Gunsmith Question: How much should I pay for chamber/rebarreling?

[11aaguilar]

Long story short, just moved to Alaska and I don't really have an adequate hunting rifle. I have a blueprinted Rem 700 LA in 30-06 but it currently has a very heavy profile steel barrel. I'm wanting to purchase a carbon fiber Proof Research .30 barrel blank and have that chambered in 30-06 and installed on this rifle. How much should I pay to a competent gunsmith to have this accomplished? A local smith told me roughly $400 in labor and I'm curious if this fair. I am also wondering if a gunsmith should have prior experience with carbon fiber barrels generally, or Proof Research barrels specifically, before I send them this expensive piece of tube to work on.

Any help or advice is appreciated. Also open to other suggestions or criticism of a carbon fiber barrel. Thanks!

 

[rijndael]

Special Pricing on Machine Work | Sniper's Hide Forum

$300-400 is a reasonable window.

 

[Steel head]

Four bills is about normal.
$300-450 is the general range I see.

 

[lte82]

For a *good* chamber and muzzle thread I expect $350-$450.

Ive had a half dozen barrels done by Deep South, at $300 you aren’t going to find a better deal or higher quality machine work.

 

[Ser Arthur Dayne]

If I may piggy-back onto this - I have a similar question - this is not something I am considering right now , but saw someone mention it on another thread and it piqued my interest. Supposing I bought a "pre-fit-barrel" from Criterion Barrels, which says "Utilizing a proprietary barrel nut design, these barrels can be swapped using a Solid Accuracy barrel wrench and the appropriate headspace gauge set." - How much would that type of work cost from a gunsmith? Same deal, $3-400? Thank you very, very much!

 

[Steel head]

My savage prefits are about $50-75 cheaper than shouldered prefits.

 

[Supersubes]

If I may piggy-back onto this - I have a similar question - this is not something I am considering right now , but saw someone mention it on another thread and it piqued my interest. Supposing I bought a "pre-fit-barrel" from Criterion Barrels, which says "Utilizing a proprietary barrel nut design, these barrels can be swapped using a Solid Accuracy barrel wrench and the appropriate headspace gauge set." - How much would that type of work cost from a gunsmith? Same deal, $3-400? Thank you very, very much!

If you use Proof steel barrels as an example, a blank is $375, and a finished savage thread barrel with a threaded muzzle is $545. So they're getting $170 for all the machine work. Pretty incredible, and street price is better if you search around. Probably the only drawback is cartridge selection limitations.

PVA button barrels are also very nice and well priced, with a wide cartridge selection.

 

[Ser Arthur Dayne]

Fair enough thank you both very much. Just something for me to kick around for the future, not today but never have had a rifle rebarreled so it's a subject I am not knowledgeable on - especially not the labor cost. Thanks again

 

[brianf]

Side question.
Since barrels are impossible to come by would you pay more (750$ chambered for a example) for a barrel in 4-6 weeks rather than wait 12 months.

 

[308Gunner]

I use West Texas Ordinance for my builds and the last barrel was 900 total, 400 for the barrel LH gain twist Bartlien. That is chamber thread the muzzle and ceracoat.

 

[308Gunner]

Side question.
Since barrels are impossible to come by would you pay more (750$ chambered for a example) for a barrel in 4-6 weeks rather than wait 12 months.

If you need a barrel get it, 750 is not a bad price considering your barrel cost is around 350.

 

[Supersubes]

Side question.
Since barrels are impossible to come by would you pay more (750$ chambered for a example) for a barrel in 4-6 weeks rather than wait 12 months.

Barrels are not impossible to come by, unless you're looking for something off the beaten path.

 

[Ckleeves]

If I may piggy-back onto this - I have a similar question - this is not something I am considering right now , but saw someone mention it on another thread and it piqued my interest. Supposing I bought a "pre-fit-barrel" from Criterion Barrels, which says "Utilizing a proprietary barrel nut design, these barrels can be swapped using a Solid Accuracy barrel wrench and the appropriate headspace gauge set." - How much would that type of work cost from a gunsmith? Same deal, $3-400? Thank you very, very much!

If your asking about the labor to install a barrel nut prefit it should be way less then a chamber job. Maybe 75 bucks labor for a install?

 

[NukeMMC]

Side question.
Since barrels are impossible to come by would you pay more (750$ chambered for a example) for a barrel in 4-6 weeks rather than wait 12 months.

Bartlein barrels available:

Rifle Barrels

Grizzly Industrial, Inc. is a national retail and internet company providing a wide variety of high-quality woodworking and metalworking machinery, power tools, hand tools and accessories. By selling directly to end users we provide the best quality products at the best price to professionals...

www.grizzly.com

 

[NukeMMC]

Long story short, just moved to Alaska and I don't really have an adequate hunting rifle. I have a blueprinted Rem 700 LA in 30-06 but it currently has a very heavy profile steel barrel. I'm wanting to purchase a carbon fiber Proof Research .30 barrel blank and have that chambered in 30-06 and installed on this rifle. How much should I pay to a competent gunsmith to have this accomplished? A local smith told me roughly $400 in labor and I'm curious if this fair. I am also wondering if a gunsmith should have prior experience with carbon fiber barrels generally, or Proof Research barrels specifically, before I send them this expensive piece of tube to work on.

Any help or advice is appreciated. Also open to other suggestions or criticism of a carbon fiber barrel. Thanks!

@RWSGunsmithing has some REALLY good pricing on his website. Check with him, though. Some gunsmiths don't like working on an action trued by another 'smith unless they know the work and how it was done. Things like receiver threads get opened up to new sizes, faces trued, were lug faces lapped or machined, etc.