I want to rebore a Kimber Montana 7-08 to 358 Win. I wonder if they use the same profile for the 338 Fed? Is there enough meat at the muzzle to safely do this? Also, what's the cleanest way to remove 7-08 marking from the barrel and putin its place 358 Win? I am very particular about this. I find that simply stamping over the old chambering with an X stamp is very tacky. Thanks, Lou

Your not going to have enough meat left in that barrel for this to work. Considering that a rebore cost $350 and a new barrel installed through Pac-Nor, Hart, Shilen, and so on could be had for $500-750 your not saving much and will not have the same quality of product you started out with.

The only reason to rebore is if you are trying to save the original sights.

Measure the muzzle end, or where you want it to be if you cut it; take that number and subtract .358 then divide the result by 2. It the resulting number is smaller than .150 then you don't have enough material to do it safely. If you do, you could have it done for about $300.

I clean a lot of stampings off barrels and the way I do it is by turning the barrel between centers on my lathe and filing/sanding the marks off. They're usually only about .010" to .015" deep so it has little effect on the barrel's contour. I then remark using my pantograph engraver.

That being said, reboring is usually the way to go if you have a barrel with some unique feature you wish to retain e.g. sights, contour, historical provenance. Few Kimbers will ever fall into that category so you're probably better off with a new barrel.

I have a few rebores that were done by the now retired Cliff LaBounty. His rule of thumb was .10" thickness at the muzzle so you would need ~.56" muzzle diameter. I have two 35 Whelen's as such, one of which is a Ruger factory barrel that measure .560". My rebores are as accurate as my custom barreled guns as they were done by the master. Jim Dubell purchased Cliff's equipment and I am told is performing the same high quality work.

One thing will change is the rifle's balance. It may improve or not, depnding on your preferences. As far as wall thickness, I think .1 is about as thin as most reborers will go. I know LaBounty did some English doubles as thin as .080. My Italian O/U 30-06 is .061 in the grove at the muzzle. So go figure...

Jim Dubell did my guild barrel from 8mauser to 9.3. I had Ed Shilen look at it and he said it looked great. I haven't shot it yet.
Butch

Thanks. I am not sure what the muzzle diameter is. I'll have to wait until mid Feb when I get home to measure it.

I had PacNor rebarrel a M70 Classis FWT in 7-08 to 358 Win. They used the same contour to the forend than continued from there with no taper. Looks and works great. Just thought I'd check to see if I could rebore. Lou