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223 to 260 what needs to be done?

JS624

Sergeant of the Hide
Full Member
Minuteman
May 10, 2014
265
54
Washington
Hey guys. Thinking about converting my rem700 223 to a 260 or 6.5 creedmoor once I shoot the factory 223 barrel out. Jw what goes into it? I know I'll need a barrel and a .473 bolt face was thinking bout buying a ptg bolt.(if that will work) And when I have it re barreled I'll have the action trued up. What else am I missing?
 
I am pretty sure the action will need to be trued and a new bolt as well.
The 223 is not chambered at all like a 260 or 6.5

Oops! you said you were gonna do that.
If you are going to spend the cash to get a new bolt, barrel and true the action you might as well just buy a custom action from Defiance.
It may actually be less expensive.
 
It's a different bolt face. You'll have to get a new bolt or machine your existing one. You'll be better off just finding a cheap donor R700 with the correct bolt face. More trouble than it's worth.
 
Yea but if I already need the 223 re barreled then I'm already a 1000$ right there I'm not sure what it's costs to have a ptg bolt done but the bolts themselves appear to be around 200$ on ptg's website.
 
I am pretty sure the action will need to be trued and a new bolt as well.
The 223 is not chambered at all like a 260 or 6.5

Oops! you said you were gonna do that.
If you are going to spend the cash to get a new bolt, barrel and true the action you might as well just buy a custom action from Defiance.
It may actually be less expensive.

When I had GAP work up a quote for me, it came out cheaper to start with a donor 700 action.
 
Just get the PT&G one piece bolt and sell yours on here for $150. That's a $50 upgrade which is cheaper than having your bolt face opened up plus you get a one piece bolt that is already threaded for a larger bolt knob.
 
It's a different bolt face. You'll have to get a new bolt or machine your existing one. You'll be better off just finding a cheap donor R700 with the correct bolt face. More trouble than it's worth.

Or just buy a stiller action.

You'll have about the same money in it if your gonna pay for a bolt swap.

I just purchased an action for a 260 from Defiance with an integrated rail for 1330.

From defiance directly? What was the wait on that?
 
I think that for the price of the work and parts you have in mind, you could buy a moderately priced Savage heavy barreled 260 rifle, and skip the wait for the .223's barrel to fail.

IMHO a .223 and a 260 in family can complement each other quite nicely. IMHO, the .223/5.56 family are going to be very desirable in the coming years.

While I have, love, and load for accuracy with the .260, it has taken a significant back seat to my .223's since I left off doing the 1000yd comps. I have a Savage 10FCP Predator Hunter .260 and a very nice L-W 28" barrel standing by. A .260 is a delightful LR chambering, but for under 300yd, it also tends to be kinda overkill/less efficient than the .223/5.56.

OTOH, I have three .223/5.56's, a Stag Model 6 with a CMMG 16 Bull WASP upper on standby, a Mossberg MVP Predator, and a Savage 11VT. They get a lot of use; but the .260 hasn't actually been taken out for a full dance card in about two years.

Greg
 
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I've been right where you are contemplating using my rem700 .223 action on a 260 buildup. Came out to a difference of 200-400 bucks when all said and done when comparing against a custom action build. I went with a defiance deviant action from defiance directly, bartlein barrel from bugholes and had my smith do the build. The gun is flawless and performs that way. PLUS I didn't lose my 223 bolt gun that I can slap a new barrel on later. I run redding comp dies, lapua brass (expensive brass but with good care and a good load you can get 8-12 firings out of it. You will need to find some H4350 as most find that seems to give the highest FPS without showing pressure signs. Be careful on your load work up and try to stay on a safe node rather than push to the top. Depending on which smith chambers your rifle you might get some pressure issues if your load is right on the upper edge and you get some rain in you chamber or if you shoot in a drastically different outside temperature compared to when you worked up your load. Best to search out the "260 loads only" thread on here as there will be a ton of load development info for you to review with lots of different power combos.

If You are wanting to put the time and $$$$ into a custom high quality rifle you might as well go all the way for such a small difference.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
That is what I did.
After trueing a Rem700 for .308, getting a PTG bolt, Bartlien barrel and recoil lug I had spent almost as much to just get a custom action from Defiance.
The smithing,bolt and Badger rail were over $925 plus the lug. For $1330 you can get a custom action with integrated rail and lug from Defiance.

I ended up building a .260 with a Deviant action, Manners stock, Timney trigger and Bartlien barrel. Plus I got to keep my custom .308.
 
Or just buy a stiller action.

You'll have about the same money in it if your gonna pay for a bolt swap.

This isn't true. A PTG bolt is about $200, you can sell factory Remington bolts minus the firing pin assembly for $150, that's a $50 difference. All you need then is a ejector and extractor which will run less than $30.

It doesn't take much shopping around to end up with a Remington action with older trigger and PTG bolt for about $300 total. Add $250 to true and you're at $550. That quite a bit less than the $1k than stillers run.
 
Add 100 bucks for a rail and 75 for a good recoil lug and having it pinned and your breaking the 700$ mark.

Not to mention the feed rails on a 223 are different for the 308 cased catridges so there probably has to be some machine work done there to get it to feed 100%

In the end you've got at least 700$ or more for a rem action that's probably worth 300$
 
I know quite a few smiths that will tell you to true a stiller too so there's another $250 on top of the stiller. The stiller also doesn't use a one piece bolt so in that regard and 700 with a one piece bolt is better.

The point is you can turn a Remington action into the same damn thing for about $400 less.
 
This isn't true. A PTG bolt is about $200, you can sell factory Remington bolts minus the firing pin assembly for $150, that's a $50 difference. All you need then is a ejector and extractor which will run less than $30.

It doesn't take much shopping around to end up with a Remington action with older trigger and PTG bolt for about $300 total. Add $250 to true and you're at $550. That quite a bit less than the $1k than stillers run.
I don't know what PTG bolt you are buying but they start at $225 on their website and when I got finished getting mine with shipping it was over $300.
 
I know quite a few smiths that will tell you to true a stiller too so there's another $250 on top of the stiller. The stiller also doesn't use a one piece bolt so in that regard and 700 with a one piece bolt is better.

The point is you can turn a Remington action into the same damn thing for about $400 less.

They're taking your money.

And stiller DOES use a one piece bolt.
 
Add 100 bucks for a rail and 75 for a good recoil lug and having it pinned and your breaking the 700$ mark.

Not to mention the feed rails on a 223 are different for the 308 cased catridges so there probably has to be some machine work done there to get it to feed 100%

In the end you've got at least 700$ or more for a rem action that's probably worth 300$
Exactly!
 
I don't know what PTG bolt you are buying but they start at $225 on their website and when I got finished getting mine with shipping it was over $300.

Look again bud, one piece bolts start at $167. I don't know how you're optioning one out to run over $300.

https://shop.pacifictoolandgauge.co...=product_info&cPath=4_101_103&products_id=172

They're taking your money.

And stiller DOES use a one piece bolt.

They may have started using them but they didn't used to. I pulled one off with a sticky case and it was soldered on just like a factory rem bolt. I've also seen several posts on here even recently of people having their bolt handle rip off their stillers.

As for them taking my money, one of them was a smith that told me not to true a Remington action I sent them because it was already so square... So much for that theory.
 
Look again bud, one piece bolts start at $167. I don't know how you're optioning one out to run over $300.

https://shop.pacifictoolandgauge.co...=product_info&cPath=4_101_103&products_id=172

They may have started using them but they didn't used to. I pulled one off with a sticky case and it was soldered on just like a factory rem bolt. I've also seen several posts on here even recently of people having their bolt handle rip off their stillers.

As for them taking my money, one of them was a smith that told me not to true a Remington action I sent them because it was already so square... So much for that theory.

They've been one piece for a couple years I believe.

And if a smith is having you true up a custom action something's wierd. I would ask for reasons and then quickly return that to whomever manufacture it.
 
Look again bud, one piece bolts start at $167. I don't know how you're optioning one out to run over $300.

https://shop.pacifictoolandgauge.co...=product_info&cPath=4_101_103&products_id=172




They may have started using them but they didn't used to. I pulled one off with a sticky case and it was soldered on just like a factory rem bolt. I've also seen several posts on here even recently of people having their bolt handle rip off their stillers.

As for them taking my money, one of them was a smith that told me not to true a Remington action I sent them because it was already so square... So much for that theory.
I stand corrected on their starting base price. I did put a bolt shroud and fluting.
 
keep your 223 as is and while you burn the barrel, get the parts you want to build a 6.5, you won't regreat having 2 rifles instead of one. Stiller is great action for the money.
cheers.