DIY Tikka Barrel Swap, By Dioni Amuchastegui

[Arkrunner]

Great write up I’ve been wanting to do this. Planning on it soon

 

[HighUintas]

I'm wondering if anyone just uses their outside action wrench to tighten the new barrel down. With the use of anti-seize, I don't see a need to get a real accurate torque on the barrel. Just get it really tight with the outside action wrench. It's not going to change the headspace since if it's a shouldered barrel.

Thoughts?

 

[Tahoe1305]

I'm wondering if anyone just uses their outside action wrench to tighten the new barrel down. With the use of anti-seize, I don't see a need to get a real accurate torque on the barrel. Just get it really tight with the outside action wrench. It's not going to change the headspace since if it's a shouldered barrel.

Thoughts?

I did this on two barrels. I tightened down as much as I was comfortable (aka as hard as I could without it slipping in the barrel vice) and estimate I was between 50 and 100 ft lbs. no issues. And go / nogo’d fine.

My last barrel when I torqued like that I couldn’t get the go gauge to chamber. So I used much less torque until I could get it to chamber….had no idea of that torque was enough and uneasy about finding out via firing. I ordered an internal gauge to confirm torque. Had a funny thought when it was being shipped about being able to hand unscrew the barrel. Gave it a try and sure enough it slipped right off. No where near enough torque.

Wrench showed up put on 50ft lbs and headspaced fine. Problem solved. Glad I have the internal now. Think it was another $75.

I do think you need both for tikkas though. External for factory take offs and internal for all else.

 

[HighUintas]

I did this on two barrels. I tightened down as much as I was comfortable (aka as hard as I could without it slipping in the barrel vice) and estimate I was between 50 and 100 ft lbs. no issues. And go / nogo’d fine.

My last barrel when I torqued like that I couldn’t get the go gauge to chamber. So I used much less torque until I could get it to chamber….had no idea of that torque was enough and uneasy about finding out via firing. I ordered an internal gauge to confirm torque. Had a funny thought when it was being shipped about being able to hand unscrew the barrel. Gave it a try and sure enough it slipped right off. No where near enough torque.

Wrench showed up put on 50ft lbs and headspaced fine. Problem solved. Glad I have the internal now. Think it was another $75.

I do think you need both for tikkas though. External for factory take offs and internal for all else.

Interesting. I figured you'd be stretching the threads with extra torque before compressing the should and decreasing headspace would happen

 

[Tahoe1305]

Interesting. I figured you'd be stretching the threads with extra torque before compressing the should and decreasing headspace would happen

Yeah was weird. Factory barrel I was putting on btw and markings were clocked way off when I got it at the torque and headspace I wanted too. That confused me even more. Barrel shoots great now though so confident it’s “right”. Have about 150 down the tube.

Barrel was unfired from JA.

 

[wyosam]

Yeah was weird. Factory barrel I was putting on btw and markings were clocked way off when I got it at the torque and headspace I wanted too. That confused me even more. Barrel shoots great now though so confident it’s “right”. Have about 150 down the tube.

Barrel was unfired from JA.

They all headspace the same, but I’ve found clocking of barrels to be pretty random.


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[Sled]

They all headspace the same, but I’ve found clocking of barrels to be pretty random.


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They will all headspace but some are torqued on at 250lbs in order to get the correct headspace.

 

[HighUintas]

I've got an inside action wrench ordered

 

[Sled]

I've got an inside action wrench ordered

Great for putting a barrel on and using a torque wrench. I wouldn't use one on a factory torqued barrel unless it was in conjunction with an external wrench.

 

[HighUintas]

Great for putting a barrel on and using a torque wrench. I wouldn't use one on a factory torqued barrel unless it was in conjunction with an external wrench.

I also have the external on the way

 

[Tahoe1305]

I also have the external on the way

As funny as it sounds a large crescent wrench would work peachy for an external. On the tikkas it’s a fairly simple setup…..wish I would have thought of that a long time ago.

 

[HighUintas]

As funny as it sounds a large crescent wrench would work peachy for an external. On the tikkas it’s a fairly simple setup…..wish I would have thought of that a long time ago.

Yea.... I've already spent $30 trying to make my own external wrench. Didn't work haha. Probably due to the barrel being a tough one. Anyhow, I'm using the proper tool this time

 

[Sled]

As funny as it sounds a large crescent wrench would work peachy for an external. On the tikkas it’s a fairly simple setup…..wish I would have thought of that a long time ago.

TEKTON 31 mm Combination Wrench | WCB24031 https://a.co/d/8EY9HZZ

 

[Sled]

Yea.... I've already spent $30 trying to make my own external wrench. Didn't work haha. Probably due to the barrel being a tough one. Anyhow, I'm using the proper tool this time

Mount the vise solid and try the overnight freezer on the barrel with action lightly warmed. I forget who suggested it but it works well for my automotive projects.

 

[Tahoe1305]

Yea.... I've already spent $30 trying to make my own external wrench. Didn't work haha. Probably due to the barrel being a tough one. Anyhow, I'm using the proper tool this time

As I’m sure you’ve read it still won’t be easy. I’ve never had to use “extreme measures” the ones I’ve done. But have started using a few foot breaker bar and/or a swipe with a rubber mallet. Both tricks do it quick. (And maybe both are extreme in some eyes).

 

[HighUintas]

Mount the vise solid and try the overnight freezer on the barrel with action lightly warmed. I forget who suggested it but it works well for my automotive projects.

Yup, tried it. After sitting in the deep freeze, quickly set everything up, heated the action with a torch and gave the homemade wrench a beating. Didn't budge and my wrench just gave way. The bolts bent a couple times in trying and I think the handle wasn't rigid enough.

Now I've got it sitting with pb blaster on the breech threads. I'll keep adding it until Wednesday or Thursday. Then try again, with the freezer and torch and more rigid action wrench.

 

[wyosam]

They will all headspace but some are torqued on at 250lbs in order to get the correct headspace.

Haven’t run across that myself- and I think if I found one that wasn’t headspaces within spec at 75 ft/lbs, I wouldn’t try to make metal move by going tighter. I’d be surprised if cleaning the face of the action and barrel didn’t fix anything that needed to be tighter.


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[Andouille]

They will all headspace but some are torqued on at 250lbs in order to get the correct headspace.

As a counterpoint- I just put a 300 WSM barrel on my T3X, torqued to about 90 ft-lbs and the headspace is slightly short, with about 0.002" clearance for factory Federal ammo (bolt won't close with 2 layers of scotch tape on back of cartridge). Torquing further would only further shrink my headspace, but probably by 0.001s because the thick steel at the barrel receiver and action just can't compress much. My guess is that the additional torque is just preloading the threads.

Both the take-off 300 WM and 300 WSM barrels I put on my action had the barrel engraving clocked randomly.

That said, I removed my factory 300 WM barrel using the Tekton 31mm crescent (with cardboard shim) and a $75 internal action wrench from Ebay that is rated to "250 in-lbs" and seems very robust and fits very tightly with one wrap of packing tape around the action end. I probably had to apply ~150 ft-lbs torque divided between the crescent wrench and a 24" breaker bar to break the barrel loose. Nothing near 250 in-lbs based on my experience breaking loose large bolts on my truck with a pipe extension over a breaker bar.

 

[HighUintas]

Finally got the barrel off.

I used the wheeler, which was nice because it's so rigid.

Soaked the breech threads with pb blaster... I'm not sure if any made it in them.

Finally resorted to using my bench vise because my press setup was suboptimal. Made some maple barrel bushings, hammered a couple lead round balls flat for some lead shims, coated them And the barrel with climbing chalk.

Put the barrel in the freezer and used a torch on the action before putting the wrench on.

Cranked the vise as tight as I could and gave a couple of really quick hard yanks and it popped free.

Then screwed a different factory Tikka on. Used my bow draw weight scale slipped over the wheeler action wrench handle at 1 foot from center of rotation, pulled on the scale til it hit a max of 85ft lbs. Headspace seems good! Don't need the internal wrench?

 

[Dioni A]

Finally got the barrel off.

I used the wheeler, which was nice because it's so rigid.

Soaked the breech threads with pb blaster... I'm not sure if any made it in them.

Finally resorted to using my bench vise because my press setup was suboptimal. Made some maple barrel bushings, hammered a couple lead round balls flat for some lead shims, coated them And the barrel with climbing chalk.

Put the barrel in the freezer and used a torch on the action before putting the wrench on.

Cranked the vise as tight as I could and gave a couple of really quick hard yanks and it popped free.

Then screwed a different factory Tikka on. Used my bow draw weight scale slipped over the wheeler action wrench handle at 1 foot from center of rotation, pulled on the scale til it hit a max of 85ft lbs. Headspace seems good! Don't need the internal wrench?

I haven't used an internal action wrench on any of the half dozen or so I've done now. I went probably a little tighter than 85 ft lb though. If you're in that range I would think you're plenty tight.