Gunsmith Question: How much should I pay for chamber/rebarreling?

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Minuteman
Aug 1, 2017
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Alaska
Long story short, just moved to Alaska and I don't really have an adequate hunting rifle. I have a blueprinted Rem 700 LA in 30-06 but it currently has a very heavy profile steel barrel. I'm wanting to purchase a carbon fiber Proof Research .30 barrel blank and have that chambered in 30-06 and installed on this rifle. How much should I pay to a competent gunsmith to have this accomplished? A local smith told me roughly $400 in labor and I'm curious if this fair. I am also wondering if a gunsmith should have prior experience with carbon fiber barrels generally, or Proof Research barrels specifically, before I send them this expensive piece of tube to work on.

Any help or advice is appreciated. Also open to other suggestions or criticism of a carbon fiber barrel. Thanks!
 
For a *good* chamber and muzzle thread I expect $350-$450.

Ive had a half dozen barrels done by Deep South, at $300 you aren’t going to find a better deal or higher quality machine work.
 
If I may piggy-back onto this - I have a similar question - this is not something I am considering right now , but saw someone mention it on another thread and it piqued my interest. Supposing I bought a "pre-fit-barrel" from Criterion Barrels, which says "Utilizing a proprietary barrel nut design, these barrels can be swapped using a Solid Accuracy barrel wrench and the appropriate headspace gauge set." - How much would that type of work cost from a gunsmith? Same deal, $3-400? Thank you very, very much!
 
If I may piggy-back onto this - I have a similar question - this is not something I am considering right now , but saw someone mention it on another thread and it piqued my interest. Supposing I bought a "pre-fit-barrel" from Criterion Barrels, which says "Utilizing a proprietary barrel nut design, these barrels can be swapped using a Solid Accuracy barrel wrench and the appropriate headspace gauge set." - How much would that type of work cost from a gunsmith? Same deal, $3-400? Thank you very, very much!
If you use Proof steel barrels as an example, a blank is $375, and a finished savage thread barrel with a threaded muzzle is $545. So they're getting $170 for all the machine work. Pretty incredible, and street price is better if you search around. Probably the only drawback is cartridge selection limitations.

PVA button barrels are also very nice and well priced, with a wide cartridge selection.
 
Fair enough thank you both very much. Just something for me to kick around for the future, not today but never have had a rifle rebarreled so it's a subject I am not knowledgeable on - especially not the labor cost. Thanks again
 
Side question.
Since barrels are impossible to come by would you pay more (750$ chambered for a example) for a barrel in 4-6 weeks rather than wait 12 months.
 
If I may piggy-back onto this - I have a similar question - this is not something I am considering right now , but saw someone mention it on another thread and it piqued my interest. Supposing I bought a "pre-fit-barrel" from Criterion Barrels, which says "Utilizing a proprietary barrel nut design, these barrels can be swapped using a Solid Accuracy barrel wrench and the appropriate headspace gauge set." - How much would that type of work cost from a gunsmith? Same deal, $3-400? Thank you very, very much!
If your asking about the labor to install a barrel nut prefit it should be way less then a chamber job. Maybe 75 bucks labor for a install?
 
Side question.
Since barrels are impossible to come by would you pay more (750$ chambered for a example) for a barrel in 4-6 weeks rather than wait 12 months.
Bartlein barrels available:
 
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Long story short, just moved to Alaska and I don't really have an adequate hunting rifle. I have a blueprinted Rem 700 LA in 30-06 but it currently has a very heavy profile steel barrel. I'm wanting to purchase a carbon fiber Proof Research .30 barrel blank and have that chambered in 30-06 and installed on this rifle. How much should I pay to a competent gunsmith to have this accomplished? A local smith told me roughly $400 in labor and I'm curious if this fair. I am also wondering if a gunsmith should have prior experience with carbon fiber barrels generally, or Proof Research barrels specifically, before I send them this expensive piece of tube to work on.

Any help or advice is appreciated. Also open to other suggestions or criticism of a carbon fiber barrel. Thanks!
@RWSGunsmithing has some REALLY good pricing on his website. Check with him, though. Some gunsmiths don't like working on an action trued by another 'smith unless they know the work and how it was done. Things like receiver threads get opened up to new sizes, faces trued, were lug faces lapped or machined, etc.