Rebarrel or Rechamber

[mountainview]

Picked up a Savage 110 30-06 recently for a reasonable price. Action is good and trigger is surprisingly good IMO for stock Savage rifle w/o Accutrigger.  Only bad thing about it is that when I rescued it, the barrel has several spots where rust has eaten through about 50% of the blued depth. Functionally it is a'ok but I can't stand looking at the blemishes. Was thinking of having the rebarrel reblued or repalced and then it started me thinking that this might be a good opportunity instead to rechamber to 35 Whelen. Always wanted a gun in this caliber but could not afford the models chambered for it.

Questions:
1) Would I be further ahead just to have a smith replace or reblue the 06 barrel?
OR
2) Consider rechambering from 06 to 35 Whelen (if this is feasible)?

Appreciate any feedback or advice anyone could offer, especially on what budget would be needed.

[leverfan]

mountainview-

Midway has Savage barrels in 35 Whelen for $149.99.  You can have a gunsmith swap it for the old barrel.  If you're a do-it-yourself kind of guy, you can buy the rebarrel kit for $174.99.  Midway will give you tech support and advice to perform the barrel swap safely, but it wouldn't hurt to have a gunsmith check the headspace before you shoot it, if you haven't done it before.  Anyway, you'd get to keep the 30-06 barrel, too, and you could swap back and forth whenever you felt like.  It's not as easy as switching barrels on a T/C Contender or Encore, but it's the next best thing.  Savage barrels are very easy to switch, no doubt about it.

If you had it rechambered, you'd also have to have the barrel reamed and rifled for the new caliber.  If it's not a fairly heavy barrel, there might not be enough metal to have an accurate, safe barrel.  At any rate, it wouldn't be any cheaper than just buying the new barrel.

www.midwayusa.com

No other changes will need to be made to your gun in order to make the switch to 35 Whelen.  Have fun, and be safe.

[oldelkhunter]

If the rust has eaten 50% thru the barrel then you should not rebore it to 35 whelen..Get a Midway barrel and screw it in

[hkg3k]

Do the re-barrel.  Savage guns are easy, but I'd do the rebarrel anyway.  Buy a nice quality barrel in your caliber of choice.  You'll be glad you did.