What does it take to convert a 270 to a 280?

[natokad]

What all is entailed in converting a rifle currently chambered in 270 to a 280? 30-06 to 280? Is is as simple as having a gunsmith swap barrels or is there more involved? Thanks in advance.

[zoomie]

New barrel. Anything in the same "family" (308, 30-06, 223) can be switched out with only a rebarreling.

[Paul B.]

I would think it would take a rebarreling job to do it right. There is always the possibility of reboring the .270 to .280 but that might be a dicey thing as there is very little metal to remove for the rebore and re-rifling. The rechambering part would be fairly simple I'm thinking. A phone call to one of the reboring operation would be the quick and easy way to find out. To convert the 30-06 to .280 Rem. would require a rebarrel.
I just had a .280 Rem. built on a 1909 Argentine and it's currently at my gunsmith's getting a few final finishing touches. It's supposed to be ready at the end of this month. At least, my hunt doesn't start until the first part of January.
Paul B.

[Mobuck]

If it's Savage, it takes about an hour and a barrel. If it's most anything else, it takes a barrel and a gunsmith.

[reynolds357]

Some of the barrel makers are making "remage" barrels for Remington actions now. You can re-barrel a Remington the same as a Savage, so long as you can do minor stock work.

[taylorce1]

My first question is why turn a .270 into a .280? I've owned both and there is no discernible difference between the two. The only advantage the .280 has is all on paper, the .270 has the advantage in factory ammunition offerings. Plus unless you reload very few .280 factory loads will be close to .270 performance.

Other than that it is a simple barrel swap by a gunsmith or yourself if you have the tools.

[reynolds357]

Taylor, I am betting he is doing it for the same reason I build odd stuff and buy more rifles than I should: "Because I don't have it, or I like it and need more of it."
.280 is one of the few rifles left on my short list to build. As soon as I finish the .358 Win. and the .270 WSM 40 degree shoulder with the pushed up neck, the .280 will get built.

[taylorce1]

I get a .280, but to re-barrel a rifle will cost more than what you can buy one for.

Gunbroker has several for less than $600, and unless you're going to swap a barrel on a Savage you'll have a hard time getting under that price.

[reynolds357]

Yeah, I figure it would cost about $400 to build one. When you build it, you know it is going to be 1/2 min or better rifle. Factory rifle? Crap shoot.

[dahermit]

What all is entailed in converting a rifle currently chambered in 270 to a 280?

A .280 groove diameter is .284, a .270 is .277...do you really want to convert to gain only .007 of an inch bullet diameter? There is only a 2 cent difference between the two. What do you expect to gain?

[old roper]

With all the custom bullets for the 7mm now up to Matrix 190gr, it be pretty hard if interested not to look at something in 7mm.

[Colt46]

Nothing wrong with the .270

The .280 is just better. Enough to justify the expense of rebarreling your hunting rifle? Depends on where you like to put your money.
And no, I'm not hating on the .270
I'd make the same argument if we were discussing a rebarrel job from .280 to .30-06

[Mobuck]

I'd walk a mile for a 280 but wouldn't carry a 270 home for it. Just my opinion.

[reynolds357]

Mobuck, there was a time I would have agreed with you on your opinion of the .270. Bullets have come a long way in .27 Caliber over the past 10 or so years.

[jmr40]

It depends on WHY you want to make the conversion. If you just want to do it and want to be able to say you have a 280 instead of a 270 then do it. If you are expecting any increase in performance you are in for a dissapointment. Gun owners, myself included, often do irrational things just because we want to and can. This is one of these decisions.

The real world differece between 30-06, 270 and 280 is not enough to ever justify trading any one for either of the other. With todays modern loads and bullets you can make any of them do the same jobs by simply choosing the proper bullet.

[Bart B.]

Rifle barrels have been rebored and rifled to larger calibers for decades. But there's usually an accuracy trade-off.

When a barrel's rebored and rifled, the ends of the bore will bell out a tiny bit due to the boring and rifling tools not being fully supported at the ends. In normal barrel blanks after it's gun drilled and reamed to bore diameter then rifled, the breech end's cleaned up by the chamber reamer and the muzzle end's cut off an inch or so getting rid of the oversize bore at that end. Some finished blanks have a mark on the muzzle end showing where the gauge readings started getting bigger and where it should be cut off at.

First time I heard about such things is when my brother had a commercial Mauser 98's 8x57 barrel rebored and chamberd to 9.3x57 Mauser in the 1950's. Pedersen, the barrel maker who did it, cautioned him that accuracy would not be pristine, but good enough for big game at shorter ranges.

[old roper]

Really have to check on reboring 270 to 280 as Goove dia on the 270 is .277 as dahermit mention but the bore dia for 7mm is .277.

[hornetguy]

Have it re-barrelled and headspace checked.

I've never shot a .280, but I REALLY like the concept. 7mm is a great diameter.

[big al hunter]

Depends on the rifle. Some can not be rebarreled because of how they are made. It is likely easier and less expensive to sell the 270 and buy a 280. What rifle do you have that you are thinking about changing?

[FrankenMauser]

When you build it, you know it is going to be 1/2 min or better rifle. Factory rifle? Crap shoot.

I've seen plenty of custom builds turn out to be giant turds.
A rifle is a rifle. They're all assembled from multiple parts. They're all unique. And, they all have the potential to let you down, massively.

Expecting a guarantee of 1/2 MoA out of a $400 rifle build is about the same as expecting $1,000 worth of parts to make your 3.0L Ford Taurus run 11 seconds on a quarter mile drag strip. It could happen, but the odds are not in your favor...

[old roper]

FrankenMauser, If someone has a custom and it turns out to be a a giant **** as you call it was it return to the gunsmith to fix? I've had couple builds with issues working up loads and last one was stock problem and that was replaced and gunsmith handle the problem.

[taylorce1]

Most reputable gunsmiths will fix a problem with any rifle they build because they rely heavily on word of mouth for business. With the internet, one upset customer can really destroy a guys hard earned reputation. I recently returned a custom to a smith to repair a faulty follower, that would actually come out of the magazine through the action. It was a mini-mauser action that had been opened up to handle a .250 Savage cartridge, fixed it for me for free.

Originally Posted by FrankenMauser

Expecting a guarantee of 1/2 MoA out of a $400 rifle build

When someone says there building a rifle for $400, I figure they're doing it themselves. Since a good barrel cost you usually over $300. A guy usually can't rebarrel for $400 using a gunsmith.

[Geo_Erudite]

From what I have read, the .280 Remington has a longer head space compared to the rest of the -06 family. The .25-06, .270, & .30-06 have a chamber head space of 2.0587" Max (2.0487" Min), while the .280 has a headspace 2.110" Max (2.100" Min). I got this off of SAAMI. If I recall the reason for this was for safety reasons when Remington was developing the cartridge. This prohibited it from accidently being loaded into rifles chamber in .270.

[sc928porsche]

If you are going to rebarrel, that is the perfect time to make sure the receiver is square and lap the lugs.

[FrankenMauser]

When someone says there building a rifle for $400, I figure they're doing it themselves. Since a good barrel cost you usually over $300. A guy usually can't rebarrel for $400 using a gunsmith.

I've been waiting to see if Reynolds357 would clarify what he meant by the $400 quote.


Generally, I would agree with you. But, there are exceptions.
My last build (~2010), a wildcat even, came in at $397. That included the barrel (purchased by me), reamer, chambering, threading, a custom crown, squaring the action, lapping the lugs, polishing, bluing, custom engraving for the chamber stamp, return of the factory barrel, and more...
...from a gunsmith that was not doing me any favors. He charged me his normal rate for everything but the engraving (threw that in for free).
I cleaned up the factory barrel really well, and managed to get $90 out of it - bringing the build cost down to $307.

But, I will admit, that I chose to use a gunsmith that was 3 hours away. So, I burned 12 hours of my time and 380 miles worth of fuel (~$52) for travel.
That gunsmith saved me some money, though, by being one of the most skilled machinists in the state. He is extremely efficient, knows exactly how to achieve the desired results, and just cuts/builds new tools (and reamers) if he doesn't have what he needs. (He doesn't have to wait around for 3-12 weeks for the tool, like every other gunsmith I've dealt with.)