muncylabman

Got a question for anyone who wants to answer. I am looking at a rifle that was rebored from 30/06 to 35 whelen. I've never bought nor had a rifle that has been rebored. Anyone have any opinions? as to accuracy? good, bad or indifferent? Any problems? Anything specifically to look at?
I will appreciate any responses

Thanks,[8D]

Jeff

ranger140892

No way of knowing what you're getting there. Who knows who did the work, who made the liner,and how well it was done. I'm always skeptical about bored and lined barrels. It's easier, less expensive, and more solid to re-barrel, so I naturally wonder about the gunsmith's skill and intent.

muncylabman

Thanks Ranger, appreciate it. Didn't mean to sound ignorant or knowing nothing but never had a rebored gun. Not getting a good feeling about this. THe seller says he bought it 2nd hand and he doesn't need it anymore. I don't think he's being dishonest but just didn't know anything about rebored guns.

again thanks

Roskoe

I doubt if it has a liner. It was likely just bored out to the larger caliber and then rifled. This was a common procedure back in the days after WWII. Lots of 30/06 bolt guns had the barrels reamed out to 338-06 and 35 Whelen. You don't see much of this any more. Sometimes I wish I had a deep boring and rifling setup. I could take all these shot out .22 CF barrels I have laying around the shop and bore them up to 6MM or .257 - get some beneficial use out of them.

cherokee_outfitters

Amen Roskoe that was back when gunsmiths were actually masters of their trade not just parts changers. There are still some gun smiths that do quality work from scratch but not that many.

ranger140892

You're right. It could be that. Which would of course make it even more questionable. We had 3WWIIeraboring and rifling machines at Trinadad when I went to school. We did a few barrels from solid stock as projects. And the best one wouldn't be up to Adams & Bennet standards.

DM

I neverkept track ofhow many bbls i've had rebored, but it's around 40 or 50 maybe more ???, and i can say, i've NEVERhad a badjob doneyet. Would ihave it done today?? You bet i would!

DM

eldeguello

I'll bet there's NO liner here! To go from .308" up to .358", all that is done is to ream and lap the bore up to .350", then cut newrifling grooves.004'' deep. ANY decent barrelmaker who has the equipment, and is willing to undertake single jobs like this can rebore an existing barrel. There are even a few who still do this as their main source of business, but not nearly as many as there were thirty years ago!

Essentially, the difference between a rebored barrel and a new one is that the barrelmaker starts with a "blank" that has a hole already bored in it and has rifling already cut, rather than having to bore the initial hole before reaming, polishing, and rifling.

As to accuracy: Anyreboredrifle barrel done by a skilled craftsman can be expected to at least equal the best new barrel you can buy, if the steel of the old barrel is the right stuff. The reason for this is that the reboring is an individual task, and the person doing it has togive individual personal attention to the task as it is being accomplished.

I've had three barrels rebored. The work was done by the now-defunct A&M Rifle Company of Prescott AZ. One was a .33 WCF Model 1886 Win. they cut to .458" and chambered for.45/70. The other two were M71 Winchester .348's, rebored and rifled .458", and chambered for the original version of the .450 Alaskan. All three rifles shot a lot better after beingrebored! Of course, the old .33 bore was in pretty sad shape to begin with, but the .348's were virtually unfired. Yet the best either would do as a .348 was around 3" @ 100 yards. regardless of the ammo being used. This went to 1.5" as .450's, with loads I made up for them, of course.

How good you can expect that rifle to be as a .35 Whelen, of course depends on the skill of the man who did the work (and on what he had to work with initially- (ie., how good was that rifle's bore & chamberbefore??) However, you can expect a rifle to shoot as well as it did before being rebored. If it doesn't, don't buy it. Ask the current owner to allow you to test-fire it first. Or at least have him furnish some targets shot with it after the rebore job.

savagescout

You might be able to learn something from this website and find a price also. http://www.z-hat.com/Rebore.htm

eldeguello

Thanks Savage- good information. Z-Hat has a good reputation.