New barrel?

[jkgts1]

Hi, I have a Remington 700, .308, with B&C Medalist stock that I am interested in putting a heavy barrel on. Right now it just has a sporter barrel on it. I only use the rifle for recreational paper punching, not competitions or anything serious. I have talked to a few gun smiths but , they talk about some things that are way over my head, things that a competitor is interested in. Any suggestions on what is the minimum I should do? I know blue printing is good for accuracy,but I don't think it is all necessary for my aplication. Just seeing what advice you guys have.

Thanks

[Fjold]

IMHO,
If you don't want to pay the $150 for a blueprint just have the smith true the face of the receiver so that the barrel seats flat and square.

Ask him to chamber the barrel to minimum SAAMI spec for the 308. Usually a smith will have a worn out 308 reamer laying around that he can send out for sharpening, this will make the reamer a couple of thousandths smaller than new and give you a tighter chamber.

If you know what ammunition you want to shoot have the smith cut the throat .010" longer than that loaded ammuntion.

The other thing is that the barrel channel in the stock may have to be opened up.

[jkgts1]

Thanks for the reply. I think the barrel channel might be okay,because it wall made for a heavy barrel. It looks kind of funny with the sporter barrel, because there is such a big gap between barrel and stock.

Thanks

[jkgts1]

I live in Moreno Valley, CA and was wondering if there is a gunsmith close by that you guys recommend? There is Dan Forth gunsmithing in Riverside, anyone ever go to him for anything?

Thanks

[Fjold]

I don't know any gunsmiths down that way, sorry.

But, one thing that I would add is that don't scrimp on your barrel. Don't settle for an A&B or similar brand which will be no better than the factory tube. Buy a barrel blank from a top barrel maker and get it mounted by a good gunsmith.

For barrels, I'd have no problems recommending Krieger, Shilen, Rock, Lilja, Lothar-Walther, Pacnor, Bartlein, Border, Broughton, Hart, Kostyshyn and Lawton.

[Pulsar]

Blueprinting is a bit more involved that truing the receiver face, it's also truing the locking lugs and truing the threads for the barrel in the receiver, most smiths will also include truing the bolt in the blueprinting price. But to be honest, unless your doing competitive shooting, blueprinting isn't really necessary.

Sounds like your rifle could use a bedding job, get that barrel free floating. A good smith should be able to do that for about $100-$150, and possibly get the crown re-done. The crown has the most effect on accuracy, as it's the last thing to touch that bullet before it leaves the barrel. If it's even half a thousandth of an inch off it will effect your accuracy quite a bit. I wouldn't think a smith would charge more than $50 to fix that, and if your gun is new enough Remington may even fix it under warranty.

The simple way to check your crown (for burrs at least) is to get a q-tip and pull the end so the cotton is stretched out a bit. Put the stretched out cotton end of the q-tip in the (clean) muzzle end of the barrel and slowly pull it out, if the cotton catches on anything, you've got a problem.

[jkgts1]

Thanks for all the replies.