.308 to 30-06 Question

[Chargar]

Can a .308 Winchester barrel be rechambered to 30-06 and clean up the old chamber without any problems?

[gunnut69]

I'd check to be certain with the measurements on the Clymer site but I'd bet no.  The 308 is shorter but it's also straighter sided and will leave a ripple in the chamber when the 30-06 reamer is used.  The barrel perhaps could be set back and rechambered but that also generates problems with some applications..  What are you considering rebarreling?

[stv]

The reaming out of a 308 to 30-06 is probably not really advisable IMHO.  The performance gain is minimal and the risk to the barrel far outweighs the benefit.   If the reamer floats while the pilot is not engaged in the bore you might damage the chamber.   I would not do this.

[Chargar]

I have a Ruger 77 MkII action that has been modified by milling the front receiver ring round and the rear  flat. Of course there was some welding to fill in the holes where the scope bases were. yes, this was done by first class people and the whole receiver was re-heatreated and maganfluxed. This action was the project of a guy, who got distracted and lost interest, and sold it to me for $100.00. As you know, he had alot more than than in it.  It is a left handed action (I am left handed) and I have been kicking around in my head what to do with it. I picked up a unfired Ruger 77 take off barel for only $20.00, but it is in 308.  I know the .308 will work OK in the long action, but seems rather wasteful to use that short round in a long action.  I may just bite the bullet and have a first rate barrel installed. If I do that it will be a 24" 30-06.

I have a NIB Lyman 66 Mauser which can be made to work and goes on the left side of the receive ahead of the bolt. There will be a part of the inner round contour of the base that won't contact the receiver. I have been thinking of ways to glass bed, the sight on the receiver to fill the gap and still be abel to remove the sight if need be. My intention is to built this up in the style of a pre-war Griffin and Howe sporter. Great American Gunstocks furnishes stocks in that style.

Being cheap..cheap..cheap..I am always looking for ways to get what I want with as little outlay in cash as possible.

[gunnut69]

stv
The problem you forsee is exactly the same for a new barrel that is short chambered.  The barrel is set up in a steady rest and the bulk of the metal for the chamber is cut out using a drill.  Since the chamber is tapered any slight runout is removed once the pilot engages the bore.  In the case of a 308 to a 30-06 there is no such problem as the 308 being shorter allows the 30-06 reamer to engage the pilot in the bore long before the reamer body even begins cutting.  The problem is the extra taper the 30-06 has.  It will have to be cut much deeper to clean up the cut left by the shoulder of the 308.  One solutiion would be to go to an Ackley Improved 30-06.   If there is enough metal ahead of the barrel re-inforce this would clean up the 308 chamber and give you a bit more performance than a standard 30-06.  The downside is the increased cost of the reloading dies.  Of course one could just use standard 30-06 ammo and watch for a set of dies to turn up on Ebay??  There are other 30 caliber options such as the slightly more potent Gibbs round but making cases is a bit more of a problem and reamers and dies would really be hard to come by(other than new of course).

[Mac11700]

Mac

[kend]

You can rent the reamers for the 30-06 AI or the 300 Gibbs here, http://4-dproducts.com/chamber_reamers.html