How to Rebarrel

4dogspete

Inactive
I have a very nice Winchester 32 Win Special and would like to rebarrel it to 25-20 or 32-40 without wrecking the original set up - in case I want to return it to it's origina configuration. Is this possible? Practical (since purchasing an oldy 25-20 is quite price prohibitive to me.
Any help- advice will be respectfully received.
 
It's possible to rebarrel the rifle without changing much more then the barrel.

There may be a problem if you want to re-install the original barrel.
Rifle barrels are fitted to the action so the sights will line up correctly, then they're torqued in place.
When you remove the barrel the torque is broken and when you screw the barrel back on and torque it in place, it screws on just a little farther.
This means that when properly torqued, the sights won't be perfectly aligned.

There are various methods of dealing with this, from setting the barrel back an entire thread and re-chambering it, to various methods of working on the barrel shoulder to allow re-torquing again to the original position.

I'd suggest talking this all over with a good gunsmith who does quality barrel work and find out what method he'd use.
 
1. At one time Winchester rifle barrels were "justified" to all screw in the same.

2. A .32 Win. Special is a Model 94 or close relative like Model 55 or 64. It would not be feasible to convert one to .25-20. If you particularly wanted a .25, it would have to be a .25-35.
 
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