Anybodyhave any experience or recommendations of smiths other than Cliff Labounty?

Is going from 7mm to .308 enough of a difference?

Thanks...

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MED

The sole purpose of a rifle is to please its owner

Probably the absolute best reboring craftsman is J. W. VanPatten, in Pennsylvania. Not cheap, but absolutely excellent.

Paladin

Mike,
There is a guy in Oregon who took over Bob West's reboring business. I will get his address or Bob's phone number for you.

I know Cliff is very busy and he does incredible work.

I don't know about the bore minimums but would think that would work.

Mike,
I used LaBounty Precision to re-bore an '06 to .35 Whelen years ago.

Trust me, unless the original barrel is special somehow, you're MUCH better off re-barreling.

• it will have a MUCH quicker turnaround
• it will cost only a bit more for a better barrel(e.g., Shilen, Lilja, Hart, Douglas XX)
• it will be a contour of your choosing
• it will be the material of your choosing
• the barrel will be installed square to the receiver (assuming a competent gunsmith)
• the crown will be perfect (assuming a competent gunsmith)
  

I would never re-bore a barrel again!

George

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Shoot straight, shoot often, but by all means, use enough gun!

Mike:

I would second what GeorgeS said, based on identical reasoning, even though the one rifle I had rebored turned out OK.

Dave

My experience with reboring is just the opposite of George's. I have had Cliff LaBounty rebore two rifles for me. The most recent about a year ago when he rebored an FN Supreme Mauser from 30-06 to 9.3x62 (turned around in 3 months). The barrel had relatively high dollar sights on it and a beautiful contour that I did not want to lose. As in my other rebore by Cliff (from 270 Win to 338-06), the FN is putting 250 gr Barnes X's well inside 2" at 200 yards. So, my experience is that he can rebore to the accuracy levels that my re-barrels have been able to achieve. Maybe I have been lucky.

What did you guys pay for the reboring?

I have an old M-70 in .243 with the SS bbl and it's a good one except for the errosion.

Back in the 1970's I built a sporter weight classic rifle on a Mark X Mauser and chambered it in 220 Swift. It was extremely accurate and I shot a truck load of Texas coyotes and bobcats, whitetail deer and two mule deer. Finally the throat erroded to the point that accuracy began to slip.

Since the barrel was so accurate and would shoot a great variety of loads I had a theory that it was partly due to very good metalurgy and proper heat treatment and stress relief.

So in view of that I felt like if it was skillfully rebored it would maintain those good qualities that made it accurate to start with.

In 1985 I sent the barrel to Robert Snapp in Clare, Michigan (he does not rebore now). He rebored it to .25 caliber with a 10" twist. When I got it back I chambered it to 257 Roberts Improved with the 40 degree shoulder. It will shoot 100 gr Nosler partition or 100 gr Nosler ballistic tips to the same point of impact and under 3/4 minute of angle in excess of 3400 fps. It kills whitetails like a thunder bolt. It shoots laser flat. After the rebore I fired nine shots and killed nine head of game. It is a wonderful rifle.

Try Dan Pedersen at www.cutrife.com He dosen't list reboring on his web site but I know he does it.