Barrell Removal

Peter Eaton

Well-Known Member
Had an offer from a very talented friend of mine who is an expert at restoring air guns, the work he does is fantastic, he is like the Fred Dibnah of air rifles. He has offered to help me cold blue my Tikka barrell ( which he has got to a fine art ). I am not sure if I can get away with spinning the barrell in his lathe with the action on, but if I do have to take the barrell off have any of you done this before, if so have you had any problems. He said it a straight forward job.

ATB

Pete
 
I have done it hundreds of times. Forget it. Without a proper wrench and vise you will do nothing good for your rifle. Why would he need to turn your barrel in a lathe? To polish it? That's not how that job is done.~Muir
 
Muir's right...

...can't see why bluing would require you to remove the barrel from the action, let alone the use of a lathe for the mission? But, for barrel removal you definitely need the right tools, you'll NEVER get it off if you don't. Maybe you will, but your rifle will be wrecked when you're done. Check out THIS guy, I think he owns MidwayUSA, a funny guy but a superior smith.
 
I've met Larry Pottefield. He is a nice guy but not a gunsmith. That doesn't diminish his demos tho as he does put a common-man's spin on some rudimentary gunsmithing duties.... and sells his gunsmithing products at the same time.

I can tell you that the barrel in the demo had been off the gun already. No Mauser 98 barrel comes off after that easy. If a Mauser (or any) barrel is to be scrapped I simply make a hacksaw cut around the circumference of the barrel, close to but not touching the receiver ring. This relieves the pressure on the receiver ring -which can be considerable, especially in Mausers- allowing the action to be removed with greater ease. Works every time.~Muir
 
Yeah, the video certainly does make it look easy, and certainly not the first time the barrel was removed. I merely wanted to find a video that demo's the correct tools for the job.

I have also used the same technique to relieve pressure between the contact or stop faces of hardened steel pins screwed into hydraulic pump blocks (hydro-electric dam control rooms), and in many other scenarios during my mechanical fitting duties on offshore installations. It is indeed very surprising to note just how much of the force is held on these faces as opposed to the threads themselves.
 
Your replies are kind of what I was thinking but in answer to you reply Muir, yes it is to spin the barrel in order to hold it to use fine emery to clean the barrel blue od and make the surface ready for the next stages. You say its not the way to do it but I can certainly say the guy who does it puts barrels that I have seen professionals do to shame, his work is stunning.
I might as a matter of interest take some pics of the airguns he has done, I have seen him get them with half a stock, complety rusted and all components siezed, but when he has finished they are like new.

I have to ask why you say preparing a barrel by taking the old blue and pitting out is wrong, im puzzled as to what other way there is to remove that.
 
Indeed! I saw a picture of the chuck they put barrel on with at Mauser back in the early part of the last century. It was alike a large, fly-wheel cum lathe chuck that held the barrel while the action was bolted into a fixture. The barrel was started into the action and then the large rim around this flywheel-like chuck was given a healthy spin, crushing the barrel into place. It's no wonder that it takes a bit of effort to get them off! When I was young and starting in the gunsmithing business I would pride myself on getting the barrel off intact. Later I decided whether is was worth the grief or not. If it was the least bit of a junker, it got the hacksaw treatment!

Remingtons are the worst to remove. Some of them are epoxied into place. While at Trinidad State a Model 40X in 6mmBR came in that wouldn't shoot. We tried and tried to get that barrel off. Finally we used a torch to heat the unit. When it got hot, all manners of smoke and goo came bubbling out of the action and along the reciever ring where the recoil plate fit. The darned thing had been epoxied! WHen we cleaned the threads the fit was so loose in the receiver that it rattled.... and this from Remington's "Custom" shop. Whew! :cuckoo:~Muir
 
The darned thing had been epoxied! WHen we cleaned the threads the fit was so loose in the receiver that it rattled.... and this from Remington's "Custom" shop. Whew! :cuckoo:~Muir

OK, I understand the physics of this machine - The sheer mass of this wheel holds momentum, and literally bangs the barrel home when the threads meet the end and the faces on the barrel/receiver ring touch.

The epoxied job you mentioned sounds shocking! Precision was out the window on that "custom" rifle!!
 
OK, I understand the physics of this machine - The sheer mass of this wheel holds momentum, and literally bangs the barrel home when the threads meet the end and the faces on the barrel/receiver ring touch.

The epoxied job you mentioned sounds shocking! Precision was out the window on that "custom" rifle!!

Correct on both counts. The Remington in question cost the man $1400 US back in 1985; can you imagine how pi$$ed off he was when we told him? We just set the barrel back and rechambered it. Never did hear how it shot.~Muir
 
Chickenman you mentioned cold blueing. My experience of cold blue has been limited to touching up small patches. I would be a bit concerned personally about cold blueing or blacking, wouldn't a proper hot blue job be better even if you have to send it off to get it done?
 
Using a barrel vice and correct action clamp, there isnt many barrels that will not come off.

As Muir says, it does help to relieve the material directly in front of the action face on stubborn barrels - I use the lathe, mounting the action in a fixture in the 4 jaw and using live centre on the tailstock, I cut .005" forwrads of action face - this usually relieves sufficiant pressure to allow barrel vice and action wrench to be used withour resorting to heat.

Mausers are a PITA, they have crush fit on a ring within the action the barrel shoulder does little other than support the barrel,,,,,


Remingtons, some Tikka, Sako's, Winchesters, Howa - on all, ive' seen thread lock used - on factory tubes.


Only way to deal with these is gentle apllication of heat - hot air gun is sufficient - once you see the compound "bubble" the barrel will usualy move.


Worst barrel I ever had to take off was a Howa, which someone had kindly overtightened the forwards base grub screw - damaging barrel threads - galled all the way out ,,,,,,,



Eventually made a nice rifle tho - eventually...



Unless you have the correct tools, I wouldnt attempt to remove barrels.
 
Hi 8x57, I would agree with what you said a few years back but if done correctly cold bluing can be superb, it isnt just for scratches. The main promlem is that folk dont know how to do it correctly. If I recall the correct method is to take any bluing of scratches down with 320 grit emery, revove all grease with thinners,run the barrel under hot water to warm, then clean with a strong caustic soda solution, now the important bit is not to let it cool too much or contaminate it. Then apply the cold blue in fast even strokes and once again run under hot water as it develops. Finally cut back with 000 wire wool and oil when dry. I am a firm believer that where guns are concerned there is alot confusion about doing repairs etc, this is hardly surprising as many folk will attempt a job and it 'cocks up' through lack of knowledge and skills. If you have a solid engineering background and have the abillty then it isnt rocket science. I have seen hot bluing done and cold bluing done that is stunning, once again with hot bluing many folk attempt that , but if you done have an even heat you wont get the results.
 
Seems like you've got it down to a T then. I'm drawn between two extremes myself. If I needed a rifle refinished it would either be a best hot blue job done by a specialist finisher, the sort of real deep blue you normally only see on the best guns normally. Or it would be one of the new high tec finishes for more practical use. I just hope that I don't need to consider either for a few years on any of my rifles.
 
I know guys who have used some of the new finishes on knifes and with good results. If I decide to do the barrel I will put some pics on here I think, before, after and the whole process..if it cocks up then I will be honest and let everyone know as it will be a lesson learned , but to be honest Ive seen the chap do sores of barrel and they have been stunning....bearing in mind he used to send his barrels off to a really exellent hot bluing company.
 
Chickenman you mentioned cold blueing. My experience of cold blue has been limited to touching up small patches. I would be a bit concerned personally about cold blueing or blacking, wouldn't a proper hot blue job be better even if you have to send it off to get it done?

I had the barrel re-finished on my rook rifle by a guy called Roy Martin just outside Newark. He did a great looking job, and it still looks good 10 years later. I was a bit dubious as well when he said he'd cold blued it, but the finish has held up well.
 
If you use the cold cream blue G96 or Phillips then applying it with some wire wool (steel) evens out the finish and reduces the streaking which is often noticable on larger areas when applied using a swab or cloth as I found out when covering a barrel up after removing paint a previous owner had applied. The was a temp measure until the rifle could be restored. It had a new barrel fitted in 2010 and was blacked to a high gloss finish late in 2010 by a local chap.
 
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