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Aren't you tired of running out of space inside the safe and racks when all you want is to shoot different calibers between seasons?
Too many rifles, too many scopes, too much space and expense.
This is one of the reasons AR uppers are so popular. One can swap the upper in under a minute and have a new caliber for
moose season.
My son is growing nicely into the calibers and becoming a good shooter and he just asked me if I could barrel one of his rifles in 284 .
Of course I will help him but I am also considering changing the system so I can create a quick barrel change for the bolt action
and therefore making it both easy and perhaps with time more cost effective.
The problem with the existing systems is that they are either dedicated and somewhat limited and expensive. No thanks Blaser!
High en platforms require expensive chasis and their rebarreling options are limited.
Thomson created the Dimension but the whole concept is full of limitations by design starting with the barrel extensions that are not available for the public like
in the case of high end systems so this leaves interest sprouts dead in the water.
Also the dimension ergonomics are not great and it is butt ugly (this is subjective to my opinion, obviously).
So I have been thinking about taking an action either savage or Remington and offer that action in sacrifice to do some R&D and for the greater good of humanity.
Now I am taking dimensions and preparing some blue prints for the lathe. The idea is to turn the entire action and get rid of the internal threads and the lugs.
If I start with a large shank savage I will have more lead way and potentially .150 wall to attempt some sort of extension but I might have to compromise on the
bolt lugs and I don't really want to touch them. In terms of securing a barrel extension we don't need much but it has to be an easy system so I am thinking
about a block that will clamp. This will also require a bit of milling but then it is a one time operation for the life of the rifle and barrels could be swapped with
a simple Allen key. I will deal with the scope mount later but also I do not discard having a quality steel mount welded. After all I always use steel mounts.
I will have to mill and inlet in T6 aluminum that will serve as the baseline to bolt the action to. magazine can be milled to be integrated but modular so it
could take AR15, AR10, AI, etc.... I will maintain the recoil lug or otherwise create an tad oversized the extension rim to act as stop for recoil.
The final idea is to have something that is both accurate and robust but will allow me to change calibers by simply removing a rigid floating handguard section with
two screws on the side of the base and simply pull out the barrel and bring another one in. Of course I will have to change bolts or bolt heads as needed for
the specific calibers.
I think there is an appeal to this specially if a group of individuals collaborate to create a standard for the baseline and who knows, perhaps if this catches on,
we could have some fabricators mill the parts and offer extensions.
IMO a huge incentive for this is to be able to make it with known standard and proven actions like R700 or savage that other than the parts than need to be modified the rest
could be used standard therefore assuring endless aftermarket support.
Maybe a better option is to think about a faster system but without the need for extension. Though, one thing I don't want is to have to remove the action from the inlet
every time we need to swap calibers. Same thing with the optics. Everything stays on. Quality optics return to zero with careful notation. QD mounts are another option
that we know work well if they are quality made.
What do you guys think? Is this a bit overkill? .....you know, we the enthusiasts are passionate people can loose sight of reality.
..and remember...this forum might be smaller but it is not about quantity, but quality.
Too many rifles, too many scopes, too much space and expense.
This is one of the reasons AR uppers are so popular. One can swap the upper in under a minute and have a new caliber for
moose season.
My son is growing nicely into the calibers and becoming a good shooter and he just asked me if I could barrel one of his rifles in 284 .
Of course I will help him but I am also considering changing the system so I can create a quick barrel change for the bolt action
and therefore making it both easy and perhaps with time more cost effective.
The problem with the existing systems is that they are either dedicated and somewhat limited and expensive. No thanks Blaser!
High en platforms require expensive chasis and their rebarreling options are limited.
Thomson created the Dimension but the whole concept is full of limitations by design starting with the barrel extensions that are not available for the public like
in the case of high end systems so this leaves interest sprouts dead in the water.
Also the dimension ergonomics are not great and it is butt ugly (this is subjective to my opinion, obviously).
So I have been thinking about taking an action either savage or Remington and offer that action in sacrifice to do some R&D and for the greater good of humanity.
Now I am taking dimensions and preparing some blue prints for the lathe. The idea is to turn the entire action and get rid of the internal threads and the lugs.
If I start with a large shank savage I will have more lead way and potentially .150 wall to attempt some sort of extension but I might have to compromise on the
bolt lugs and I don't really want to touch them. In terms of securing a barrel extension we don't need much but it has to be an easy system so I am thinking
about a block that will clamp. This will also require a bit of milling but then it is a one time operation for the life of the rifle and barrels could be swapped with
a simple Allen key. I will deal with the scope mount later but also I do not discard having a quality steel mount welded. After all I always use steel mounts.
I will have to mill and inlet in T6 aluminum that will serve as the baseline to bolt the action to. magazine can be milled to be integrated but modular so it
could take AR15, AR10, AI, etc.... I will maintain the recoil lug or otherwise create an tad oversized the extension rim to act as stop for recoil.
The final idea is to have something that is both accurate and robust but will allow me to change calibers by simply removing a rigid floating handguard section with
two screws on the side of the base and simply pull out the barrel and bring another one in. Of course I will have to change bolts or bolt heads as needed for
the specific calibers.
I think there is an appeal to this specially if a group of individuals collaborate to create a standard for the baseline and who knows, perhaps if this catches on,
we could have some fabricators mill the parts and offer extensions.
IMO a huge incentive for this is to be able to make it with known standard and proven actions like R700 or savage that other than the parts than need to be modified the rest
could be used standard therefore assuring endless aftermarket support.
Maybe a better option is to think about a faster system but without the need for extension. Though, one thing I don't want is to have to remove the action from the inlet
every time we need to swap calibers. Same thing with the optics. Everything stays on. Quality optics return to zero with careful notation. QD mounts are another option
that we know work well if they are quality made.
What do you guys think? Is this a bit overkill? .....you know, we the enthusiasts are passionate people can loose sight of reality.
..and remember...this forum might be smaller but it is not about quantity, but quality.
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