doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Rebore a rifle, any recommendations

Has anyone here had a rifle rebored to a larger caliber?
If so, who did you use and how was the quality of the work and outcome?
Looking at several smiths who do this work. want to hear from anyone who has had it done.

Yes, JESS Reboring in Oregon. Super fast (11 days including shipping and Christmas).

Rebored a Marlin 1893 .32 Spl to .38-55. I shot it for a while, but was not impressed and eventually had the rifle relined. I think .375 is too close to whatever is the diameter of .32 Special. Some of the old rifling was faintly visible and moderate to light leading was the norm. Accuracy was not good enough, but almost. Just good enough to lose you a match.

I had a Rem 721 30-06 to 35 Whelen done a while back, gunsmith from WA did it but has passed. It turned out well, killed a few deer with it. It's waiting for another hunt.

JES did a Marlin 30A (AS?) to .356 Win for me. Like mentioned above, he was fast. I have no complaints about the work or the results and used it on a fair sized MO hog to great success. I have two more projects that will go to them....when I am ready.

Not a rebore but I had JES turn a Husqvarna 9.3x57 into a 9.3x62. He turned it around in two days and the rifle shoots great.

Brian,

The Remington Model 30 that you D&T'd for me back in 2016 for my moose hunt was a JES rebore from 30-06 to .35 Whelen.

He specializes in .35, does some others but depends on what you want.

I had a Winchester 1885 in 22-250 rebored and chambered to 257 AI. I had the gun accurized, barrels fluted, did a trigger job and it became my dedicated sheep gun. Super accurate and as light as reasonable. 2 different smiths, one a bench rest shooter and barrel smith and the other a well trained smith for the accurizing, chambering and fluting. Both smiths have now passed on. But the point is have competent smiths do the job and you will end up with a wonderful new caliber to shoot.

I also had JES rebore a bbl for me and was pleased with the results.
303 to 35-303 to save a Watson Bros Martini Sporting rifle.
Fast turnaround. I chose his 3-groove rifling and can't really kick it for any reasons related to accuracy.

I only had to send him the bbl onthat one as the HS was fine on the rifle.

As a side note, when mine was done, JES did not mark his rebore work in any way.
It is my understanding that at this time he stamps the rebore work with a not so discrete marking above the wood line right at the breech end.
Some people have stated their displeasure with that and have asked him not to or to stamp it underneath, etc. Especially on work done on collectible and classic rifles.
There are some discussions about the practice on other Rifle forums.

Maybe the practice has changed or is optional since I first heard of it.
But it may be something worth looking in to if that would negativey impact the returning work for your needs.

The only other rebore-re-rifle 'smiths I had do any such work are out of the biz or gone now.