Rechambering 700BDL

B

bummer7

Inactive
Everyone,
Looking for suggestions and ideas on what to do with a Remington 700 short action. Currently, the rifle is chambered in 22-250 but am wondering if it can be rechambered? if so, what caliber(s) would fit this action?
Your thoughts?
Thanks in advance.
-s
 
Really truly rechambered?
That means a .22 centerfire cartridge larger than .22-250.

Or by "fit the action" do you mean to rebarrel?
 
The .22-250 is a fine round, but you can have the barrel recut for a larger capacity case but those are essentially wildcat rounds. The .22 Cheetah was one aka .22/243, there are variations.

These rounds will give you higher top end speed than the ,22-250 but they eat throats faster in doing so.

If you want to go to a different bore size, you could have the barrel rebored, but there are lots of M700 barrels out there and simply rebarreling the action to a different caliber would likely be cheaper.

A standard short action 700 with the common .473" bolt face is suitable for all the rounds in the .308Win family.

If you want to go to one of the "short magnums" additional work will be needed, to include (but not limited to) enlarging the bolt face (or replacing the bolt) and most likely some work on the action feed rails...

Good Luck.
 
Thanks everyone for the suggestions and ideas.

To answer ammo.crafter's question. I don't have a particular purpose in mind for this rifle. Let me also add the rifle is incomplete. It is missing the trigger group as well as the bolt stop pin/parts.

It has been in the safe for several years now. I figure this rifle would make a good project gun for me for the foreseeable future. Rebarrel the rifle is definitely an option I lean toward. Especially if I can change the caliber a 6.5 or similar cartridge.
Any suggestions for caliber without changing the bolt or altering the bolt-face?

-s
 
If it were me I'd do a 260 because a man I spotted for for 3 years was using a 260 before he went to a 6.5X47. I could buy his 400 pieces of Lapua brass for a good price and I like the cartridge. But if I were advising someone I don't know, I think the 260 is fading and the Creed is all the rage. Not for me but for the majority.
 
Any suggestions for caliber without changing the bolt or altering the bolt-face?
Click to expand...

Without modifying the bolt, or changing it out, you're "limited" to the dozen or so rounds with .473" case heads and about 2.810" loaded length. Some variation in overall loaded length may be possible, less then 2.8" won't be a problem, longer, might be...

This essentially includes the entire family of rounds based on the .308 WIn case, both factory and wildcat. So in factory rounds that would include the .243 Win .260 Rem, 7mm/08 ,308Win and .358 Win.

Really the first step you need to do is decide which kind of rifle you want that action to become. Long range match rifle? Light weight stalking rifle for big game? Short brush gun for thick woods hunting, dedicated varmint rifle? Something in between? Some overlap?
Do you want something like a 26" barrel 6.5mm something or other, for long range accuracy you can do that. Or you could build an 18" .358 Win for easy carry in thick woods and heavy short range punch. OR something in between.

Decide on the general purpose for the build, THEN look at which calibers will perform best for what you want, and THEN look at what features the rifle needs to get that performance.

THEN, we start looking at the actual build...and budget...:D
 
You guys are great! Lots of good ideas and suggestions that I never thought of. Yes, it would help if I put some thought into what I would like the rifle to be or do. My bad for not doing more research before reaching out to the group.

Burrhead's suggestion for a 6mmBR is good but I already have rifles in .243 and 6mm Remington. Now, 44 AMP's suggestion of a 7mm/08 appeals to me as I was thinking of this rifle as a general purpose gun.

I appreciate the replies and advice from all.
 
bummer7 said:
I was thinking of this rifle as a general purpose gun.
Click to expand...

What is your definition of general purpose? Will this be a general purpose range rifle, truck gun, or hunting rifle? Do you reload ammunition or rely on factory ammunition? Do you want a heavy or light rifle? The big elepahnt in the room, what is your budget?

These are some questions that need to be answer, before you can really decide how to build a rifle.
 
To answer your questions. To me, "general purpose" is hunting and general range use. I'm not looking to make this into a bench rest or F-class rifle. And yes, I reload now and plan to reload for this rifle too.

In looking at various barrel configurations, I like to think a medium weight barrel would be applicable here. Of course, I could be wrong or you have good reasons to disagree with my logic. And if you do disagree, please tell me why and your reasoning for it.

As for budget. That is a great question as my initial idea was to keep this project under or around a thousand. This may not be realistic as I start looking for and talking to gunsmiths.

Again, I'm looking to be educated. All suggestions, ideas, and thoughts are welcome.
 
There are a bunch of cartridges that can be chambered, if you're going to rebarrel. Considering the bolt face dimension, they include: 6mm Rem, .243 Win, 7mm-08, 6.5 Creedmore (?), .308 Win.

It depends on what you want to use the rifle for. The 7mm-08 is a particularly good cartridge for deer hunting and it has shot very well for me, especially using Rem. factory ammo.

I've done well with the .243 Win in my rifles. It's a good combo rifle for larger varmints and medium-sized deer.
 
Is it going to get a plastic stock? Or will you be using the original Walnut stock? The reason I ask is that if you want to go classic, you might like to choose a retro-classic caliber, like 250 Savage, or even 300 Savage.:) But if you are going the other way, you may as well choose the 6.5mm Man-bun.;)
 
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