Guns & Outdoors Forum

Due to the resident forum gunsmith being very busy, I have decided to step outside my comfort zone and tackle a project I should be able to do on my own. Before diving into my real project I decided to "practice" with a donor and a supposedly unfired take off barrel.

My M70 .243 is going to take a good bit of figuring out to get it to shoot close to how it used to, assuming I can. Given the drop off in performance it may need a new barrel if I cant sort something out, but that will be a different project. In the mean time I still would like to have a usable .243, even though I have no real use for one at the moment other than some nephews getting older. The "practice" donor rifle is a R700 in 6.5 CM that for some reason I just cant get to shoot 129gr bullets acceptably. I have tried enough combinations that I just dont want to continue burning up components. I found a new take off factory Remington 1-8 twist 26" varmint barrel, but am waiting for it to show up still.

This morning I pulled the donor out of the stock and stripped some bits off. I mounted my barrel vise to the bench and got to work. I suspect the barrel vise isnt intended for a factory installed barrel as it took a lot to get it to actually hold. It did mark up the finish on the barrel some, but im going to try some things when the real project happens. That barrel was on there tight.

Love the cartridge!

Zee wrote: ↑Sun Jan 14, 2024 9:42 pmLove the cartridge!

The .243 idea should be a good learning experience for the real rebarrel project down the road. If this works out well I will be comfortable enough to tackle the real project. You will really like the real project. In about 3 months or so I should have a McGowen prefit 26" barrel in 6.5-06. Im going to save my Lilja 6.5mm barrel blank for another project that maybe when Justsomedude isnt so busy we can work on something. I also have a Lilja 6mm barrel blank that could also work for something like a 6mm-06....

Always wanted to make a 6mm-06.

Zee wrote: ↑Sun Jan 14, 2024 10:06 pm Always wanted to make a 6mm-06.

That is an idea for my Zastava M70 in .30-06. It has a shorter magazine box than the R700 that will become my 6.5-06. Between the two it would be more logical to use the longer magazine box rifle for the 6.5-06 since the shorter box might limit length and some of the 6.5mm bullets are long. I have a dummy 6mm-06 round I made up and I have to say it looks odd, but in a way that has my interest.

I still haven’t started loading for my 6.5 Gibbs (6.5-06 on steroids). Need to get around to ordering custom dies for it. But that is one project I want to get finished. The thought of sending 6mm-6.5mm bullets out of a long barrel/long action case is REALLY exciting!!! Following your projects closely

The 6.5 Gibbs is interesting, but 6.5-06 is slightly more straight forward as far as brass and dies as well as finding published load data to start with. I really like my 6.5x55, but short of jumping way off the reservation I'm limited on velocity potential. Short of jumping into something like a 6.5 Rem Mag, 6.5 PRC, .264 WM, or .26 Nosler the 6.5-06 is the closest I'm going to get to a magnum 6.5. The 6.5-06 has had my interest for a while.

I’m getting .264 WM velocities (3,150 fps / 140gr) out of my 6.5-06 while wandering off the Rez and a 26.5” barrel.

I will be using a 26" barrel on the 6.5-06. while I don't know if I will push things as far as you are, I'm hoping for 3000 with a 140gr. I also have a bunch of 100gr partitions and 129gr ABLR to try as well. If I can get the 129gr to 3200 I will be surprised and happy, as long as they group.

With the .243 I'm hoping to beat the velocities I was getting in the M70. I have to measure the barrel again as I don't recall if it was 22" or 24". My reliable loads, prior to a big drop in performance, were pushing an 85gr InterBond to 3166 fps, and a 100gr InterLock to 3000 fps.

I also have to keep in mind that I have a R700 in .30-06 with a 24" factory barrel that throws a 150gr at 3100 fps with some headroom.

Zee wrote: ↑Mon Jan 15, 2024 1:15 pm I’m getting .264 WM velocities (3,150 fps / 140gr) out of my 6.5-06 while wandering off the Rez and a 26.5” barrel.

That’s 77gr 5.56 Velocity… with twice the weight..

That’s a fast Mofo…

I think the .257 Weathery Magnum does close to that with same weight. But, still…

She ain’t slow. But, any more and I blow primers. Not to mention, it’s the only load I have an ambient temp written on the box not to exceed.

Not looking to pop primers as I have already done that on accident before. Sometimes book data isnt good data. I had issues with .350L and Lil'Gun data. The start charge was already at max charge velocity and a mid level charge was over max velocity and popping primers. I guess it was a bit much to ask such a small case to hold enough powder to safely drive a 170gr bullet at 2400 fps... I just dont use that powder in rifle cartridges anymore.

What powder do you use in your 6.5-06?

Tried Retumbo and got speed but not accuracy. I think, I settled on H4350. But, I’d have to check when I get back home.

Well, I have plenty of H4350.... I'm going to run RL-22 and RL-26 through quick load as well.

The barrel is currently lost in some USPS facility in Texas. USPS picked it up in Orangefield on the 11th and as far as I can tell it's still in Dallas on the 19th. Original USPS tracking said it would be at my house on the 13th.

Well Fleabay got me again. The "New take off" barrel did finally arrive. Lets just say that the barrel received is not the barrel in the listing. Between the surface rust on the outside of the barrel, wear near the muzzle that may or may not be from shipping or from going in and out of a soft case, rust spots on the bore, and the obviously different muzzle crown I feel that I got the shaft. Lesson learned I guess. Might be time to learn how to refinish a barrel. Not happy, but thats the gamble some times.

Sucks.

mitdr774 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2024 9:41 pm Well Fleabay got me again. The "New take off" barrel did finally arrive. Lets just say that the barrel received is not the barrel in the listing. Between the surface rust on the outside of the barrel, wear near the muzzle that may or may not be from shipping or from going in and out of a soft case, rust spots on the bore, and the obviously different muzzle crown I feel that I got the shaft. Lesson learned I guess. Might be time to learn how to refinish a barrel. Not happy, but thats the gamble some times.

I’d be getting a refund

CPJ 2.0 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2024 10:25 pm

mitdr774 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2024 9:41 pm Well Fleabay got me again. The "New take off" barrel did finally arrive. Lets just say that the barrel received is not the barrel in the listing. Between the surface rust on the outside of the barrel, wear near the muzzle that may or may not be from shipping or from going in and out of a soft case, rust spots on the bore, and the obviously different muzzle crown I feel that I got the shaft. Lesson learned I guess. Might be time to learn how to refinish a barrel. Not happy, but thats the gamble some times.

I’d be getting a refund

Yep. e-Bay has very buyer sided policies.

Im going to see what the seller has to say first.

Pictures don't do it justice.

Small sampling of bore corrosion spots.
Exterior corrosion that looks to just be surface corrosion, but still needs removed and metal refinished. It doesn't show up terribly well in the camera phone pictures.

Yeah that bore is trash.

Not thrilled at all about what I have found. It's not the barrel in the listing and it's garbage. Looks like I got scammed by a gun shop in Texas. I'm going to give the guy a day or two to respond before I decide how to proceed.

If the seller doesn't respond, as others have already said, contact ebay and send them your pics.
I'd also go and DL the pics from the listing.

I've had one guy try to scam me on a straight razor that was supposedly in "VG Condition" that had a crack half way up the blade. Seller basically told me "tough poop" EBAY said " not so fast" and gave me a refund.

I already did some screen shots of the listing with it's pictures. The pitting in the bore means the barrel is junk. It's definitely not in "new take off" condition.

This is the picture of the muzzle from the listing. Doesn't quite match what I received.

Then you should be "golden"
I'll be sorely disappointed if ebay doesn't make it right