Re-chamber for a .30-06 Barrel?

[petemi]

I've got a spare '06 barrel for sale now on our classifieds, and the thought came to me to keep it and re-chamber it.  Has anyone got any suggestions for a good caliber?  Thanks, Pete

[walkingwolf]

    300 H&H   is a great one for you.

[Sourdough]

Rebore it to .35 Whelen.

[stimpylu32]

Pete

You could maybe do a 300 Howell or a 300 Dakota , both would clean up the old chamber nicely , not sure how the Handi would do with the pressures though , both are Wildcats with a good track record .

stimpy

[Daniel Laws]

Chalk up another vote for the 300 H&H.  I have looked at pressures and chamber dimensions on that one myself.  Only question is the 22 in barrel.  I don't know how much that would hurt the velocities on the 300.  It may wind up just being another 30-06 using high priced brass and  lots of powder to accomplish the same thing that factory ammo would do in the 06.

[BBF]

you could go to the Improved version with the 40 deg shoulder.
I am not a gunsmith so I don't have the answer to the 300 H&H but looking at the drawing of the two cases I noticed the H&H is a fair bit slimmer at the front and wonder if you have enough metal to make it work

[EVOC ONE]

The 300 H&H is a favorite of mine, having owned a 700 Classic in the 300 H&H since it came out around '82-'83.  I've also recently been researching a Savage 110 project in that caliber.

As nice as the 'ole ".30 Super" is, I don't believe it would be a good one for the Handi platform. The case head thrust may be too much, especially with top end loads.  Had NEF brought out the supposed 7MM Mag & 300 WM, then perhaps that frame would have been sufficient.

 

[billy_56081]

30 Gibbs would be a great rebore for your Handi. It is a 30-06 with most of the taper removed and the shoulder moved way forward to maximize capacity.

[Tencubed]

30 Gibbs would be a great rebore for your Handi. It is a 30-06 with most of the taper removed and the shoulder moved way forward to maximize capacity.

Depending on why you want to rechamber the barrel the Gibbs may be a good choice.  If you are looking for more velocity the Gibbs, Ackley, ICL and a number of other "improved" '06 cartridges will get the job done.  Most of them will give 300 H&H factory velocities with carefully worked up handloads when using 180 grain or heavier bullets.  The tradeoff is using quite a bit more powder and a lot of muzzle blast when compared to the standard '06.  As I recall Mr Gibbs advised starting well below his heavy loads as each rifle seemed to be quite a bit different.  I have had the opportunity to shoot, and load for, a number of different improved '06 rifles and feel the gain is offset by the difficulties encountered.  If I were to have another '06 expanded a bit I think it would be an Ackley #2 Short Magnum.  Could have just been the rifle but it seemed to be easier to get along with than most.  I never had a #1 Short from Ackley but have been told it was superior to the #2 in powder efficiency.  Trouble with the #1 was you had to set the barrel back a bit for the reamer to clean up the chamber. 

I'm not a great fan of the 300 H&H because of case life problems.  If your not going to be shooting and reloading it a lot then it's better than an improved chamber IMO.

[quickdtoo]

The 300 Dakota has waaay to much breech thrust with a .545" case head, 30 Newton may be doable too, it's slightly smaller than the 500 S&W as is the 300 H&H.

http://stevespages.com/jpg/cd3006.jpg

http://stevespages.com/jpg/cd300hollandandhollandmagnum.jpg

http://stevespages.com/jpg/cd300dakota.jpg

http://stevespages.com/jpg/cd30newton.jpg

http://stevespages.com/jpg/cd30gibbs.jpg

A 30-06 Improved would be the most practical, although it wouldn't handle factory ammo, so it would be a handload only chambering, stick with the 30-06 case head size and pressure and you'll be happy, I've tried a 300WSM and it didn't work out, even my 280 Improved is a bit too much for the frame with max loads, not a lot to be gained in the end.

Tim

http://stevespages.com/jpg/cd3006improvedackley.jpg

[Hank Zudd]

there's a guy in alaska that sells 7.62 x 39 inserts that will convert 06 or .308 bolt guns; I guess they'd work on a Handi. I was gonna get one before I found my 7.62x39 bbl. googoole it.   

[stimpylu32]

Tim

I was wondering about the Dakota , with 54000+ PSI and that big case head , but with the extra 500 FPS over the 06 it sure would be a thumper .

stimpy

[quickdtoo]

That it would, but I think the breech thrust would limit pressure below that and it would be hard to achieve 30-06 velocities without action flex.

Tim

[stimpylu32]

Tim

Your right about flex  sometimes I tend to forget about that . with the H&R barrels being such a easy platform to work with it is sometimes hard to not get carried away . I just wish that the factory would chamber some of the other bore dia. in smaller cases that you could clean up the chamber area better .

Do you think that if we did a group buy , that they would do a run of just bored barrels .  ( fat chance )

stimpy

[quickdtoo]

Maybe with Remington running the show, they'd be more inclined to offer some custom options, they have a custom shop, so we can always hope!!

Tim

http://www.remington.com/products/firearms/custom_shop/

[Tencubed]

Tim

I would predict that when Remington gets a little time under it's belt with this product line they will continue, at a somewhat higher price, the part of the line that is producing maybe 80% of the profit margin.

The rest of the chamberings, rifles, stocks or whatever will become "specialty" items and the price will nearly double.  Custom work will, if available, be monstrously expensive.  The days of inexpensive barrel fittings are drawing to a close.

I hope I'm wrong.     Time will tell.

Mike

[petemi]

I've wanted a .35 Whelen for a long time, and I like Sourdough's thought on the re-bore, but I haven't got a clue as to who's best to do it, or if it would be more cost effective to just wait for one to come along.  Can anyone shed any light on this?  Thanks to all of you for your input.  I'm still not sure if the frame will handle the .300 H&H pressure.  I guess I know it will with the Whelen.  You're all wonderful!  Thanks again, Pete

[quickdtoo]

Wayne York has done several rebores and rechambers for me and many members here, his 6 groove cut rifling is the best.

Tim

http://home.earthlink.net/~oregunsmithing/

[petemi]

Thanks againTim; I'll talk to him.

[BBF]

 I'll second your notion on the Whelen. Going from .308 to .358 is opening up a whole different situation. ie shooting a 220 gr bullet from a 30-06 versus a 220 gr bullet from a Whelen .

[gstewart44]

I vote for 30-06 improved.   You can fireform the brass with standard 30-06 rounds.

[quickdtoo]

I vote for 30-06 improved.   You can fireform the brass with standard 30-06 rounds.

Good luck with that! Since the barrel is fixed, it can't be set back like it can on a bolt rifle, so there's waaay too much headspace to shoot factory ammo, about .050" on my 280 Improved Ultra, so it would be a handloading only chambering when going from a Handi 30-06 barrel. Do a search, there are tons of discussions on the topic, some are in the FAQs.

Tim

[gstewart44]

Thanks Tim, you're very right on that one ...........It's been a few years since I had an improved chambering done and I spoke too soon.    Thanks for reminding my brain cells of what they used to know!  :-)

[canon6]

Another vote for Wayne York,my 7x30 barre he did is absolutely the best shooting barrel I have ever had.   Doug

[Tencubed]

I've only seen and shot one but the 375 Whelen is an impressive beast.  Recoil is considerable as I recall.  If you just want to push a big hunk of lead it may be an option.  Don't recall the ballistics but do remember the owner saying it was all he could handle and he liked it because it was an efficient cartridge and easy to load for.

Mike