you don't want a smithy that's waiting for you. There's a reason for it.