Tooling up for a rebarrel

cdhknives

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I have a Win model 70 Classic featherweight in 243Win that I dearly love, but it just isn't very accurate. I can handload and get to barely under 1.5" groups with 80 grain bullets only, anything else and it's a 2-3" shooter and believe me I've tried. So, I am considering trying my hand at rebarreling it with a long chambered barrel (I have a source for borrowing go-nogo gauges) from a good barrel house like Schilen. I am not tooling up to cut chambers or true actions, build benchrest rifles, or so forth, just to upgrade the factory barrels on a rifle or two I already have. I think I can use my lathe well enough to headspace the long chambered barrels out there and cut the extractor groove one way or another. That said I still need action and barrel wrench/blocks, and I need them early to confirm barrel thread specs...it seems there are 2 choices for the M70! What do y'all think of the following:

Action clamping: 1/2" steel plate bolted to the bench with aluminum action blocks bolted to it cut for the M70 action...basically a half moon over a flat block.

Barrel vise: 1" Aluminum square block bored to diameter for the existing barrel, drilled and tapped for grade 8 cap screws (that I already have), then cut in half for clamping the barrel.

I still haven't figured out if I should just put a big wrench on the barrel vise or add longer bolts and attach a handle for a cheater pipe.

How do you keep from scratching up the finish of a blued barrel and action?

Does this sound workable? What am I missing? Yeah I should just buy a lightweight Savage for stuff like this...but I really like that M70 FW.
 
Handle for the cheater pipe! It is downright amazing how tight barrels can be. I have good barrel and action tools, but have still destroyed two factory barrels trying to get them off. For protection between the aluminum clamps and your parts, you can use a few wraps of masking tape, maybe a can shim, whatever is handy.

Barrel fitting is pretty straightforward. I've never worked a M70 (because I have seven M700s in my safe already), but the principle is the same. The level of effort depends on the blank. If you want better groups, I'd look at eliminating the freebore right off. The 243 can be stuffed right into the lands, and is capable of 1,000 yard accuracy. It flies flat, and the wind leaves it alone. Yes, I like the 6mm/243...
 
One nice thing about M70's is they allow just about 3" OAL (for a short action) in the mag so tuning length to eliminate freebore is usually easy...IF you have long bullets. The Rem700 SA's I've worked with seem to allow barely over the 308 class cartridge standard of 2.8". Normally I load heavy for caliber, especially in relatively overbore cartridges like 243Win, and a 80 grain bullet in 6mm is not a long bullet!

I might need longer bolts...but can arrange that. Cheater pipe it is. I'll keep the 36" pipe wrench handy though...would prefer to not ruin the original barrel but if it has gotta go, it has gotta go!

The reason for the bench plate is my little 5" vise is not gonna have the meat for the level of torque I expect to require.
 
No, certainly not! Bench mount is the only way to go. My bench is anchored to concrete, and at times I worry that I'll rip it away from the wall trying to break a barrel loose. Steady and firm on the wrench, but go slow and increase force gradually with the cheater pipe.

80 grains is light for a 243, and short! I have clearanced two Rem receivers for 105 gr VLDs and re-contoured the feed ramps. The Rem short action is really short. That, unfortunately, pales in comparison to the problem presented by long throated chambers in factory rifles. I guess if you want customers to be able to shoot any ammo out of any box, making the chamber loose is about the best you can do... you can fix that with your rebarreling job. You can run minimum dimensions if you handload only, and the accuracy will come with it.
 
Barrel vise: 1" Aluminum square block bored to diameter for the existing barrel, drilled and tapped for grade 8 cap screws (that I already have), then cut in half for clamping the barrel.

I clamp up near the action and so I would probably use 2 of those 1" blocks bolted together. Don't have to cut in half that way.
Get a bag of rosin from the sports store (baseball players $2.50). Use the rosin dust between your clamp and the barrel.
I've seen it done with thick leather and rosin to avoid marking the barrel.
 
I can cut bigger blocks...have a 1x6x12 slab of 6061-t6 from an online metals proto box buy to whittle down as needed.
 
can You chuck the action and barrel up in your lathe? If your spindle bore I big enough. On new Remington 700s their barrels are unbelievably tight like 200 foot pounds tight I cut a relief on the barrel up to the recoil lug and they’ll nearly unscrew by hand. Making that extractor cut is gonna be a real pain in the butt I’ve seen guys file them I just use an angle block and hang it over my mill table
 
The bore on my lathe is just big enough for 3/4" stock. That will work on the pencil thin featherweight barrel with the chamber in the chuck area or hanging out slightly. I would like to get it off intact if possible but understand the relief cut need...if necessary.
 
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