Posted: 1/9/2026 4:50:14 PM EDT
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Does anyone have more than one barrel for a rifle on hand for swapping out and experimenting with? I have a savage 10, with a 24" 308 barrel. It's all setup with scope, and it shoots really well. I'm getting more interested in other calibers, and the savage barrel is kind of an enormous boat anchor. I'm debating trying a new barrel maybe in 20" 6.5CM, but keeping my option open to swap back and forth if i decide I want to shoot 308. I'm sure its a bit of a chore on the savage as compared to more modular rifles, but seems easy enough to do at home. Is this a dumb plan, or do people like swapping barrels around any? |
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I just did a rebarrel on a Rem 700, which uses the Savage barrel nut configuration. It does require some hand tooling, you will need a receiver wrench, a barrel nut wrench and headspace gauges at minimum. A barrel vise or jaws is helpful but you could probably get by without it. Having said that, the barrel swap itself took me about an hour and with some practice it could be done much quicker. There are YouTube videos that show the process. If you decide to do it check out Northland Shooter's Supply for the tooling, I used their receiver wrench and barrel nut wrench and got my headspace gauges there also. They sell prefit barrels also. |
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I had considered that but decided to get a T/C Encore simply because the barrel swaps are easier plus the barrel can be resold. MGM can make a barrel in most any configuration you want. Bias Alet: I got my first T/C Contender in 1976. |
Call the tune and let's dance; but beware that the devil is the piper and the tab for that soiree will be hell to pay.
Training&Trigger Time are more important than chasing a hardware Holy Grail
Training&Trigger Time are more important than chasing a hardware Holy Grail
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Before prefits were common Savage barrel swaps were all the rage in that community. As stuff evolved it's less common but there are still a bunch that do it. It was popular enough a bunch of companies started doing nutted barrels for remington and clone actions. Savage Shooters forum was pretty popular and ran for a long time and shut down recently. There are tools involved so depending on the barrel a single swap might not be any kind of super savings. Lots of guys had piles of barrels like people used to do with the TC guns. The real bargain was take off barrels. Those could be found dirt cheap especially sporter/hunting barrels because most were swapping on bull barrels. |
BikerNut:
Normal people like motorcycles. Real people like motorcycles.
People who don't like motorcycles are just... weird.
Normal people like motorcycles. Real people like motorcycles.
People who don't like motorcycles are just... weird.
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Do it. Tooling isn't that expensive for both REMage and Savage. It is very easy. As already pointed out, Northland for tooling, barrel nuts and recoil lugs. I have Criterion (Northland), Shilen (Northland), Proof, barrels but by far the most accurate and consistent are three X Caliber barrels . Beauty of the Savage is the interchangeable bolt faces. The Gun Shack is a great place for all the other gun parts for Savage. |
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My dad talked to a guy that would do that with his savage. Probably a swap between a longer range and shorter range cartridge but don't remember which ones. Not really worth imho, the hassle of burning through ammo to rezero doesn't make it worth it. Easier to just buy another rifle with the frequent sales and rebates. Or you can swap to an AXIS 2 model for a second rifle. The benefit of the easily changed barrels is to swap a worn barrel or change barrel profiles on a build. Just mho. |
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This thread is not going as expected haha. Still very torn. The scope is kind of the big question to me. Buying an axis 2 in various calibers instead of a new barrel makes sense, but I don't want to put a nice scope on each one. I've already got a vortex 5-25. I don't want 5 rifles with $1k of glass on each one. So if i bought a new rifle, I'd be moving the scope around and re-zeroing anyway. I'm not doing anything specific that I need to keep the rifle zero'd and ready for so this seems acceptable to me. It is a do all rifle, but i have others setup and ready to go if a sudden hunting trip comes up. I knew i would need some tools to change barrels, but the tooling at NSS is not all that expensive. Less than a barrel would get me there. Carbon fiber barrels also have my interest. I'm not sure I'm serious enough that I want a dedicated rifle with one, and the pre-fits are expensive alone. But, the current rifle is over 11 lbs, and shaving some weight would be somewhat welcome. |
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Originally Posted By urbanredneck: My dad talked to a guy that would do that with his savage. Probably a swap between a longer range and shorter range cartridge but don't remember which ones. Not really worth imho, the hassle of burning through ammo to rezero doesn't make it worth it. Easier to just buy another rifle with the frequent sales and rebates. Or you can swap to an AXIS 2 model for a second rifle. The benefit of the easily changed barrels is to swap a worn barrel or change barrel profiles on a build. Just mho. y'all can't zero within five rounds? |
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Originally Posted By SteveJobs: This thread is not going as expected haha. Still very torn. The scope is kind of the big question to me. Buying an axis 2 in various calibers instead of a new barrel makes sense, but I don't want to put a nice scope on each one. I've already got a vortex 5-25. I don't want 5 rifles with $1k of glass on each one. So if i bought a new rifle, I'd be moving the scope around and re-zeroing anyway. I'm not doing anything specific that I need to keep the rifle zero'd and ready for so this seems acceptable to me. It is a do all rifle, but i have others setup and ready to go if a sudden hunting trip comes up. I knew i would need some tools to change barrels, but the tooling at NSS is not all that expensive. Less than a barrel would get me there. Carbon fiber barrels also have my interest. I'm not sure I'm serious enough that I want a dedicated rifle with one, and the pre-fits are expensive alone. But, the current rifle is over 11 lbs, and shaving some weight would be somewhat welcome. As far as glass. You must be putting some sweet glass on your rifles. Seems that there are always sales and rebates not only rifles but on glass too. I just think swapping out a barrel is a little extreme. It isn't like changing uppers on an AR. The case I mentioned earlier, the guy spent time between Wyoming and Florida. He was probably using a long range cartridge out west and something shorter in the east. So his use case was maybe swapping twice a year. Seems easier to run two rifles, if you really don't to go deep in optics then just swap the scope as needed. But if you want to go your route then there are places that sell you barrels with the wrench and guages like E Arthur Brown. |
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The .308 bolt head, (.470-..473) can be changed into roughly 6 different calibers, 6.5cm, .243, .260, 7mm-08, .22-250, .300 Savage, .358 Winchester. Feel free to check this, I haven't done this in close to 20yrs now. The tools don't cost that much and setting head space on a Savage is very easy. There are many videos on how to do it. I used the scotch tape method. Don't be surprised if the bolt closes much easier when your done. |
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Originally Posted By bluealtered: The .308 bolt head, (.470-..473) can be changed into roughly 6 different calibers, 6.5cm, .243, .260, 7mm-08, .22-250, .300 Savage, .358 Winchester. Feel free to check this, I haven't done this in close to 20yrs now. The tools don't cost that much and setting head space on a Savage is very easy. There are many videos on how to do it. I used the scotch tape method. Don't be surprised if the bolt closes much easier when your done. There are a whole lot more short action calibers with the same bolt face as 308 Winchester. https://www.loaddevelopment.com/bolt-face-action-database/ I don't if that list is comprehensive either. That said, some of those are wildcats |
Originally Posted By BustinCaps:
Shooting and riding snowmobiles isn’t as fun when your property is sporting a 70’s porno bush.
Shooting and riding snowmobiles isn’t as fun when your property is sporting a 70’s porno bush.
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It’s easy. You don’t need a receiver wrench. All you really need is a barrel vice, nut wrench, grease for threads and go/no go gauges. A rubber mallet and torque wrench are optional but make things a little easier/more consistent. I’ve never timed it… on my first swap it took about an hour- now it’s maybe 20-25 minutes. That is start to finish - the entire job of removing action from stock, removing optic, removing barrel, putting on new barrel, putting action back in stock and remounting optic. It’s very easy. |
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Originally Posted By LRShooter: I've got a couple Model 10s that I've shot out the factory barrels and replaced with aftermarket Shillen barrels. It's not a real hard job, but I wouldn't want to make a habit out of it. Buy a new rifle. The more I've been thinking about this, the more I think I do need a new rifle. I would really love a new stock/chassis as well. If I'm buying a new barrel and stock, then it starts to make a lot more sense to get a new rifle. To be continued. |
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Upping the budget a bit to a modern action with prefits available might be right up your alley. The Bighorn Origin used to be recommended as a good example of the lower end of the nicer actions. The. You can order barrels to your hearts content and the Origin also has swappable bolt heads so now your gun can go from 223 to 6.5 Creedmoor to 300 PRC. Fat barrels skinny barrels carbon fiber barrels you can have it all. If I ever start over that’s the route I’ll probably go or buy a rifle that will do it. |
BikerNut:
Normal people like motorcycles. Real people like motorcycles.
People who don't like motorcycles are just... weird.
Normal people like motorcycles. Real people like motorcycles.
People who don't like motorcycles are just... weird.