338 Federal build - Rebore or rebarrel?

[Positrac]

I had a Sako Greywolf in 338 Federal quite a few years ago that I was talked out of and I’ve kicked my arse for making that decision ever since. It was a beautiful rifle and clover-leafed 210gr Partitions in the Federal factory ammo. The only down side to it was that it was a bit on the heavy side in my mind.

So, I’ve decided to have a new 338 Federal put together. I’m a big fan of the older Browning A-bolt II’s so after a bit of looking I found a one-owner stainless stalker in .243 that was in mint shape for a decent price. I know that Brownings are not everyone’s cup of tea but after having a couple dozen different rifles in various makes over the last 10 years I’m going back to what I was always happy with. Some guys like blondes and some like brunettes. To each their own.

This won’t be a do-all rifle although it could be out to 300 yards. I do a lot of timber hunting or hunting on the river so I’m looking for a quick handling, short range rifle that I could shoot anything from deer to moose with. I like the 338 Federal because you can get better than 30-06 velocity out of a short action rifle when using 200+ grain bullets out to that 300 yard mark. It also seems a bit more forgiving in regards to velocity loss out of a short barrel.

So, my reason for posting was I’m trying to determine if I should go with a new barrel or go with a re-bore?

I have a machinist that I know and trust that has installed a ton of new barrels and has even done quite a few on stainless Brownings. He doesn’t do the re-bores himself and because of that doesn’t have a lot of info on who is presently doing them or what to expect from having a stock barrel rebored. I know there can be downsides to the rebores because it really comes down to the quality of the original barrel and how well the rebore turns out. I do like the idea of keeping the rifle looking stock. If going to a new barrel I’d probably be looking at having KS Arms turn one out with the same contour and once installed the barrel and action would be bead blasted with the same finish so I expect they would probably look close enough once done that I’d be happy with it.

This will be a rifle I plan to use for the rest of my days for it’s intended purpose so I’m more concerned with getting it right the first time and not so much about cost with the finished product. I’ve searched high and low for info on rebores but most the threads are getting old so I don’t really have any up to date info on who may be doing them.