I picked up a .308 Marlin for my Encore in a 28" Pro Hunter SS fluted. I'm not interested in the .308 Marlin and would prefer to have something that has a little more power. I've been looking at MGM's web site and they can do a .30-40 AI or .300 H&H on it, and then there is Garry Reeder's .310 GNR which looks interesting.

The barrel was so cheap I couldn't hardly pass up the deal. Now I can't decide what to do. I do reload the .300 H&H and regular .30-40, but what other .30 calibers are there I should be looking at?

Other .30 caliber cartridges? Several others come to mind:

308 Winchester
30/06
300 Win. Mag.
300 Weatherby Mag.

However cheap it was, figure out if, after the rechambering, the barrel is still cheaper than buying one already made for the cartridge of your choice. Also, when you go to resell the barrel, you probably won't get as much for a rechambered barrel as you would for a barrel originally chambered for a given cartridge.

Of course, if you got your barrel for $125, what you want to do may still be worth it.

My vote would be 300h&h or maybe 300 weatherby

quote:

Of course, if you got your barrel for $125, what you want to do may still be worth it.

Not quite that cheap!

Sent emails to both Gary Reeder and Mike Bellm, and I cant do the .310 GNR or .30-40 as they will not clean up the chamber. I guess the .308 Marlin has a .470 base diameter and the widest the .30-40 and .310 get is .453 so it is a no-go. More than likely it will become a .300 H&H since I have the dies and brass for it.

Mike Bellm did discuss several cartridges. The .308 being one of them. He said he could work the extractor to allow me to shoot either .307 or .308 out of the barrel. Kind of neat but I doubt I'd go out and buy .307 brass with the availability of .308 Win.

Well, I have two! One for $155 with 2 boxes of factory ammo and a scope base and rings and one for $125 when the rebate is deducted. In addition, I have about 1,000 pieces brass and also have dies!

Of course, I haven't shot either one yet, LOL; too many barrels and too little time. I do plan to shoot one or both barrels in the unmodified version at some point though.

Just so you know, work by Mike can take a LONG time and there are others that would probably do it more expeditiously.

Don't know if I'll have Mike Bellm do the job, but he has been answering my emails better than the rest. I'v been in contact with MGM as well and they are a little cheaper on the job. Don't have anyone locally that does a lot of work on the Encore's so I was kind of hoping to find someone with the reamers on hand as I was really hoping to do the .30-40 AI or .310 GNR.

One guy contacted me about the work but I figure I was renting the reamer when he said he could chamber it for $175 plus $30 for shipping and insurance. Mike is right at $150 for everything, MGM list $75 on their site but I know that doesn't inclued the shipping charges as well. If I go with a standard cartridge or Magnum I'll probably just run the barrel out to Kevin Weaver and see if he will do it.

MGM would be one I would use. Also, shipping a barrel doesn't cost that much.

quote:

Originally posted by Grumulkin:
MGM would be one I would use. Also, shipping a barrel doesn't cost that much.

I know, that is why I told the first guy he was a little on the steep side. Plus I didn't like how he tried to sidestep the question when I asked him what reamers he owned that would clean up my chamber. Going deer hunting tomorrow and will not be back for a week so I'll have some time to think on it.

+1 for MGM. There is also a forum there where barrels are bought and sold, in case you choose to buy new and sell the current one.