Rebarreling a Winchester 88

Jermanator

How hard would it be? A little bird found one for a steal chambered in .308, but the barrel is shot out. I figured that I would chamber it in .338 Federal. Is this doable?

Buffco

Ahh.. So this is what you we're referring to.

Yes, that little birdie is quite the bad boy, isn't he? :cool:

Jermanator

When it is all said and done, Mrs. Jerm might stick that elk of his where the sun don't shine.

Buffco

Ha. Tell her to get video!

Zee

No clue on rebarreling one, but if you can, that would be a cool chambering for it!

Big Al1

Jerrybobco rebarreled one to .284-.338. He should have details!!

JerryBobCo

Jermanator wrote: »

How hard would it be? A little bird found one for a steal chambered in .308, but the barrel is shot out. I figured that I would chamber it in .338 Federal. Is this doable?

Does a bear go in the woods? Heck yeah it's doable. I like the idea, too.

I rebarrelled a .284 Winchester to 338x284.

If you decide to do this, here's a couple of things to keep in mind.

The magazine is the limiting factor on COAL, so don't have the chamber cut long. You won't be able to build rounds that can take advantage of a longer than normal chamber unless you want to shoot this as a single shot.

Glass bed the barrel channel. For my .243, bedding all but the last few inches (just past the guard screw) woked best. On my .243, the fore-end of the barrel was not cut quite even, and there was pressure from one side of the stock on the barrel. This caused it to shoot patterns instead of groups. When I had it glass bedded, I had the entire barrel channel bedded, and it didn't help. It wasn't until I noticed the uneveness and had that corrected by removing the last few inchex of the bedding material that my patterns turned into sub-moa groups.

You can almost surely use the same magazine, but you may not be able to get it to smoothly feed with more than 2-3 rounds in it.

If I had it to do over again, I'd do some things differently, such as not cut the chamber extra long, or go with a 23" barrel, but you live and you learn.

BTW, someone sent me a picture of a M88 on the cell phone. Wonder who that was????

Jermanator

JerryBobCo wrote: »

BTW, someone sent me a picture of a M88 on the cell phone. Wonder who that was????

That little bird sure gets around don't he? I got an email out to the seller and I guess I will go for it. It will have either a 1:9 or 1:9.5 twist then we will go from there. This one was made in 1956 according to the serial number. It might be heresy to do this to a pre-64 88, but it is worthless with a shot out, pitted barrel.

I am just waiting for the seller to get back with me, and we will make it happen!

JerryBobCo

Jermanator wrote: »

That little bird sure gets around don't he? I got an email out to the seller and I guess I will go for it. It will have either a 1:9 or 1:9.5 twist then we will go from there. This one was made in 1956 according to the serial number. It might be heresy to do this to a pre-64 88, but it is worthless with a shot out, pitted barrel.

I am just waiting for the seller to get back with me, and we will make it happen!

Cool. Looking forward to your range reports.

MileHighShooter

You could always rebore the barrel instead of just screwing on a new one. That way the outside will still look original. If the blue and sights and everything are still good, not a bad option.

jbohio

Just keep reminding your wife who found that sweet little chocolate colored turd factory laying at her feet.

Jeesh, sounds like someone is really trying to enable you guys!

Jermanator

MileHighShooter wrote: »

You could always rebore the barrel instead of just screwing on a new one. That way the outside will still look original. If the blue and sights and everything are still good, not a bad option.

That is a good option. Let's see if they answer my email.

Jermanator

jbohio wrote: »

Just keep reminding your wife who found that sweet little chocolate colored turd factory laying at her feet.

Not a turd factory, a turd artist. He can't just go in a pile like normal dogs, he has to take a nice stroll while doing so. When he has the occasional "accident" on the kitchen floor, it is like playing hopscotch to avoid stepping in it.

Teach

Most magazines can stand a little length tinkering without modifying the dimension where the trigger guard meets the mag. I had to do that to make the Scooter a repeater instead of a single shot, plus lengthening the bolt stroke.
Jerry

MileHighShooter

Jermanator wrote: »

That is a good option. Let's see if they answer my email.

The OR guys or Pederson in AZ?

DanChamberlain

I've read that many people believed barrels were shot out, when in actuality all they needed was recrowning. Just a thought. Being a sporting rifle, vs a target rifle, it's hard to believe anyone would shoot it enough to shoot it out. Unless the bore was poorly cared for and rusted.

bullsi1911

DanChamberlain wrote: »

I've read that many people believed barrels were shot out, when in actuality all they needed was recrowning.

Those had a 22"bl, so it would be worth a try on recrowning before doing major surgery. If it was an 18" bbl, you might not have the length without paying for a tax stamp

Jermanator

MileHighShooter wrote: »

The OR guys or Pederson in AZ?

The seller. I have to buy the rifle first! It is out your way in Grand Junction.

Buffco

Well??!?!?!????

Gene L

I'm with Dan on this. Also, if you rebarrel it, you destroy any resale value. Got to have "Winchester" on the barrel, and not be chambered in a hybrid caliber to retain any value.

Buffco

Gene L wrote: »

I'm with Dan on this. Also, if you rebarrel it, you destroy any resale value. Got to have "Winchester" on the barrel, and not be chambered in a hybrid caliber to retain any value.

Win 88 in .308 are a dime a dozen. (Comparatively speaking)

Razorbacker

Buffco wrote: »

Win 88 in .308 are a dime a dozen. (Comparatively speaking)

Less than that if the barrel is in fact shot out. Still, it would be nice if he could somehow keep that original barrel. And if you are able to work that out Jerm, do your kids a favor and have the new caliber stamped on it.

Gene L

Six to eight hundred bucks. IF the barrel is good. Barrel no good (very unlikely, but possible) it's worth maybe $300? Rebarreled to 338 Federal, maybe $300. Once you take the Winchester logo off the barrel, you have a rifle you probably can't sell. If that's a concern. Having bought enough "personal because I like it" rifles, I pretty well know the market.

Jermanator

Gene L wrote: »

Six to eight hundred bucks. IF the barrel is good. Barrel no good (very unlikely, but possible) it's worth maybe $300? Rebarreled to 338 Federal, maybe $300. Once you take the Winchester logo off the barrel, you have a rifle you probably can't sell. If that's a concern. Having bought enough "personal because I like it" rifles, I pretty well know the market.

It was $299 and I am not all that worried about value. I will get some of the photos up that they sent me after I deal with the cluster I got going here at work, but they are shipping it out to Michigan tonight. It was built in 56' but has a post 64 stock on it-- not exactly a collector's piece by any stretch.

JerryBobCo

Jermanator wrote: »

It was $299 and I am not all that worried about value. I will get some of the photos up that they sent me after I deal with the cluster I got going here at work, but they are shipping it out to Michigan tonight. It was built in 56' but has a post 64 stock on it-- not exactly a collector's piece by any stretch.

All things considered, I don't see how rebarrelling it could hurt its value. Sounds like a good deal to me.

Jermanator

JerryBobCo

Looks nice, even if the stock doesn't match the rest of the rifle. If you don't know what you're looking at, you could easily miss that. The missing butt plate is something else, though. But, if you're going to make changes, I don't see that as a problem. I know that these guns came with just a butt plate from the factory, but I'll be a lot of them now have recoil pads on them.

The metal and the stock look good. Have you had a chance to inspect the barrel to confirm that it's really damaged?

Regardless, you done good.

Jermanator

I haven't checked anything. I guess I will take it out to the range and give it a few shots after a thorough cleaning and see how it shoots before I decide to do anything to it. Even with crappy bores, some guns still shoot well. I'll just play with it and see where to go from there.

MileHighShooter

mismatched and missing parts? heck, MOD AWAY! that is the perfect situation right there, no collector value, cheap entry price, something you can play with.

Razorbacker

Nice score jerm. Look forward to how it works out. Keep a lookout at gun shows etc. for the missing hood for the front site. If you care that is. Maybe even the but plate. But even in .308 those things are pretty stout with just the plate.

Gene L

Yeah, it wasn't you who bubbaized it. You can't hurt the value by rebarreling, so enjoy.

In principal, I object to modifying a classic rifle. So feel free to ignore my didactic ramblings.