Rethreading used barrel - R700 to different receiver

[browning442]

Hello,

Wondering if anyone has gone through the ins and outs of rethreading a barrel tenon from a Remington 700 to a custom receiver, or other "factory" action?

Likely, with a used barred, I'd look at having the smith set the barrel back a bit, and try to find a receiver with matching thread pattern as R700. That would allow them to pick up the threads, cut to the new tenon length, cut the bolt nose recess, and chamber to proper headspace.

However - is it possible to use an action with a smaller OD tenon (say a tikka at 1" instead of 1.025") yet has the same TPI? Wondering if anyone has gone this route and what they ended up doing.

Thanks

 

[FuhQ]

Hello,

Wondering if anyone has gone through the ins and outs of rethreading a barrel tenon from a Remington 700 to a custom receiver, or other "factory" action?

Likely, with a used barred, I'd look at having the smith set the barrel back a bit, and try to find a receiver with matching thread pattern as R700. That would allow them to pick up the threads, cut to the new tenon length, cut the bolt nose recess, and chamber to proper headspace.

However - is it possible to use an action with a smaller OD tenon (say a tikka at 1" instead of 1.025") yet has the same TPI? Wondering if anyone has gone this route and what they ended up doing.

Thanks

I sure have... I took a good, nearly new, (proven shooter) stainless Remington 700 26" magnum sporter 7mm RemMag barrel, and had my smith turn the barrel tennon down to the smaller metric size of my Browning A-Bolt II 7mmRM that I had burned the barrel out of. That was about 10 years ago. That rifle/barrel was always a shooter, and after the rebarrel it was around a 1/2" rifle with handloads.

Recently (in the past few years) I've finally gotten into the suppressor game, so I had my smith cut that same barrel down from 26" to 22.5" and thread it 5/8-24 for running a suppressor. That rifle still shoots amazing...Hell, it shoots even better than it did before, due to the increased stiffness after cutting it down 3.5", and sticking a precision rifle can on the end of it. It still puts down sub-1/2 MOA 3-shot groups (magnums I don't shoot 5-shot groups due to heat).

Here it is after cutting and threading @ 22.5" with an Otter Creek Labs Hydrogen-L suppressor. This will be my lightweight deer setup from now on...Except, contrary to the picture, it will be direct-thread, and not running the heavy KeyMo QD system. That was just for being able to easily test my different cans.



Ignore the 2 shots stacked on the bull, those were confirmation shots after re-zeroing my scope, after finalizing load development (the 3 shots in the measured group).

 

[Wannashootit]

However - is it possible to use an action with a smaller OD tenon (say a tikka at 1" instead of 1.025") yet has the same TPI?

M700 is 1-1/16" (1.062), but yes. If the old threads don't clean up completely, they're just picked up and deepened after turning down the tenon to the needed diameter. Obviously if the new tenon diameter cleans up the threads completely you can thread it any pitch you want.

You seem to be referring to a factory barrel, so you need to consider whether the cost associated with doing the work is going to be worth it.
Aside from recutting threads, no doubt the breech or shoulder is going to need to be machined, and possibly the chamber deepened to get it headspaced on the new action. As a smith, I'd tell you upfront it would probably cost you just as much as chambering a new barrel (depends of course on the specifics- but more likely, than not...).

Might be worth it on a nearly new Krieger, Bartlein, etc- but no way for a factory barrel.

JMO YMMV

 

[browning442]

Yes thanks for correcting my error on the original post on tenon size!

It is a bartlein carbon fiber with about 300 rounds down it, that was threaded for a R700. I want to set it back slightly, rethread and chamber. I got the barrel a while back for $100 so willing to pay for some machining to get a near new setup.

 

[browning442]

So if i'm understanding correctly... theoretically, any action with a lesser tenon diameter and SAME thread pitch, should work? In other words - smaller tenon - existing threads can be faced off and cut deeper, and same TPI will allow the smith to pick up the threads where they sit and continue the same TPI onwards. With setting back, a new bolt nose recess will be cut anyway.

 

[Wannashootit]

So if i'm understanding correctly... theoretically, any action with a lesser tenon diameter and SAME thread pitch, should work? In other words - smaller tenon - existing threads can be faced off and cut deeper, and same TPI will allow the smith to pick up the threads where they sit and continue the same TPI onwards.

Yup.

With setting back, a new bolt nose recess will be cut anyway.

Well, depends on the receiver. Hell, even on M700's some guys say fuck the "3rd ring of steel" and just flat-breech like most bolt guns.

A nearly new cf Bartlein would be worth it- hopefully it's not a crazy throat burner with a sub-1000 round life where 300 rounds would be a killer.
Setting back a chamber like that can be a reamer killer if there's substantial throat erosion. Good luck with it.