Win. Model 70 in 22-250 rebarrel or ??

reloader326

reloader326

Member
I have a older model 70, that I've had for a number of years, maybe 25 or so. It shoots ok, nothing stellar. It's pretty finicky with powder, bullet, etc. If I really work with it I can get slightly under 1 MOA which is fine for hunting, but I would like it to shoot a little better for paper killing.
I'm just wondering what my options are as far as rebarelling costs vs just buying a new 22-250 and keeping the old one in the safe, vs having it rechambered into something else.
My Dad gave it to me, so there is the sentimental aspect which will prevent me from ever selling it.

I've never had a bolt gun rebarelled or rechambered so I have very little experience of what cost is involved with either. I'm guessing the cost would be about the same as buying a new model 70.

Any ideas, suggestions, etc. would be much appreciated.
 
Depends on the gunsmith and brand of barrel, I'm having one rebarreled right now with a Bartlein medium Palma contour $345 for the barrel $300 for the Smith to chamber, thread cut & crown + shipping.
And another by a local Smith with a xcaliber barrel $295 and $200 for the Smith to chamber and fit barrel.
Both these actions have already been bedded this is just to rebarrel also not counting bead blating the SS barrels to a matte finish.

Look around a lot of the Smith's list their prices on their website.
I would gladly recommend a couple if your interested send me a pm
 
It will cost about the same to rebarrel vs buying another one. But if you rebarrel yours it will be to your specs, and should shoot better than factory.
 
Winchester Model 70 that will shoot under an inch. Have you done anything to it, is it a wood stock, have you floated and bedded it? How about the trigger, light and breaks clean? Decent glass on it? Good solid benchrest your shooting off of? Not to be disparaging but can you shoot consistently under 1" groups with other rifles?

Rechambering it, not likely to help all your doing is changing the cartridge nothing to the rifle.

Rebarreling, expensive plus you need to do all the other things to it, if you plan to shoot it a lot you might want to think about a different cartridge, but you are locked into the .473 bolt face. What type of paper punching do you want to do, long range, under 300 yards? Moving up to one of the 6/6.5 might work better or putting a fast twist 22-250 barrel on it.

You don't see people flocking to the Model 70 action to build target and benchrest rifles any longer, I wonder why. I have a model 70 in 222 Rem, I like it for hunting it will kill a coyote to 300 yards.

There is a lot more to building a target rifle than slapping a different barrel on it.

Good luck with your endeavor.
 
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Been thinking on this while cooking breakfast.

What I'd do is hunt the 22-250 that was a gift from your dad and build or buy a paper puncher using know accurate components.
 
Is the barrel shot out? If you don’t have any idea on the round count, clean it really good with a copper solvent like sweets 7.62 and take it to a smith and have the bore scoped. Having a solid look at the bore condition might show that it doesn’t need a barrel and you could keep it original for the sentimental aspect. If the barrel is toast then you could go with a sporter weight chromoly barrel and have it reblued (assuming its not stainless), again just for the sentimental issue. Even going with the chromoly sporter, having the Smith bed the action and free float the barrel could greatly improve the way it shoots. I had a douglas ($250) barrel on an action that wasn’t trued and it way out shot my factory rifles. The model 70 action can be made to shoot very well. Its flat bottom and integral lug make a rock solid foundation when beeded properly. I would talk to some smiths in your area and find out which ones have experience with the Winchester’s. My smith does about 50/50 Remington and Winchester actions. I’ve had a couple custom rifles but there’s something about the old classics especially when they are family heirlooms.
 
Reloader 326, I would bet that your barrel is really fouled bad, and this is a common issue.

Most do not have proper cleaning equipment to keep a gun up and running, and your gun may have years of neglect.

the gun needs bedding or pillar bedding, barrel properly floated, that center screw if it has one only needs to be finger nail tight.

Lots of good bore solvent, use a rod guide, good bronze bristle brushes, JB or Montana Copper cream on a brush is a good place to start.

My brother has a Winchester 22/250 and it is a tack driver to say the least!!!

Keith
 
Originally Posted By: tj66It will cost about the same to rebarrel vs buying another one. But if you rebarrel yours it will be to your specs, and should shoot better than factory.

I'm, also, always a big fan of going with a good custom barrel over anything with a factory tube on it.

If it were mine, I'd have a good gunsmith, there are many so no worries there, spin on a good quality custom barrel and chamber it right back to a 22-250. Not only will you have a much better quality barrel but it'll have a much better chamber, compared to a factory barrel.

I'm sure the factory barrel is a 1-14 twist which is very limiting on bullet selection so I'd go with at least a 1-12 twist. The last Hart barrel I ordered was $330 delivered, and I had it in exactly four weeks.

When it's all said and done, you'll have yourself a real nice semi custom rifle built off of the gun your father gave you and it'll still be the same gun, except it'll just shoot a lot better which generally means you will use/shoot it a lot more, and to me, as a father myself, seeing our kids actually use and enjoy the things we give them, is the best part. There are guns my dad has given me over the years that I've turned into semi customs and every time he sees me use/shoot it, I know it brings a certain amount of joy to him.
 
Originally Posted By: ackleymanReloader 326, I would bet that your barrel is really fouled bad, and this is a common issue.

Most do not have proper cleaning equipment to keep a gun up and running, and your gun may have years of neglect.

the gun needs bedding or pillar bedding, barrel properly floated, that center screw if it has one only needs to be finger nail tight.

Lots of good bore solvent, use a rod guide, good bronze bristle brushes, JB or Montana Copper cream on a brush is a good place to start.

My brother has a Winchester 22/250 and it is a tack driver to say the least!!!

Keith

+1 this is what I was getting at by telling you to clean it and verify the bore is in bad shape before chunking the barrel. If you have the supplies like ackleyman mentioned and clean the barrel well and regularly then i’d still go have it scoped. Clean it really good with solvent, then go shoot it and see how it does first.
 
Originally Posted By: ackleymanReloader 326, I would bet that your barrel is really fouled bad, and this is a common issue.

Most do not have proper cleaning equipment to keep a gun up and running, and your gun may have years of neglect.

the gun needs bedding or pillar bedding, barrel properly floated, that center screw if it has one only needs to be finger nail tight.

Lots of good bore solvent, use a rod guide, good bronze bristle brushes, JB or Montana Copper cream on a brush is a good place to start.

My brother has a Winchester 22/250 and it is a tack driver to say the least!!!

Keith

Before doing anything, Keith's advice on giving it a good scrubbing certainly wouldn't be a bad idea and who knows, could be all it needs to turn it into a real good shooter.

One of my best friends has a Win 22-250, I think his is the Coyote model, and once we found a bullet/powder combo it liked, as well as put a much better trigger in it, the factory trigger was pretty bad, the thing shoots extremely well. His seem to love the 52gr Amax and H414, if I recall they shot right around 3750-ish from his 24in. barrel.
 
Thanks fellas, I'll give a good cleaning as noted and have a Smith check out the bore. I've always suspected it might be shot out but maybe it's just fouled. He brought it used and said it's always been finicky. It has sat for quite a few years and A couple years ago I gently scraped the barrel channel because I couldn't slide a dollar bill under the barrel. That brought it from a 2"-3" gun To what it shoots today.
 


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