Making a .270 out of a 30.06?

myron1012

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Wanting to have a custom .270 built from a pre-64 model 70 in 30-06. Since the existing bolt is a long action, can it be used in a .270? If so, any drawbacks or concerns? Thanks for any replies.
 
Nothing that I can think of that would prevent the conversion you speak of, though I'm not a gunsmith.

You mentioned the existing rifle being a pre 1964 Model 70. Could be that with people bitten by the pre 64 bug that you could sell the Winchester, buy a brand new rifle in 270 Win chambering, and be cash ahead.
 
Ditto on what Alan said...

however, should you desire to complete the conversion, all it will take is a simple barrel swap, with proper headspacing and chambering thrown in, of course.

You also should decide now if you want a standard .270, or a different flavor such as the .270 Ackley Improved. Still the same case head and length, slightly more powder capacity and more efficient combustion chamber.
 
Given that I was a competition shooter, rather than a hunter, I cannot see why one would want to go from 30-06 to most anything else.

Of course, I WAS A TARGET SHOOTER NOT A HUNTER is writ large.
 
switch

Dear Shooter:
No, I'm not entering the 30-06/270 controversy - they are both super-fine rounds!
But, I'm wondering why the chamge> The 06 has a bigger base for gas to push against, it handles bigger bullets, it is the grandfather of hundreds of wilcats - you have, yes, an old caliber, but by leaps and bounds a better cartridge.
But, so is a 270 a great caliber, but, dear soul - I recommend the 06!:)
Harry B.
 
You didn't say what the condition of your .30-'06 barrel was, but considering it is at least 43 years old, that may be a consideration.

If you want to preserve the barrel profile and not have to perhaps recut the stock and leave a gap where the rear sight base is on the pre-'64 barrel, Douglas will copy the original barrel profile and give you a barrel which is an exact fit for the existing barrel channel.

If your caliber choice is based on recoil sensitivity, than the .270 is probably the one for you, but the .25-'06 Remington has even less recoil and is better suited for both deer and varmint shooting.
 
xausa:

I did not know that the Douglas people did the sort of work you mentioned, duplicating the outside contours of an existing barrel.

In my experience, they made excellent barrels, and their installation work is first rate. I had Douglas made and installed barrels, Premium Air Gage Chrome-moly tubes on three course guns, some rebarreled more than once, with excellent results in all cases. I have no idea as to their prices currently, but they certainly used to be reasonable, looking at the quality of their product and their rebarreling work.

While I haven't had them do any work for me in quite a few years, they most certainly did "good by me", when I was shooting National Match Course Competition.
 
Douglas has duplicated three Winchester factory barrels for me in the past couple of years. I don't know what the price was because it involved a three way trade with a friend, Gene Barnett, who buys barrels from Douglas by the dozens and turns them into replacement barrels for M1's, M14's and M16's.

I earned my Distinguished Marksman award 25 years ago using a Douglas barrelled M1A installed by Gene.

I also have two Griffin & Howe Model 70's which have duplicate factory barrels produced by Douglas.

I have been shooting Douglas match barrels for almost 50 years now and have never had a complaint as to quality. I use Schneider barrels for my across the course bolt guns, but that's another story.
 
xausa wrote:

Douglas has duplicated three Winchester factory barrels for me in the past couple of years. I don't know what the price was because it involved a three way trade with a friend, Gene Barnett, who buys barrels from Douglas by the dozens and turns them into replacement barrels for M1's, M14's and M16's.

I earned my Distinguished Marksman award 25 years ago using a Douglas barrelled M1A installed by Gene.

I also have two Griffin & Howe Model 70's which have duplicate factory barrels produced by Douglas.

I have been shooting Douglas match barrels for almost 50 years now and have never had a complaint as to quality. I use Schneider barrels for my across the course bolt guns, but that's another story.

---------------------

I bow to your years, experience and level of skill. I made NRA High Power Expert during 20-25 years of National Match Course shooting. Would have made Master, though I never did what was needed to pull up my "awfulhand" scores, practice, practice, practice, spelled DRY FIRING.

As for the people at Douglas, I got to know Tim Gardner a bit. He seemed to be their shop foreman. He was kind enough to show me through their shop, rifling machines and their air gage room, Sheffield Air Gages, as he described them. He also took the time to offer an explaination of the barrel making process, as they did it. Fascinating stuff.

I'm not familiar with Schneider barrels, having never heard the name previously, but then there are any number of barrel makers, some well known, some not. In any event, as per your experience, I never has a "bad barrel" from Douglas. You might have had more of their product than I did, but as above mentioned, they made a very good barrel. I hope that they are still at it.
 
My wife's uncle, who was a close friend of the guys at Douglas Barrels, managed to take me on a tour of the factory one day. I was so impressed with the barrel making process that it was almost overwhelming!

I was also impressed with their level of quality control. As I stood and watched, a craftsman was in the process of contouring a barrel in .243 (I think). Suddenly, a chip got caught in the lathe, and the outside of the barrel was ruined. Note--I said the OUTSIDE only.

The craftsman promptly unchucked the barrel and asked me if I wanted it FREE. I turned it down politely; he then chucked it into a pile of other barrels (!!) about 8 feet high that had not made the grade!!!

These barrels will be melted down and recast into steel rods to start the process again.

Another plus is that I don't believe that Douglas straightens their barrels. Either they're straight or they're rejected.
 
Powderman:

Douglas didn't "straighten" barrels. If bore run out exceeded specs., they cut them up into shorter lengths, where the small run out didn't matter, and made pistol barrels out of them, or so I was told.
 
The .270 is a 27-06

The rebarrel would be easy and no work on the bolt face, or in the action, would be required...

But the 30-06 is a better round in every way... unless you are confining yourself to critters smaller than large deer. ;) :)
 
"...a long action..." Yep. The .270 is just a necked down .30-06. Mind you, doing anything to a pre-64 will significantly drop its value.
"...or they're rejected..." That's why they start at $150 for a basic, rough turned barrel blank. QC.
 
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