I found a stainless 40X barrel for $130 and a Sako L579 action for $260 at a gun show. Would like to build a shooter. Any advice or help?

AA--

I thought I'd already answered that.....

$130 for a used Remingon barrel!!?? I'll send you a bundle to sell for me. LOL

Seriously, I wouldn't pay $130 for any factory barrel. You have that mucb again to fit it to a Sako action.......and you still have a Remington barrel. It doesn't make sense to be.

Good buy on the Sako action, though.

Ok, I'll bite. Where's a good place to find good take-off barrels for a Remington action? What's considered a fair price? I've been looking around considering something like this, and IIRC, Hart's has some takeoff barrel rated as good or very good for something like $125-$150 range. From your post, I'd take it that that is asking too much $$$. So enlighten me

TIA,

Monte

If you do decide to go with Remington take-off barrels, try www.mikesshooting.com He has new take-off barrels, not used. I prefer Lilja myself, but I do have one Remington take-off on a "beater" gun that shoots within 1" all the time. I just wanted to cheaply change an old ADL from 243 to 308 and for $165 total including installation I thought it was worth it.

Mike shipped me the barrel and I had a local guy install it.

Yikes!! I went over to Hart's site and reviewed the prices again. Seems I inserted a '1' in there somehow. More like $25 for a used barrel. Hmmm... maybe I'll have to seriously consider getting a .243 Win varmint barrel to screw on my 700VS and make it a switch barrel affair. How hard is that to do for someone w/ a bit of mechanical ability?

Should consist of having a sturdy vise, a barrel clamp, an action wrench, sufficient lead in your britches to get the factory barrel loose, then some sort of jig for holding the lug, or else have it pinned by a smith, and then a set of headspace guages and/or fired/sized cases, right?

Monte

Mike's seems to have barrels in the $125 range as well. That really low price ($25) is for used take offs. The new take-offs are $40(CM) or $100(SS).

So, any suggestions for the little project I mentioned? Take it to a gunsmith and have them fit the barrels and pin the recoil lug initially? Any ideas how much that would cost?

Thanks,

Monte

Monte, Try kuaila custom (TRIED TO SPELL IT RIGHT). He is down in Oregon and has a lot of Remington take off barrels. Probably spelled it wrong but a quick search will find it. Just checked.....it's kailua custom. Seems like a nice guy. FWIW

Monte,
Have a friend in Entiat that has a switch barrel Rem. 700. They are bench rest barrels that were a little used up. They were re chambered(after cutting off a few threads and turned down) and are very accurate but ugly. He uses a big ugly round washer for the recoil lug and changing barrels just takes a minute. Think they are all indexed. Midway had a fixture that held the factory lug I think....sure would look better. Might look into this if you have a gunsmith friend.

A switch barrel setup is actually pretty easy on a Remington 700. The first thing you have to do is to glass bed the recoil lug area of the stock. This keeps the lug in the correct relationship with the receiver when you change barrels.
Have a gunsmith fit multiple barrels to fit the same action with correct headspace. Buy the barrel switching tools (Sinclair or Brownells or Midway). You will need a barrel clamping fixture, a receiver tool, a set of go/no-go gages, and a good 4-way tire tool. Some guys buy or make clmping plates themselves to use with a normal bench vise but I prefer the Sinclair tool bolted down to the bench.
With the barreled action bolted into the stock simply clamp down the front of the barrel, insert the receiver tool in the bolt guide, and use the 4-way to loosen up the barrel. Normally factory barrels are put in so tightly that they cannot be easily removed but gunsmiths can install the barrel with 50 or 60 ft. lbs. or tightness so that you can loosen it yourself. Remove the first barrel being careful not to scratch the barrel or stock or scope. If you have open sights on the barrel they will have to be removed before changing out the barrel. Put a bit of oil on the threads of the barrel being inserted and screw it into the action, making sure that the recoil lug has not fallen out of the stock. Snug it down with about the same amount of force on the wrench that you would use to tighten lug nuts on a wheel (approx. 80-100 ft. lbs.) Use the go/no-go gages to verify that headspace is acceptable and you haven't messed something up.
Simple.
The only time I got it wrong was when I switched out the recoil lug by accident but the go/no-go gage showed the problem right off. Even 0.010" variation in lug thickness will cause the headspace to be off.
So far I have 2 switch barrel setups and am happy with both.

The ss 40x barrels are actually very good button rifled barrels and not to be confused with their run-of-the-mill hammer forged barrels.(Hammer forged barrels can be very good too but Remington doesn't seem to try too hard with theirs). So a new 40x barrel for 125.00 is a good deal. Especially if it is a long enough barrel to work with. The 40x barrels are also well chambered as a rule. The 700 barrels might be but I wouldn't bet the farm on it. I used quite a few Remington 700 barrels in the foundation of my house. Seem to work ok for this purpose. In fairness, I have used and seen some good 700 barrels but if buying them you have to be quite selective and able to know what you are looking at. Regards, Bill.