Defiance CRF Rebel Hunter Re-Barrel Question

[rootacres]

Hello all,

So I won a 300 PRC through Griffin and Howe. It's built off one of the older CRF style Rebel Hunter actions. This action doesn't have the headspace guarantee from Defiance and doesn't list it as prefit compatible (directly from Defiances CS). What have some of you done in this situation? Do you just do a remage and set headspace with gauges? Or have you ordered prefits and had them work fine? I have an Origin that I have done both savage style barrel nuts and prefits on. Both have worked fine for me. Any help would be appreciated as this action is new to me. Thank you

Pic for Reference

 

[Supersubes]

Hello all,

So I won a 300 PRC through Griffin and Howe. It's built off one of the older CRF style Rebel Hunter actions. This action doesn't have the headspace guarantee from Defiance and doesn't list it as prefit compatible (directly from Defiances CS). What have some of you done in this situation? Do you just do a remage and set headspace with gauges? Or have you ordered prefits and had them work fine? I have an Origin that I have done both savage style barrel nuts and prefits on. Both have worked fine for me. Any help would be appreciated as this action is new to me. Thank you

Pic for Reference
View attachment 8267402

You didn't say what you were trying to do? Does it need a barrel now? Any competent gunsmith can re-barrel it.

 

[rootacres]

You didn't say what you were trying to do? Does it need a barrel now? Any competent gunsmith can re-barrel it.

I guess I don't know how to be more clear. I am asking what people have done for a rebarrel on these actions. The rifle is new, a barrel isn't needed now. At some point I will need one, or if I want to have another barrel in a different caliber. Like stated in the OP, I have used savage and prefit barrels on my Origin with good luck. Ive also had good luck doing it myself. The fees and time associated with sending an action off to gunsmith to have them do something that I can do in my basement isn't something I have interest in doing right now. . . Unless I have to.

 

[DeathBeforeDismount]

Here is what I would do. Send it to a place like bugholes (SPR) or LRI that is going to be In buiesness for the foreseable Future. They have all the reamers you could want and also stock a bunch of barrels to reduce wait times. Have them spin up a barrel and let them know you want to order more down the road. They will record the dimensions that way you only have to send it in one. Next time you want a barrel call them up tell them what you want and they can spin the barrel and ship to you so you can install it yourself.

Or find a local guy you like.

 

[rootacres]

Here is what I would do. Send it to a place like bugholes (SPR) or LRI that is going to be In buiesness for the foreseable Future. They have all the reamers you could want and also stock a bunch of barrels to reduce wait times. Have them spin up a barrel and let them know you want to order more down the road. They will record the dimensions that way you only have to send it in one. Next time you want a barrel call them up tell them what you want and they can spin the barrel and ship to you so you can install it yourself.

Or find a local guy you like.

Thats a good point. I didn't know a company like LRI could record measurements on a barrel to be used down the road. There isn't anyone near me worth going to unfortunately. Thanks

 

[Kiba]

If you measure your current action with a depth micrometer you might find it’s within Defiance’s current specs for prefits, in which case you can buy any available off the shelf prefit and screw it on yourself.

If it’s not in spec for Defiant’s current action dimensions for prefits, and you don't want to send the action in every time for a new barrel, you have 2 options if you don't want to go the barrel nut route:

1. Record the measurements for your particular action and provide those to the smith to spin up a barrel fit to your action. Some smiths will trust your measurements (provided you use the correct equipment and it’s verified/calibrated), others will want the action in-hand to measure for themselves (mostly to avoid getting a “It didn’t fit!” phonecall if you used out of calibration measurement equipment or you didn’t measure it correctly and provided bad numbers.)
2. Have the action trued to Defiance’s current dimensional specs for new actions, that way in the future any Defiance prefit from any vendor will fit your action and headspace correctly. They may have to take a little off the receiver face or bolt face to bring it into spec, depending on which direction things are out of spec.

If it was me, and I was planning on hanging onto that action for many years and burning through several barrels, I’d probably go with option #2 so you can buy prefits from pretty much anywhere in the future and not have to wait in line for a semi-custom prefit barrel.

 

[Edds]

Your barrel has an extractor slot.

 

[Terry Cross]

Your barrel has an extractor slot.

^^
This.

Even if the headspace is prefit compatible, you will not be able to use a prefit.
The action will not work with the standard R700 style bolt nose CS cut at the chamber entrance.

Ditto with any Remage/Bugnut style setup.

.

 

[Kiba]

Edds and Terry are correct... I missed it was a CRF action in the original post.