Yes it can be done. Basically you slide back the forend exposing the forend tube. It has a takedown hole through it. Slide the correct pin punch through and loosen the tube. It can then be turned off by hand. Rack the forearm with gusto and the barrel/extension/forend will separate from the reciever.
Now the forend can be separated from the barrel/extension and the bolt removed. Oh yes remove the trigger group first.
Reassemble in reverse order.
The only difficulty I had was in reassembling and getting the bolt dust cover in the track. Sort of a three hands operation. I finally hit on inverting the reciever and using gravity to help hold it in place as the barrel/extension slid home.
You may also need a more recent bolt depending on the age of your reciever. I did as my reciever was a 1954 model and the .308 Carbine barrel was mid sixties I believe. There were slight differences in the bolt lug cuts.
The conversion is a simple 1/2 hour process. I was not impressed with the .243 mags I used, one fit was poor and the other had a tendency to jam. Admittedly Remington used an early and late mag catch and I was almost assuredly using an early catch with a later mag.
Finally I came to conclusion that this rifle was designed and worked best as a 30-06. If you are going to carry a 30-06 length reciever on a rifle, and have a 30-06 length pump stroke, keep it a 30-06. Just cut the barrel on an -06 for a carbine...20" would be perfect.
But the conversion is possible and my bolt/barrel extension headspaced fine. I did experience some peening of the action bar lock but I cannot attribute this directly to the conversion. It was a 50 year old reciever after all, and looked it. Some careful dressing off of the action bar lock and my 30-06 rifle functions perfectly once again. Will probably last another 50 years.
