# .243win to a .308win



## Elmo (Aug 23, 2012)

I have a .243win in a Remington 700 action. Can the barrels be change to make it a .308win heavy barrel? Where can I have it done, if it can be done?


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## ScottD (Aug 23, 2012)

yep - just have a .308Win barrel put on it.  Any reputable gunsmith should be able to do this easily.


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## deadend (Aug 23, 2012)

www.itdcustomgun.com

Great prices, good work, and fast turnaround on Douglas barrels.  Why a heavy barrel and why a .308?


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## WGSNewnan (Aug 23, 2012)

why not learn to do it yourself.


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## Elmo (Aug 23, 2012)

Thanks everyone. I seen a lot scopes that are pre-set for the .308 win for bullet drop. I had an invite to hunt a LARGE, I mean LARGE soy bean field last year. All the deer were on the other end with no way to get to them with out spooking them. So I figured the long range shoot is going to be the only option.


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## Knotwild (Aug 23, 2012)

WGSNewnan said:


> why not learn to do it yourself.



I would like to learn how to do it myself, but I don't have anyone to teach me. Got any tips?


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## polaris30144 (Aug 23, 2012)

Changing barrels on a rifle entails more than screwing a new one on. Bubba will tell you it is simple.....NOT. You have to be able to head space the bolt and it may need to have the threads on the barrel cut to accomplish this or the chamber reamed after cutting the shoulder to get the head space right. Rifles that have their barrels held in place by a lock nut are easier. Remington is not one of them. Take it to a real gunsmith if you want a safe, quality job done.

Changing a 700 from a .243 to a .308 is simple because a .243 is a necked down .308. The action is the same, bolt head the same and magazine is the same, the only thing needed is to change the barrel.


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## SCDieselDawg (Aug 23, 2012)

Why not spend a lil more and buy another rifle in .308 they can be found used with a scope for the price of a barrel swap or a new gun since you are already looking at a new scope.


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## polaris30144 (Aug 23, 2012)

WGSNewnan said:


> why not learn to do it yourself.



Good idea if you are a machinist or have access to a machine shop. A Remington 700 action is not a Savage/ Stevens, in other words barrel not held in place with a lock nut which makes head spacing infinitely easier. In order to fit a new barrel on a Remington 700, Mauser, Winchester and a lot of other actions, you may have to cut threads, cut the shoulder or ream chamber to get proper head space. This is more than the average kitchen table gunsmith can do. Plus you either have to have access to or buy the proper head space gauges.


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## polaris30144 (Aug 23, 2012)

SCDieselDawg said:


> Why not spend a lil more and buy another rifle in .308 they can be found used with a scope for the price of a barrel swap or a new gun since you are already looking at a new scope.



This may be the best Idea.

 The question I have is why pick a scope and then look for a gun or caliber to fit it? Why not pick a gun first, then look at the options for a scope?

If you are ready to re-barrel your .243, why not trade it for the caliber you want? It would be a lot more efficient. If you are really looking at very long ranges, there are much better options than a .308.


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## deadend (Aug 23, 2012)

Elmo said:


> Thanks everyone. I seen a lot scopes that are pre-set for the .308 win for bullet drop. I had an invite to hunt a LARGE, I mean LARGE soy bean field last year. All the deer were on the other end with no way to get to them with out spooking them. So I figured the long range shoot is going to be the only option.



I'd rather gun the .243 at long range any day of the week.


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## GunnSmokeer (Aug 23, 2012)

I think I'd rather have a second gun in a longer-range caliber than to rebarrel a .243 that you like.  
The .243 has the accuracy and velocity to hit small targets out to several hundred yards.  If you want a bigger heavier bullet than you can find with a .243 factory load, or you want the round with the least bullet drop, then I agree on going with a different caliber.

I'm guessing that buying a heavy-profile .308 (or any other popular caliber) barrel for your Rem 700 would probably cost you $300, and then you have to pay a gunsmith to install it and headspace it.  And if it's a thicker barrel, won't the stock need to be modified to accomodate the new barrel?  More money!

You can probably get a used, excellent condition, bolt action rifle in a long range caliber for $400 (if it's a Rem 700, Weatherby, Win model 70,  Ruger M77, or sporterized Mauser).  Or you can get a BRAND NEW rifle for $299-$359 if it's a cheaper model like a Rem 770, Mossberg,  Savage 111 or 110 or Savage Axis, Weatherby Vanguard, etc.  

They all come in calibers like .270 Win,  .30-06 Springfield,  .25-06 Rem (all great long-range hunting rounds, all based on the .30-06 case).   7mm-08 Rem, and 7mm Remington Magnum.


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## CowtownHunter (Aug 23, 2012)

I'm sure you've put a lot of thoughts into this but sounds like it's gonna be expensive.  As others have said, why not consider getting another rifle?  A man can always use another rifle.

Having said that, I bought a Ruger American in .308 a couple months ago and have a Simmons Whitetail 6.5-22x50 mounted on it.  The whole package cost under $450.  It's a nice shooting rifle.  Comparing Ruger to my T/C Icon (Nikon Monarch 4-16x50), I get 1.5" vs < 1" @200, respectively.  However, the Icon setup is more than double the cost of Ruger.


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## WGSNewnan (Aug 23, 2012)

Knotwild said:


> I would like to learn how to do it myself, but I don't have anyone to teach me. Got any tips?


its not quite as hard as "others" would like you to believe. agi offers several videos on the subject. many others can be found online such as youtube. you could attend a trade school as i did. my answer is pretty much standard to anyone asking similar questions as i am a firm believer in learning new skills.

As far as having to have specials tools and gauges - you will need some things - somethings you wont. thats something you will have to figure out over time. its no more expensive than buying a new rifle in .308 so dont be alarmed by the naysayers. used equipment is abundant these days.


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## WGSNewnan (Aug 23, 2012)

i probably learning more reading this book than anything else. well worth the money.

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=...RATED-GUIDE-TO-PRECISION-RIFLE-BARREL-FITTING

Brownells also offers complete instruction on a new 700 build.

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/lid=10506/guntechdetail/How_To_Build_Your_Own_Remington_700___Part_I

I promise you after reading the first brownells installment - you will wonder what all the hoopla is all about. You will probably never even think about having a gunsmith do it for you again.

 Or you can listen to all the naysayers - you decide. is it really TOO HARD?


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## GunnSmokeer (Aug 24, 2012)

*.243 at 300 yards*

If you and your gun can reliably keep a 2 minute-of-angle group out to 300 yards (meaning all your shots will be in an 6" circle at that distance), why not just use it? Use the .243 Winchester with 100 to 110 grain bullets?

They start out at nearly 3000 f.p.s.  At 300 yards they'll still be moving 2200 velocity with 1100 foot-pounds of energy.  

And if you sight-in at 200 yards, you'll only have to hold-over an extra 7 inches to be dead on at 300.  

I agree that for deer and other big game, these rather small skinny bullets become marginal at 400 yards.  That far you have nearly 2 feet of additional bullet drop if your zero was at 200 yds.  Your 100 -grain bullets will be down to 2000 f.p.s. in velocity and just under a thousand foot-pounds of energy.

IF YOU EXPECT TO SHOOT FROM 400-600 YARDS, and if you and your gun are accurate enough to keep your shots in the kill zone at those distances, the .308 and a dozen other calibers will get there with a bigger and heavier bullet still moving fast enough with a reasonable amount of bullet drop, but you'll still need to really know the range to target, because if you're off by 100 yards in your estimate of range, your bullet drop could be off by a few feet!


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## jglenn (Aug 24, 2012)

Hinnant's book is excellent. there are others on the process too if you choose to go that direction. The Gunsmith Machinist by Steve Acker is also very good . even has an chapter in it about re-barreling the 700 action.. 

I swap or re-barrel myself quite a bit..  My Lathe skills are still a work in progress but there are what is know as short chambered barrels   out there that  eliminate the use of a lathe for the process. It is how I started. Shilen actually makes one in just what you are looking for .. a heavy weight short chambered 308  barrel( $330 midway)

 minimum tools you'd need :

barrel vice
action wrench
head space gages
Finish reamer and holder

barrels would run from 50-100 for a take off remington 700 barrel to well over 500 for a custom match barrel. Lots of option in between. you can get carried away(LOL)


basically you weigh the cost of tooling against the cost of a smith to install it for you. 


If this is the only time you are thinking about doing it then go with a good Smith.. IDT as mentioned earlier is Excellent for price and service. many excellent local smiths too

Personally if you were to re-barrel looking for long range performance I'd look at the 260 and 7-08. Both are like the 243 in that they are off the 308 case.

The new Ruger seems to be an excellent rifle for the $$. a bit ugly (IMHO) but a shooter..

one last thought is that if you move to a heavy weight barrel most likely you'll have to change stocks as part of the upgrade so keep that in mind ..

good luck any  way you go


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## WGSNewnan (Aug 24, 2012)

jglenn said:


> Hinnant's book is excellent. there are others on the process too if you choose to go that direction. The Gunsmith Machinist by Steve Acker is also very good . even has an chapter in it about re-barreling the 700 action..
> 
> I swap or re-barrel myself quite a bit..  My Lathe skills are still a work in progress but there are what is know as short chambered barrels   out there that  eliminate the use of a lathe for the process. It is how I started. Shilen actually makes one in just what you are looking for .. a heavy weight short chambered 308  barrel( $330 midway)
> 
> ...


THANK YOU! 
some people just dont get it. i guess they get all their info from the very people they pay to do their work. of course if i were being paid to rebarrel a gun i would probably tell him it was too difficult too.

the shilen factory profile short chamber barrel is definitely the way to go. i think my cost on them is around 250.00 right now.


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## rayjay (Aug 24, 2012)

Pacnor and others offer a bbl nut setup and drop in bbls for Remington 700's.


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## mikey (Aug 24, 2012)

if you like the gun you have, keep it buy another one.  take a look at those ruger american rifles, been reading a lot of good stuff


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## MoblMec (Aug 24, 2012)

If you decide to rebarrel I have a 308 barrel that came off a rem 700 pss it is a medium lengh I think 20 " heavy barrel. I put about 100 rounds through it before i had it compleatly rebuilt with a super heavy barrel with a muzzel brake built in. I would take $150 for it.
MoblMec


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## stevetarget (Aug 25, 2012)

I just have to say something. I have built a lot of Remington 700 custom rifles. 
 If you really want to do it your self it can be done but you will have to buy a few fairly pricey tools. 
Step one is to remove the old barrel from your donor action. IF you own a factory rifle with the original barrel I suspect this will be the end of your DIY project. These barrels can be very difficult to remove. IF you get the old barrel out your home free. If the receiver is not twisted or does not need to be refinished, you did very well. Congrats. Now go buy the rest of the tools needed to complete your build.


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## rayjay (Aug 25, 2012)

Once you have the tools if you can put the 243 bbl back on the action if you want a low recoil target rifle or varmint gun. Then when deer season rolls around unscrew the 243 bbl and put on the 308 bbl and sight it in and you are set.


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## GaBowman21 (Aug 26, 2012)

Give joe collier in millen,ga a call. He just finished my doing some upgrades on my model 70 7mag. He has got one of my friends .243 model 7 right now converted it to .308. He is also lapping bolts, truing the action, putting a Kreiger barrel on it and adjusting the trigger. Gonna be a sweet rig when he gets it back.


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## Old Coach (Aug 26, 2012)

Should be able to get it done for less than $500 by a good smith.
Just because you add a heavy bbl in 308 don't expect a LR rifle.
It takes a lot to get a sub MOA rifle @ 500+ yds.
Also a scope with the 308 recticle is calibrated for one bullet, one load, at one altitude, one temp. Go from the coast to the mtns and the recticle is not accurate. You won't notice the difference til you get out to 300yds.
Also with a LRF you will know the range but dopeing the wind is by practice only.
A 308 shooting a 168grn bullet zeroed @ 200yds is nearly 8ft low @ 600.

Coach


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## NotaVegetarian (Aug 26, 2012)

Wow

It's your rifle if you like it as it is keep it, and buy another one, get you a new .308.  Then you could have one for you and one for your son, for team hunting.


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## WELLS8230 (Aug 27, 2012)

Wow!


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## Elmo (Aug 29, 2012)

I own a 7mm-08 rem, a .243win, and a .300wsm. all in a Remington 700 action. The .243 win is a youth model. I swapped the 7mm-08 and .243 stocks and bought managed recoil ammo for the 7mm-08 so my son can shoot it. I have several walnut, synthetic,, and hogue stocks to play with to build this rifle. It is just something I want to do.


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## 7mmstw (Oct 12, 2012)

260 ack imp. those 6.5 bullets will amaze. #5 fluted lilja barrel blue printed action bedded in a good stock. mcmillian or manners. lights out.


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## killerv (Oct 12, 2012)

Why not just use your 300wsm? I didn't know Remington offered the wsm, thought it was only their version, the saum.


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## Nannyman (Oct 12, 2012)

Keep your rifle and buy a new one. Buy a more long range caliber. If you re-barrel the 243 you have 1 gun, and spend $4,$5,$600. You can buy a nice new rifle for that and have 2. Its a no brainer.

John


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## Shaky Dave (Oct 14, 2012)

Swap to some of the higher offerings for bc on the 6mm bullets, and work your loads up.  I built a bull barreled 243 and used 107 smk at around 3200 fps, it smoked the 308.  I built a 6mm -284, using the 107 smk netted us 3450 fps with extreme spreads of 6 to 8 between cases and a 3 shot group at 750 yards was right around 3~3.5 inches.
I have larger weapons that Ive built and if you dont want to worry about the wind the 338 Edge is in the top 5 or so.  94 grains of H1000, 225 accubond, 3240 fps when compared to the 300 smk at 2850 the 225's fly flatter but give it up in energy and wind.  Its a solid killer to 1000 yards even with a 5mph wind and has enough energy in spades at that distance to kill humanely.
Contact me and we can dicuss what your like done or for a custom build.


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## Ocmulgee Arms (Oct 17, 2012)

.243 will kill a deer easily at least to 600 yds. Done it and seen it done on more than one occasion. Not my favorite cartridge but it is very capable especially with todays bullet choices. Buying or building a different caliber will not make you and the rifle a long range package. Getting a base zero for every 50 yards out to whatever range (500 to 1000) on a 70 degree day will not give you a hit with the same zero on a 40 degree day. 400 yards and farther you will have to be more of a weatherman and know what to do with that information as a marksman to hit consistent. Colder will hit lower, warmer higher. Marginal at 400, more so on out. Save that money and use it for practice and accurize the rifle you have. I personally dont like magnums due to barrel life. I like to shoot alot. I started out long range shooting with magnums years ago. No doubt they work better. I went from a 7 mag to a .308 palma rifle in NRA long range. I shot the palma rifle in any rifle class also and kept winning matches against 6.5-284's and other magnums. But I put 3500 rounds through that barrel and it was still shooting when I quit competing. You will never do that with a magnum of any kind.  You can launch a heavier bullet faster with less wind drift. But at 500 yds and on if you dont know how to call the dope properly you will miss no matter what your shooting. Numbers on paper dont mean alot in long range. 400 rds and closer use what you got no matter what your shooting as long as the rifle is marginally accurate. (1 1/2 to 3 minutes). 1/4 is allways better but not required.
 Of course nothing outweighs "I just want to". There is nothing wrong with that at all. I have plenty of those that goes against all arguments and logic.


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## SOUTHERN WOODS (Oct 22, 2012)

Ok... here is my suggestion. 

1) Don't listen to all of the weekend wannabe gunsmiths.  Sure I can tear apart most anything, oil it, put it back together but am I a trained gunsmith -- heck no.   Could I watch something like what you are wanting done and then do it, possibly. 

2) For the amount of money it's going to cost you, just buy another rifle.  Look into a base model Savage or even a Marlin XL7.  For long range beanfield shooting, look at the .25-06.  I have seen deer taken at over 600 yards with one.  It works.  .260Rem isn't bad either.  

3) Get a set of quick detachable rings so that you can switch the scope out between the two guns if you can't afford a new scope.  Just be sure of the zero of each gun and find a decent load that works in each.  Assume you are hunting the beanfields this time of year.  Practice your shots out to whatever range you feel comfortable.  Once you develop a load or find a factory load, then stick with it.  Remember even a factory load can change according to the lot numbers.  

4) Kill a big one and enjoy!


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## Larry Rooks (Nov 4, 2012)

If you decide to do this, send your rifle to a custom barrel manufacturer and have it done.  E. R. Shaw, McGowen, or one of many others.  Look for the gun to be gone several months.  Shaw probably the cheaper of most custom barrel makers and they do make QUALITY barrels, got several of em.  BUT, if you are doing it to increase the range of the 243, you waisting yo money.  With PROPER bullets the 243 shoots flatter than the 308, and faster.  The advantage of the 308 is a HEAVIER bullet that may penetrate better at longer ranges and fight the wind better.  Do some checking and testing before hand.  If you do decide and let a local GS do it, check him out ahead of time.  There are some
good uns out there that can handle the project (Kenny Jarret for one)  I own a 243 win (barreled by Shaw) and a 308 win (Rem VTR) and love em both, killed many deer with both, and dont consider either one for what I consider long range guns,
300 yards YES, either one all day long, 500 and longer NOPE rather have a magnum
257, 7MM, 300 etc


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## rosewood (Nov 16, 2012)

Unless the .243 needs a new barrel, I don't think changing out the barrel would be a good idea.  I would imagine time you buy the barrel and the required tools (or rent), you would be better to just buy a new rifle.  If you are concerned about the money, if you sale the .243 and add in the money you was going to spend on the re-barrel, you could get a really nice 700 in .308.  Now if you want the experience of learning to re-barrel a gun, then go for it.


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