Turn a factory savage 223 barrel into an AI ???

[Goin'Hot]

I was initially going to rebarrel my Savage because I never measured the barrel twist. As it turns out, it's a 1/9. Now I'm interested in having my smith ream my 223 Rem chamber out to a 223 AI using an Elk Ridge Reamer.

Has anyone used their reamers and headspace gauges? Is this a job that's straight forward enough that I don't need to worry about it getting botched up?Do you think I can push a 75 A Max fast enough in a 9 twist to stabalize them or are 69's gonna be it?

Thanks for the help.

 

[sinarms]

Re: Turn a factory savage 223 barrel into an AI ???

anyone can mess up a chamber if they do not know what they are doing. Does your smith do a lot of chambering? If he doesn't set it back the new reamer might not clean up the old chamber all the way. I like to set them back about .010-.020" when I cut the AI chamber from an original barrel. If he is just going to hit it by hand with a reamer I would look elsewhere so it can get done completely. You should be able to shoot the 75grs but every rifle is different it might not like them.

 

[mscott]

Re: Turn a factory savage 223 barrel into an AI ???

How about loading some 75 A-Maxs in standard .223 and see what they do? There will be a velocity difference, but it might let you know if it's worth dumping money into that barrel or not.

 

[Goin'Hot]

Re: Turn a factory savage 223 barrel into an AI ???

Please be patient with me... I'm learnin' here. If the chamber is set back .010-.020, does he just thread the barrel .010-.020 closer to the bolt face to make up the difference?

I really don't know how many chambers he's cut. I guess I need to know what questions should be asked before I let him do the work.

 

[sinarms]

Re: Turn a factory savage 223 barrel into an AI ???

He will cut off .010-.020" the end of the barrel (chamber side) to allow the new reamer to recut part of the chamber. The theads won't have to be touched because there is enough factory threads there.