Gunsmith

[velvetant]

I'm looking for a gunsmith to barrel my Winchester Featherweight.
My gunsmith is good and has done a great job with pillar bedding and muzzle brakes.
He has never done a rebarrel job for me and his words not mine:
"I'm a general gunsmith not a precision gunsmith"
I'll already have a Lilja #3 SS countour barrel in 6.5mm
Still pondering what caliber. 260 Remmy or 6.5-284.
I would also like it throated to a dummy case I would provide.
Who do you recommend?

Randy

 

[JD338]

I highly recommend Rob Canze of Williams Gun Sight in Davison, MI. 810 653 2131.

JD338

 

[257 Ackley]

Randy -
the gunsmith in ND that did my 264WSM did a great job on the rebarrel job for me. PM me if you want his info...i'm not sure how busy he is right now and what his turn-around time would be.

 

[Guy Miner]

There's probably a gunsmith or two that the competitive shooters in your area use. Someone who specializes in match rifles - those guys will often re-barrel every year, or every other year... No kidding, they go through that much ammo.

It's not rocket science, installing a new barrel, but it is precision work. Any smith who routinely builds and services match rifles and/or varmint rifles should be able to handle the work. It's a good time to have the action trued up or "squared" as well.

Or, if you didn't already have the barrel on the way, it's pretty easy to just send your work to Pac Nor, Krieger, or Hart and have them install one of their very high quality barrels.

Best of luck, Guy

 

[velvetant]

There's probably a gunsmith or two that the competitive shooters in your area use. Someone who specializes in match rifles - those guys will often re-barrel every year, or every other year... No kidding, they go through that much ammo.

It's not rocket science, installing a new barrel, but it is precision work. Any smith who routinely builds and services match rifles and/or varmint rifles should be able to handle the work. It's a good time to have the action trued up or "squared" as well.

Or, if you didn't already have the barrel on the way, it's pretty easy to just send your work to Pac Nor, Krieger, or Hart and have them install one of their very high quality barrels.

Best of luck, Guy

Guy
Most of the shooters I talk to send the rifles out of state. The one they did use locally died a few years ago and he was a benchrest shooter/gunsmith.
I used to be one of those shooters and would rebarrel rifles every two years. Mostly from varmint hunting but I did compete for a short time.
At the time I was a machinist and had access to all the equipment needed to put on a new barrel and did all the work myself.
My 22-250, 243 AI and 358 Norma mag had all the work done by me as well as a few rifles I don't own any more.
Needless to say I never had to find someone to do this work, But I'm not in that line of work anymore.
There were/are a few gunsmiths locally, some moved away, some passed away, and some have a bad reputation.
Lee Baker is a great general gunsmith and is the original designer of the most copied muzzle brake in the business.
Since I demand accuracy I need a person that does the type of work I used to do.
I will have the action trued and lugs lapped(Blueprinting) when I have the barrel installed.
Darrel Holland taught me the basics but he only works on Remington. I know he could recommend someone if I called him.
Since I'm part of the Nosler family now I thought I would ask the people here.
I've received several PMs from people here so I'll start making calls Monday.

Thank you to everyone
Randy

 

[BK]

I feel your pain, Randy. I'd like to find a good accuracy 'smith in the Portland area, as I have a bunch of .270s that need to become something else! The fact that I'm home about one Friday a month (no other weekdays) complicates things a bunch.