Gunsmithing Where to draw the line?

[03psd]

I have a stripped base hole in my 700 receiver. I want to step up to 8-40 anyways so now I have a reason. While I send it off to a smith, I considered having it rebarreled (18" 1:11) and threaded. While they are doing that it makes sense to have the action and bolt trued.....

My point is how can you get any work done without turning a simple thing into a full blown rebuild?

maybe I should just stick with the 8-40 rethreading and just have my LTR barrel threaded for the can...

anyone else struggle to keep things from becoming overkill?

 

[padronanniversary]

Re: Where to draw the line?

If you're gonna go all out , why not get a custom action that does not require all that work. Stepping up to a Surgeon, Stiller, GAP, etc action would save you money in the long run, and resale would be better as well. Just something to think about since I started out with a rem 700, nothing wrong with it, but by the time I added up all the work that was done, I may have been better served with a new action.

 

[SpotcheckBilly]

Re: Where to draw the line?

You get into the "as long as you're doing THIS .......might as well do THAT while you're at it" mode, very similar to what happens when you start a home inprovement project and it's very easy to get carried away.

I've found that you MUST start with a definite plan with a strict budget. If all you need is the 8/40 scope mount screws just limit yourself to that one item. I know, I know, it's easier said than done

If you're satisfied with the way that your LTR performs but want a can just have it threaded and shoot it 'til you wear out the barrel, then rebarrel after that.

Padron's comments in the post above have some serious weight. I wound up using a Stiller TAC300 action on my last from scratch build for those very reasons. These days I'll only go through the 700 blueprinting stuff if I already have the action (or rifle) that I want to start with. Otherwise I'll go custom action from the get-go.

BTW - the 'smiths that I'm familiar with will not fit a custom barrel without making sure that the action is true to begin with.