Printable View
Howdy yall! I'm looking for a gunsmith to rebarrel one of my 336 30-30's to 32-40. I talked to Jess over at JES Reboring and he declined to take it on. Says its plenty doable but he just doesn't do it. Any of yall know someone up to the task? I've searched the ole interweb for suitable smiths but all I can find is the super duper guys that want to make it a $2-3k job. I just want a rebarrel and maybe free float it. Thanks, David
.
I would respectfully suggest that you might obtain a speedier reply if you had posted your question in the gunsmithing section of this forum.
.
Have you considered having your current barrel rebored to the 32 Winchester Special. It's pretty close to the 32/40 ballistically and is pretty easy to load for.
A 30-30 will not rechamber to 32-40 because the 32-40 is too narrow at the shoulder to fit/clean-up the original chamber; however, 32 Winchester Special is an easy conversion, requiring only slight modification of the neck, re-boring and rifling of the existing barrel. It would probably be less expensive to start with a new barrel instead and that is a job nearly any competent gunsmith should be able to handle for you.
A rebore from JES is 225 dollars and takes less than two weeks including shipping time. I would really consider the 32 win for simple ease and cost.
Edit - JES recently rebored a Winchester 70 for me and the barreled action was gone 8 days.
A relining is better suited to convert a .30-30 to .32-40 for the reason previously of the .30-30 being larger at the shoulder than the .32-40. Also as stated above, the .32 Winchester Special case dimensions are more compatible in a rebore, but if the condition of the .30-30 bore is poor, there may not be sufficient material to clean up and provide a good interior bore finish on a rebore. For this reason, I had John Taylor reline a shot-out .30-30 for me to .35/.30-30, because the old nickel steel barrels can also be problematic in trying to get good interior finish in a rebore. Relining preserves the original markings and patina, and it takes an expert eye to detect the liner.
I am entirely happy with the result. Cost is about the same either way, but using a liner you can be sure of the interior bore finish you will get.
Attachment 129039
Ditto...Ditto...reline it, and you can choose the twist you want.
Jon
I re-barrelled a 336 to .32-40 a while back. Worked out well. Dennis Olson in Plains, MT did the work and he did it will./beagle
Just got done with three to 32-40 with 30" octagon barrels for cowboy action shooters. The reason for the long barrel is the long mag tube will hold 10 rounds.
Been out of town since I posted my questions. Thanks for all the replies. I'll check into the reline. This project is for my wife. The 32-40 obsession came about when she got a John Wayne commemorative from her fathers estate. It holds special significance to her. The JW was unfired till this year and she took a 155 class whitetail with it. Now its all she wants to shoot but she doesn't want to beat up her fathers gun by dragging it around. I have several marlins to play with and thought it would be a good idea.