remington 700 rebarrel

[the bear]

I have a Remington 700 sps in .223. i got it with the idea of sometime re barreling it with a heavy target grade barrel and custom stock for the
gopher shoots. what i want to know is what the best rebarell option is for this gun and where i could send it to have it done. i want to keep it in .223 caliber because its easy to reload for. i have seen shilen barrels in the midway catalog that come prethreaded and short chambered for remingtons. how much would the labor cost to have this barrel installed?   I'm a newb to this whole forum thing so bear with me. any info on this subject will be helpfull. thanks!!

[charles p]

How does your current barrel shoot?  I have stock 700s that shoot very well, and better than I can hold to a target.  I also have a custom 700 with a Shilen SS match barrel in 280AI that shoots no better than the stock 700s.

[Rangr44]

[How does your current barrel shoot?]   +2

Not to be a wiseguy, but an even more relevant question would be: How well do you shoot (any rifle) ?  Many rifles are more accurate than their shooters, IMHO.

Besides, how many of the standard accuracy "tricks" have you installed/tried with your rifle, so far ?

Pillar bedding, sleeved actions & barrels, precision crowns and custom loads only scratch the surface.

[George Foster]

I don't see what either reply has to do with the persons question.

I don't feel you could go wrong with any of the barrels offered by Douglas, Shilen or the like.  I know my gunsmith charges $125 for a rebarrel.  I would also have the action "Blueprinted" which would run another $200 probably.

[beemanbeme]

Depends on what you call "blueprinting".  I asked in another forum what "blueprinting" was and couldn't even get the smiths to agree as to what it was.  Sounds good tho.  So does "accurizing". But that's another word that's hard to nail down. 

Douglas does indeed make a good barrel but I have to agree with the other guys about the shooting technique.  How well does he shoot the rifle now?  What shop tricks has he tried on his own? How many rounds have been fired through the barrel that's on the rifle now?  Has the barrel had a good go with JB paste?  The point being, I think, is why spend the money if he can't take advantage of it.

IMO, how would a mass produced barrel that you would buy from Midway that was pre-threaded and pre-chambered be any different than a factory barrel? 

Excuse my ignorance but is there a difference between a gopher shoot and shooting gophers?  Is one competitive? 

[Catfish]

If you rebarrel your gun with a heavy barrel you will also have to open up the barrel channel or restock it. In eather case you will be over $ 200 befor your done. If your rifle is a good shooter you might be farther ahead to just buy a rifle already set up the way you want it and eather keep yours for a lite carry gun or trade it in.

[Mikey]

the bear:  Welcome to Graybeards and welcome to the forum.  Sorry I didn't get back to ya sooner. 

Your options are many with that 700.  If you are thinking of a re-barrel to a heavier target or match barrel you can consider Hart, Kreiger, Shilen or any number of others.  I know that one of Graybeard's sponsors makes barrels, I believe, so please check our sponsor list to see if something there catches your eye.  You will probably get 5 different suggestions as to a barrel maker from 5 different shooters so filtering out the different recommendations might not be that easy.

However, once you decide on a barrel you should be able to send it out to that barrel maker for proper installation and not have to be concerned about a local gunsmith not providing a re-barrel service commensurate with the quality of the barrel.  I believe the overall cost for a re-barrel by a barrel maker is less than it would be to purchase a barrel independently and have someone local perform the service.  The range of cost might be from $200 up, depending on the barrel. 

I still don't know what the heck a short chamber is so I'm not going to go there. 

As for stocks - yet another of Graybeard's sponsors is a stock maker and glassing through their website may give you an idea of the style of stock you may be interested in.  If you decide to stay with what you currently have on the rifle it will require reworking the barrel channel to get a proper fit.

I would say that ya'll may want to go e-crusin' for barrels and stocks.  You can start right here at Graybeards sponsors list and take it from there.  HTH.  Mikey.

[the bear]

           Thanks for all the advice. i should add that i was only thinking of rebarreling but still i only had 40 cheap rounds through it and it wasn't shootin to good. i worked up some reloads and took it to the range again to find out how it really shot. it turns out that the first five shots were strung out just under 3/4 inch left to right and almost in a straight line. let me demonstrate: ooooo : sort of like that. note i was shooting at 100 yards using a wadded up coat as a rest(were kind of primitive when it comes to shooting in sanpete county). but overall i was extremely happy with how the reloads worked.
          so i guess the gun shoots just fine and it will only get better with time and effort.
As to how i shoot, i don't mean to brag but i can hold my own with the best of them. we hunt and shoot a lot here in central utah(sanpete county). i have taken my savage 10fp .308 , sited in at 100 yards, and made 300-500 yard shots on jack rabbits without to much trouble. you might wonder why i am using a .308 for this and the answer is simple. Because i can. you will find that when you really know a rifle and how it shoots at different ranges you can make some good shots. your guns are only as good as the shooter. 
          back to the .223. i will keap it how it is for now but latter on if i wan't to trick it out i wanted to know a little about it. thanks for the info.

  by the way. shot chambering just means that. the chamber is short and neads to be finished once the barrel is fixed. this will give you the correct head space that you need.

[Leadlobber]

Although I do not post much here I have the same rifle so .i changed the stock to a Rem,Classic wood stock I didn't like the way the Tupperware stock jumped up .Now it behaves much better when shooting off a rest. It looks great also. I got lucky at a small bore silhouette  match and won a Timney trigger.I adjusted the stock trigger down to around 3# but could not rid the creep and grit feeling. I like the Timney.!!

I have tried 40, 45,50, 55,and 60 gr. bullets under Varget , Benchmark and reduced load Blue Dot powder.By far my best groups were w/Nosler 40 BT.using Benchmark powder .Next is Hornady 55 SP using Benchmark powder I'm still playing w/ Blue Dot with 40 gr. bullets it shows promise and there is little muzzle jump . I like the idea of staying on target while P.dog hunting.

It took some work but I am happy now with my Rem.223 SPS 

Interesting I just bought my first Savage a 10FP in .223 w/Choate sniper stock I think it will make a good bench gun it's a bit hefty.