Barrel Change on Ruger M77 Mark II or Browning A-Bolt

[seanengman]

I have two .30-06 rifles I really like, however I don't like .30-06 enough to warrant having one, let alone two. I want to change barrels. I'm thinking one will be a .25-06 and the other is still up in the air. So, does anyone here have any experience on the removal and replacement of the barrels from either the Browning A-Bolt or the Ruger M77? Thank you all for your help.

Cheers,

Sean

 

[MDSpencer]

Both can be done. I've done my 77V at least 5 times. Current Shilien barrel is shooting GREAT! I shot a .701 at 300 yards the other day. Anyway Ruger is a 1x16tpi. Who knows what your Browning my be. If it's stainless, the barrel could gawl. Other than that it's pretty darn simple.

 

[seanengman]

Great. Thank you very much. I'm a rookie when it comes to gunsmithing, so all the info I get helps a lot.

Cheers,

Sean

 

[X Ring Accuracy]

Are you planning on doing this yourself?

 

[Gundoktr]

If I remember correctly, the Browning has metric threads, not everyone will touch it.

 

[tome]

I think you are talking about is a pre chambered, pre threaded barrel to fit either the ruger or the browning..you'll need to do the on line research and see if any barrel maker has them..cost $300-$500 depending on what you want.next you'll need a barrel vice,action wrench and go - no gages in the caliber you choose..the gages are the right way to head space..somebody will probably pipe up and tell you how the use brass and tape..good luck. with all this you have to take the barrel off the action..this can go from not hard to a real bitch. putting the new barrel on is fairly straight forward using the gages. for a 1 time shot i'd see what a gun smith wants to do it..you'll spend close to $ 150-$200 on tools needed to do the job. the other way to go is sell both and buy what you want. i shoot a 25-06 tikka, and really like the rifle and caliber..anyway..good luck

 

[seanengman]

I think I'm just going to sell the Browning and by something else in .25-06. I'm a huge fan of Savage. Both barrels are stainless and from the homework I've done it sounds like galling is a huge problem and I don't want to get in deeper than I feel I can handle at this point.

Thanks for all the help,

Sean

 

[Rustystud]

Browning A Bolt barrels switch. Browning has switched the threads on its newer rifles. The old ones had 16 tpi. The new ones have 32 tpi, yes 32 tpi. I was told by several and the Browning repair center not to try to remove the barrel. I had a job requiring that I remove a barrel from a Browning A bolt that I could not get out of. I bought a action wrench adapter from Brownells. I spoke to a R&D engineer from Browning in Utah and he said there should be no problem removing the barrel that he did them all the time. I removed the barrel with out any problems. I cleaned the threads thoroughly and lubed them up with high temperature bearing grease. It went back together like a glove. It was the 16 tpi threads.
It was not real tight to begin with and I put it back with about 50lbs of torq.
Nat Lambeth

 

[seanengman]

I've got the barrel wrench, I've got all of the tools minus the action wrench and it is an old model. Not purchased by me, but it is the first issue of the all weather A-Bolt. So, it should be in theory a 16 TPI barrel. Would I be okay using a pre-threaded barrel?

Thanks,

Sean