Rifle Rebarrel

[Crazy Dane]

A thread to keep track of thoughts and progress and to knock around ideas.


I have the first gun I ever bought. It is a Ruger M77 20 inch Ultralight in .308, it was made in 1989. I know this was in the era of Wilson barrels with spotty QC. It never was stellar accurate but has taken plenty of deer. It never was abused but did see a lot of rounds and finally got to where it produces shotgun patterns instead of groups. It went to the back of the safe and has been there since with the intention of getting a new barrel. I think this is the year to make it happen.

I have been doing my research and found that Pac-Nor is back from the ashes and looks like it is going to be $615 + shipping to have a barrel fitted. I have not spoken to them yet, just going off of web site info. This will be my gauge.

I am looking to keep the rifle light and handy, the reason I was drawn to it from the start. I do not want to go back with .308 Win, I have others and I also have my dad's Savage M99 in .308 that I am working on to see if I can get it to shoot accurately, it may need a new barrel also and it's on thread.

I am looking for whitetail accuracy for 300 yards and in.

Caliber consideration, the rifle kicks like a mule and I wish to go down in caliber mainly to give my wife something easier/lighter to shoot. I have her a Winchester model 670 in .243, no recoil because it is a heavy bastard. I will load my own ammo. I did try 6.5 Creedmoor brass in the magazine, it did not stack well, leaving me with legacy calibers without having to do modifications.

.243 Winchester - bullet choice is decent, brass on hand.

.257 Roberts - bullet choice is limited, brass is only made in limited production runs.

.260 Remington - overwhelmingly amount of bullets (Thank you 6.5 manbun...) plenty of brass. I think this is where my heart is settling.

7mm-08 - I bought my son a Remington M-7 in this, I never was impressed. His wife shoots this now and it does ok but he is still not a fan. Upper limit of this goal.

Everyone is welcome to knock around ideas and point out the error of my ways. I'm gonna go smoke a cigar now.

[Clusterfrack]

@Crazy Dane, my vote is .260 Rem. It does everything better than 6.5CM, and is my favorite non-magnum caliber.

[TCFD273]

A thread to keep track of thoughts and progress and to knock around ideas.


I have the first gun I ever bought. It is a Ruger M77 20 inch Ultralight in .308, it was made in 1989. I know this was in the era of Wilson barrels with spotty QC. It never was stellar accurate but has taken plenty of deer. It never was abused but did see a lot of rounds and finally got to where it produces shotgun patterns instead of groups. It went to the back of the safe and has been there since with the intention of getting a new barrel. I think this is the year to make it happen.

I have been doing my research and found that Pac-Nor is back from the ashes and looks like it is going to be $615 + shipping to have a barrel fitted. I have not spoken to them yet, just going off of web site info. This will be my gauge.

I am looking to keep the rifle light and handy, the reason I was drawn to it from the start. I do not want to go back with .308 Win, I have others and I also have my dad's Savage M99 in .308 that I am working on to see if I can get it to shoot accurately, it may need a new barrel also and it's on thread.

I am looking for whitetail accuracy for 300 yards and in.

Caliber consideration, the rifle kicks like a mule and I wish to go down in caliber mainly to give my wife something easier/lighter to shoot. I have her a Winchester model 670 in .243, no recoil because it is a heavy bastard. I will load my own ammo. I did try 6.5 Creedmoor brass in the magazine, it did not stack well, leaving me with legacy calibers without having to do modifications.

.243 Winchester - bullet choice is decent, brass on hand.

.257 Roberts - bullet choice is limited, brass is only made in limited production runs.

.260 Remington - overwhelmingly amount of bullets (Thank you 6.5 manbun...) plenty of brass. I think this is where my heart is settling.

7mm-08 - I bought my son a Remington M-7 in this, I never was impressed. His wife shoots this now and it does ok but he is still not a fan. Upper limit of this goal.

Everyone is welcome to knock around ideas and point out the error of my ways. I'm gonna go smoke a cigar now.

Barrels-

Krieger
Barrlein (steel or carbon)
Brux
Carbon 6

Only brands I would purchase

Caliber-
I pick caliber by brass offering. I only run Alpha or Lapua

My vote for a 300yd deer rifle, 25x47 or 6 dasher

Neck down Alpha or Lapua 6.5x47 brass, use Berger 135’s, out of a 26” light sendero carbon barrel

Alpha Dasher brass, Berger 109’s


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[Crazy Dane]

@Crazy Dane, my vote is .260 Rem. It does everything better than 6.5CM, and is my favorite non-magnum caliber.

I've seen where you had mentioned this in a different thread. I have always been interested in the .260, the one thing that kept me away was lack of bullet/ammo choices which is not an issue now.

Barrels-

Krieger
Barrlein (steel or carbon)
Brux
Carbon 6

Only brands I would purchase

Caliber-
I pick caliber by brass offering. I only run Alpha or Lapua

My vote for a 300yd deer rifle, 25x47 or 6 dasher

Neck down Alpha or Lapua 6.5x47 brass, use Berger 135’s, out of a 26” light sendero carbon barrel

Alpha Dasher brass, Berger 109’s


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

All of that appears to be expensive and complicated. The 25x47 is a caliber that I am interested in but not for this project which is resurrecting a deer rifle. One day I will do a wildcat.

[TCFD273]

I've seen where you had mentioned this in a different thread. I have always been interested in the .260, the one thing that kept me away was lack of bullet/ammo choices which is not an issue now.








All of that appears to be expensive and complicated. The 25x47 is a caliber that I am interested in but not for this project which is resurrecting a deer rifle. One day I will do a wildcat.

Maybe $800 in a steel chambered barrel

Maybe $200 more than the pac nor barrel chambered


Short action custom 6.5x47 die with appropriate neck bushing. Maybe $310 for the die setup

Both cartridges I mentioned have very wide low and high nodes and fairly easy to obtain sub 0.50” 10 shot groups




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[Clusterfrack]

6.5mm Shootout: .260 Remington vs. 6.5x47 Lapua vs. 6.5 Creedmoor

http://demigodllc.com/articles/6.5-s...6.5-creedmoor/

TLDR: "In the end, neither of these new upstart cartridges did anything for me that the .260 didn't."

[okie john]

If you handload, then I'd stick with the 308. You can find ammo everywhere, and if you're going to rebarrel, you could get a 22" tube and upgrade the recoil pad at the same time.

Reduced loads using H4895 are your friend. https://hodgdonpowderco.com/wp-conte...le-loads-2.pdf

Also, a different follower might make your rifle work as a 6.5 Creedmoor.


Okie John

[awp_101]

I vote 243 or .260. I love me some .257 Roberts but I don't recall offhand if a .308 boltface will handle it without alteration.

[MistWolf]

The 257 Roberts is based on the 7x57 which has a longer case length than the 308. I believe it also has a different body taper which may not match the magazine feed rails of the 308.

The 308, 7x57 and 30-06 all have the same rim size.

Of the choices listed, the 243 and 260 are the easiest conversions.

For the 243, I'd use a 22 inch barrel.

For the 260, make sure the rifling twist rate matches the bullet length and shape you plan to use. Bullets with high ballistic coefficients tend to be long and need a tighter twist to stabilize.

The 7mm-08 is also a damn fine cartridge.

[Malamute]

A possible alternative that could save some money and shipping hassle, Im doing a rebarrel on an M-77 tang safety, actually a short and long action. Im doing them with with a barrel nut, both so i can change barrels/calibers if i want to, and to save the money on getting it fitted to begin with or later if I ever need or want to change it. The Ruger American barrels are the same thread, take-off barrels are around fairly reasonably priced. You can either use an American barrel nut or buy an aftermarket one, which I did. I contacted a barrel maker and asked if they would do a barrel, chambered, and threaded for the nut, they said they would, its basically the same as setting up a savage barrel. Once the original barrel is off, and I have someone that will do it for $20, then i can do my own. The stock will need to be clearanced for the nut but otherwise shouldnt be too difficult.

260 brass can be bought from starline or others, or easily made from 243 or other 308 family cases.