can you rechamber a 308 barrel into 300WinMag?

Technically yes but would depend on what barrel it is. If a light wait sporter there might not be enough meat left in it for a long cartridge chamber. Also if your using the 308 action it is too short as 300WM is a long action.

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Technically yes but would depend on what barrel it is. If a light wait sporter there might not be enough meat left in it for a long cartridge chamber. Also if your using the 308 action it is too short as 300WM is a long action.

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ah good point!
OK then, what if I had a 30-06?

more likely?
 
ah good point!
OK then, what if I had a 30-06?

more likely?

yes with a 30.06 as thats a long action BUT the cost of the machining would be the same as if you bought a new barrel,for the extra few couple of hundred quid you may as awell have a good barrel fitted in the length and twist your want,not many smiths will re chamber and old barrel into another caliber,you would struggle to have enough tennon on the stad barrel to be able to re machine it
 
Re-chambering to larger cartridges is common in France. Kettners used to carry Mosin Nagants re-chambered to 308 Norma and K98's to 6x68S.

Funny thing is that thy didn't seem to have a problem with this or proofing them under CIP. Yet here in the UK it's not possible and MUST have anew barrel.


Hmmm can anyone else smell that smell ................................................................ ahh that's it Fish!

In fact when I enquired about having the brand new BSA barrel in 7x64 re-chambered to .280 AI one rather famous "Gunsmith" quoted over £800 for the job. Now I know his work is not cheap but that was just stupid.

Rip off Britian is alive and well.
 
you have to shop around Ed,

I'm sure there are some good smiths out there that don't have a page in rip off britain's best magazines so to speak, and a chat with like minded folk on here will soon tell you who and where to got to for a good deal/job on the rifle etc.

purse strings closed and off out till laters.

bob.
 
BH is right, there's a lack of actually 'working' with what you've got today, which seemed perfectly normal just a few years ago. These days there's far too much focus on 'disposable' products, want anything changed, scrap the stock, replace with plastic, scrap the barrel, replace with a new SS, bluing is getting worn off, scrap the barrel and replace, recoil pad is getting worn, £125 to replace..might as well buy a new T3.

so much b0ll0cks. this whole disposable, cheap chinese imports then throw away once used-mentality is the reason quality artisan skill sets are getting lost and the oceans are flooding with trash.

too few quality products getting made and maintained for a 'life's worth of use' these days...
 
Yet here in the UK it's not possible and MUST have anew barrel.

Why?

I am under the impression that an awful lot of post WW2 303 calibre Bren guns were rechambered into 7.62.........

I can see no law existing that would prohibit it, only physics of having enough meat on the breach end of the barrel and finding someone who was willing to do it.


thing is 30-06's are all over the place, magnum action, 12mm vs 13.5mm max case width, only physical issue I can see is a .30-06 chamber pressure rating of 50k CIP vs 54k CIP for the .300Win Mag
 
You'll also have to have the bolt face opened up if you are working with an eixsting rifle. If it's a chambered barrel, then there won't be a problem. Rechamber, spin it onto your action, headspace and send off for proofing. Oh, and paperwork, of course.
 
yes with a 30.06 as thats a long action BUT the cost of the machining would be the same as if you bought a new barrel,for the extra few couple of hundred quid you may as awell have a good barrel fitted in the length and twist your want,not many smiths will re chamber and old barrel into another caliber,you would struggle to have enough tennon on the stad barrel to be able to re machine it

There is little problem rechambering 30-06 to 300WM in most instances. I have rechambered 1903-A3 Springfield barrels on at least two occasions that i can recall. Reworking the bolt face was a 30 minute job on the lathe and another 30 minutes was devoted to the extractor. Getting it to feed (reworking the feed rails) was another hour with a Dremel and assorted bits. The actual rechambering part? Not a big deal. If you do get the job done, have the gunsmith headspace on the shoulder, not the belt. It will shoot better.~Muir
 
yes with a 30.06 as thats a long action BUT the cost of the machining would be the same as if you bought a new barrel,for the extra few couple of hundred quid you may as awell have a good barrel fitted in the length and twist your want,not many smiths will re chamber and old barrel into another caliber,you would struggle to have enough tennon on the stad barrel to be able to re machine it

why would you need to touch the existing tenon?
you are just removing 0.75mm from the wall of the existing chamber diameter and 2mm into the throat for the extra neck length

seems very straightforward to me



There is little problem rechambering 30-06 to 300WM in most instances. I have rechambered 1903-A3 Springfield barrels on at least two occasions that i can recall. Reworking the bolt face was a 30 minute job on the lathe and another 30 minutes was devoted to the extractor. Getting it to feed (reworking the feed rails) was another hour with a Dremel and assorted bits. The actual rechambering part? Not a big deal. If you do get the job done, have the gunsmith headspace on the shoulder, not the belt. It will shoot better.~Muir

interesting.
will this not create issues and potential inaccuracies with resizing?
 
Why?

I am under the impression that an awful lot of post WW2 303 calibre Bren guns were rechambered into 7.62.........

I can see no law existing that would prohibit it, only physics of having enough meat on the breach end of the barrel and finding someone who was willing to do it.


pretty sure it was a new barrel (which is a changable part usually issied with spares to help with over heating ) and machine out the mag well

and any way the Military can do things different from General public


PS loved my 7.62mm LMG back in the day

Oh i only had reason to do a barrel change once and that was on a .303 BREN getting rid of an old case of 303 ammo we had 4 BREN guns and 40 mags had to keep sweeping piles of cases out from under so it would eject (BREN ejects down out hte bottom)
 
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Re-chambering to larger cartridges is common in France. Kettners used to carry Mosin Nagants re-chambered to 308 Norma and K98's to 6x68S.

Funny thing is that thy didn't seem to have a problem with this or proofing them under CIP. Yet here in the UK it's not possible and MUST have anew barrel.


Hmmm can anyone else smell that smell ................................................................ ahh that's it Fish!

In fact when I enquired about having the brand new BSA barrel in 7x64 re-chambered to .280 AI one rather famous "Gunsmith" quoted over £800 for the job. Now I know his work is not cheap but that was just stupid.

Rip off Britian is alive and well.

you have a very good point there Brit!!

BH is right, there's a lack of actually 'working' with what you've got today, which seemed perfectly normal just a few years ago. These days there's far too much focus on 'disposable' products, want anything changed, scrap the stock, replace with plastic, scrap the barrel, replace with a new SS, bluing is getting worn off, scrap the barrel and replace, recoil pad is getting worn, £125 to replace..might as well buy a new T3.

so much b0ll0cks. this whole disposable, cheap chinese imports then throw away once used-mentality is the reason quality artisan skill sets are getting lost and the oceans are flooding with trash.

too few quality products getting made and maintained for a 'life's worth of use' these days...

+1 for this Peter, I couldn't agree more.

The way I see it Edd. it's just a matter of telling the FLO that you are changing chambers not Calibre's. Then It's finding a machinist and reamer.
 
The way I see it Edd. it's just a matter of telling the FLO that you are changing chambers not Calibre's. Then It's finding a machinist and reamer.

I am actually thinking it would just be the last part.
I have an option on a 30-06 which has barely been shot, get it sent to machinist and hey presto it comes out WinMag as per variation!
 
I am actually thinking it would just be the last part.
I have an option on a 30-06 which has barely been shot, get it sent to machinist and hey presto it comes out WinMag as per variation!

why not just use it in 30.06 when tis shot out then re barrel it.nothing wrong with a 06 great caliber.it will kill just the same as a win mag but with less kick and cheaper to feed
 
If you do get the job done, have the gunsmith headspace on the shoulder, not the belt. It will shoot better.~Muir

Muir, surely if the chamber is cut with a minimum SAAMI spec reamer to zero headspace on the belt by a competant smith, as soon as the shot is fired the case will expand into the shoulder area and automatically headspace itself, the belt stopping any forward movement of ther case from firing pin strike?
The case will then be headspaced from the shoulder for all consequetive loadings, unless of course it is F/L resized.

Ian.
 
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