I have an older .300 Win Mag A-bolt that I am looking at putting a new barrel on.

I am limited in knowledge, but with a long-action chamber, couldn't I change the caliber to any long action caliber except an Ultra Mag?

Forgive me if this is a simple question.. just curious.

Yes you can.

If you have .300 Win Mag brass, might as well stick with it. It is a great cartridge.



Unless of course you want to get a 7mm barrel with a 1:8" twist and load it with 195 gr Bergers.

That's what I thought, any recommendations on a good stock and barrel? I am looking at revamping the whole setup and only using the chamber.

It was a pawn shop gun to begin with, so I only paid about $300 for it. Looking to set it up for hunting out west in the future.

Look at bugholes.com and thirdgenerationshootingsupply.com

Bartlein, Krieger, Obermeyer, Brux barrels are all high quality.

As far as hunting stocks. I gotta say Manners MCS-EH1 if budget allows. Vertical grip, slim lines, stiff, and very very light weight.

I am wanting to re barrel my .243 A Bolt as well from a 10 twist pencil barrel to an 8 or 9.25 twist medium varmint type contour. I have heard some gunsmiths won't touch them because they have trouble stripping the threads. If you find someone that will please let me know. Thanks

Your 7mm suggestion sounds very appealing.

One problem to consider with the Browning A-bolt's. They have a VERY short magazine box. If you plan to go to a heavy bullet in the caliber of your choice, you will not be able to seat it out very far due to the short magazine box. I have rechambered several A-bolt's for customers, but we stuck with the light to medium weight bullets for the ammo, so the magazine length was not an issue. The heavy bullets generally need to be seated out further, and you can not do this in an A-bolt. Otherwise, it's a decent platform to build from.

Well I just had a guy offer me a little money for it, so I may be selling and starting afresh. Funny how things happen like that...

Go look at a Tikka after you sell.

Some gunsmiths call themselves that, but are really just "kitchen table" gunsmiths who balk when a job requiring any skill or knowledge comes up. The trade mark of the kitchen 'gunsmith' is that they'll run down the gun that they lack the skill to work on.

When you run across that, it's time to keep looking for a real gunsmith. - They're out there. A real gunsmith will either do the job, or know where to send it to get it done.

You won't hear any sour grapes BS or "dog ate my homework" excuses from a real gunsmith.