Thread: Switch barrel : any experience ?

Call me ignorant, but assuming you had chambered and correctly head spaced barrels, and you had a barrel vice, action wrench and a torque wrench wouldnt that essentially render every rifle on the planet (exaggeration for effect) a switch barrel rifle Chris?

Originally Posted by ChrisF

Yeap ,

And the new AIs use a smaller allen key than that , to do their barrel swaps , and its held inside the stock cheek piece .

Good to see they're learning. Hopefully they avoid the plastic washers

RIGHT ,

Different design and materials than the blasers , IF AIs where mostly plastic , they would weigh a lot less , they are not a lite hunting rifle thats for sure , then they where not designed to be.
As to washers , they do use them , they are 0.6mm thick and brass I think , they have 4 , and they seperate the action body from the alloy chassis/frame , this allows a small gap for the glue/epoxy to sit .
AI actions use 4x bolts to hold them into the chassis .

Not quite , most AIs ( exception was the AE , no longer made ) , donot have a seprate recoil lug , so like some custom actions , there is not way a seperate recoil lug , pinned or otherwise to move or fall out , during barrel change .
Also like a lot of target rifle actions , the AIs have a very long barrel thread in ( tunion ) , its 38mm long , most sporters are only 13mm , the Rem is abit longer at 0.75 or approx 18mm , so that and the fact that the action is solidly ( 4x bolts ) , and permately bonded/glued into the alot chassis/frame .
In short the action & chassis are bonded together for ever , all other stuff is removable & replaceable , from the locking ring insert inside the action & bolt ( either just the head or complete body ) .

IF the locking ring gets too worn , simple , pull barrel out & then just push the ring out , new ring & bolt and the rifles back to like new , a shooting range in the USA , had over 100,000 rds thru a AI AW , they had done the nromal barrel changes every 10k , so 10x barrels , and towards the end of that 100k , it broke a small pin that holds the bolt stop catch in place , BUT that did not stop the rifle from firing and being able to use .

The new AIs , have the same long thread in , but you just thread them in hand tight and then snug up a small allen head bolt & its done .

RE the blasers , the Aussie Army use the 338LM model , and was out into service with out the usuall trialls , ie emergency issue , word is they have had some trouble ie blow ups ?


Later Chris

Chris, you are a strange yet entertaining man. I look forward to reading your posts

As for one of your earlier posts in this thread, the idea that an AI or a TRG M10 or a DTA would make an ideal varmint rifles is akin to me suggesting that an aircraft carrier would make an ideal fishing platform around the coromandal. Not technically incorrect but almost absurd enough to qualify.

I've not come across someone that so embraces the whole Mil thing before. I find it interesting and entertaining.

Please don't stop

Originally Posted by Proudkiwi

Chris, you are a strange yet entertaining man. I look forward to reading your posts

As for one of your earlier posts in this thread, the idea that an AI or a TRG M10 or a DTA would make an ideal varmint rifles is akin to me suggesting that an aircraft carrier would make an ideal fishing platform around the coromandal. Not technically incorrect but almost absurd enough to qualify.

I've not come across someone that so embraces the whole Mil thing before. I find it interesting and entertaining.

Please don't stop

I'm sure the local scout brigade gets the same riveting monologue every fortnight too. The advantages of an overly heavy and impractical (for 95% of all scouting activities) tactical woggle.

Back in the Uk I had a Savage with 308,243 and 22/250 barrels.Swapping them out involved dropping the stock and removing the scope which meant rezeroing everytime.I just stuck with the 243 in the end,it was easier.

Sell the lot and get a Rossi Wizard in 2 calibers for $399.. Or 3 for $550

Originally Posted by ebf

Cool, what calibers and what is the action ?

It belongs to me. It is a maxberry tube rifle (Barnard action). He switched the barrel over for me to .308 in 5 mins and I took it out to the range the next day and shot a 1/2" 5 shot group at 400 yards with it!!! I'm confident the switch barrel system works but my one concern is that the threads could wear out if you were changing barrels often. I will be keeping it .308 for a while until I possibly move on to f open so that is not a issue for me.