To rebarrel a rimfire?
 

Ok, so I was wonderin if its possible to rebarrel a bolt action .22LR to .17 Mach2. I'd really like to have another gopher gun around and I was thinkin to myself, "Hey! I could buy an old cooey .22 from any farmer within 50 miles of my place . Then I could rebarrel it to a .17HM2 and mount that old Tasco scope and kill those little buggers out to like 200 yards:D!" am I crazy or is this possible?
Minihuntur

probably possible.. but would cost more than a new one.. you can get the NEF .17HMR single shot for around $200 (I think that is what I paid for mine) plus the Marlin bolt actions are not that bad.

I would also go with a HMR over the M2... I haven't even seen any ammo for the M2 around here.

Yeah, I know it'd cost more but its more about having a project to do. Everyone thinks that Cooeys are such crappy, cheap old guns. I'd like to see what one could do if a guy souped it up. And yes the HMR is faster, flatter, and more common, but I dont know where I'd find a cheap Cooey .22Mag. As far as I know they were only .22LR, L, S. I just wanna know how the barrels are attached to the reciever. Are they screwed in or clamped or what?

They are fine old guns.. I have 2 or 3 cooey .22's in my gun cabinet, and a couple shotguns..

I couldn't tell you how the barrel was installed or not...

Most basic .22 rifles have their barrels pressed in and secured with a pin or set screw. Once the pin is removed, the barrel is clamped in a padded vise and the receiver carefully tapped backward and off. Age and rust can make this difficult.
I know nothing about Cooeys - a new barrel in .17HM2 would likely need it's chamber end machined to fit the receiver. Easy enough for a good gunsmith or talented hobbiest with a lathe.

I knew a smith that would bore out the old barrel and replace it with a pressed in sleve. Saved a lot of old rusted 22's that way. Someone may be able to do that with a .17.

Hey seawolf I dont got a lathe, but if I filed away REALLY carefully, could that possibly work?
Minihuntur

The relining Buckhunter mentions should work well, and is much more cost-effective! I believe the Brownell's catalog carries .22 liners, but they may have .17 liners by now too.

Even if the original barrel was pressed in it does not mean you can not tread the action and the barrel when you rebarrel it, and that is what I would recomand if you rebarrel an old rifle. You can buy drop in barrels for the 10-22`s, but have seen alot lately where they are saying not to fire the HMR ammo in a semi-auto.

What size of die would I need for that kind of work?
Minihuntur:)