A barrel slipping is usually the weak link in pulling factory barrels, especially stubborn ones like Howa and Tikka.
I have found a few things make it simpler and possible on the most stubborn barrels. Do all of them and I bet the vast majority of barrels will come off. If you don’t get just one of them right, it can make it hard if not impossible.
I think they is why many people can’t get the same success with some of the same tools. It has taken me a few dozen barrels to figure stuff out.
Put Kroil inside the action in the corner where the barrel face and action meet. Give it time, like 24 hours to creep into the joint. Heat can help.
Cut the top of the Viper vice in two, with one a little wider than the other. The other side can grip the parallel portion around the chamber, and on a sporter barrel the narrower can grab the taper. I use drywall tape or poster board now. I have used leather and rosin in the past, but feel like the tape works just that much better. Either will work, but I feel like the paper does best.
Mount the vice to something that doesn’t move. If the table wiggles or gives, that movement absorbs the shock of the heavy blow necessary to break it free. After mounting to a heavy steel table, it seems like cheating.
Some barrels can come off with just wrenching on it, a cheater bar, or a smack from a dead blow hammer. I had one barrel I used a two or three foot cheater bar and it kept slipping. That’s when I tried a big heavy chunk of steel and smacked it. The smack broke the barrel free with the same torque and technique on the barrel vice, but the cheater bar turned the barrel. It’s a physics thing…
I have tried a dead blow hammer, and choked up on a sledge hammer, but nothing works like one blow with a really heavy chunk of metal. I found this solid trailer hitch in the road and it has broken everything free with only one smack if the barrel doesn’t slip in the vice, the table is super solid, and the action wrench doesn’t “give”.
I think an outside action wrench works best, but don’t clamp it down tight enough to squeeze the action onto the barrel. I made that mistake. It just needs to be tight enough so that it doesn’t slip. With a flat bottom action like Tikka or Howa, I flip the top of the tool around with the flat on the bottom. I use paper to protect the action.
It is best to support an inside action wrench near the wrench so the heavy blow to break it free doesn’t get absorbed by movement at other angles of the socket, wrench, and just the length away from the barrel joint. This makes it hard to do it solo. I am moving my vice to a permanent position on my heavy steel table so that I can barely hang the wrench off the table and support the action wrench where it leaves the action with a piece of wood between it and the table. Then, I can get a clean smack.
I have found a few things make it simpler and possible on the most stubborn barrels. Do all of them and I bet the vast majority of barrels will come off. If you don’t get just one of them right, it can make it hard if not impossible.
I think they is why many people can’t get the same success with some of the same tools. It has taken me a few dozen barrels to figure stuff out.
Put Kroil inside the action in the corner where the barrel face and action meet. Give it time, like 24 hours to creep into the joint. Heat can help.
Cut the top of the Viper vice in two, with one a little wider than the other. The other side can grip the parallel portion around the chamber, and on a sporter barrel the narrower can grab the taper. I use drywall tape or poster board now. I have used leather and rosin in the past, but feel like the tape works just that much better. Either will work, but I feel like the paper does best.
Mount the vice to something that doesn’t move. If the table wiggles or gives, that movement absorbs the shock of the heavy blow necessary to break it free. After mounting to a heavy steel table, it seems like cheating.
Some barrels can come off with just wrenching on it, a cheater bar, or a smack from a dead blow hammer. I had one barrel I used a two or three foot cheater bar and it kept slipping. That’s when I tried a big heavy chunk of steel and smacked it. The smack broke the barrel free with the same torque and technique on the barrel vice, but the cheater bar turned the barrel. It’s a physics thing…
I have tried a dead blow hammer, and choked up on a sledge hammer, but nothing works like one blow with a really heavy chunk of metal. I found this solid trailer hitch in the road and it has broken everything free with only one smack if the barrel doesn’t slip in the vice, the table is super solid, and the action wrench doesn’t “give”.
I think an outside action wrench works best, but don’t clamp it down tight enough to squeeze the action onto the barrel. I made that mistake. It just needs to be tight enough so that it doesn’t slip. With a flat bottom action like Tikka or Howa, I flip the top of the tool around with the flat on the bottom. I use paper to protect the action.
It is best to support an inside action wrench near the wrench so the heavy blow to break it free doesn’t get absorbed by movement at other angles of the socket, wrench, and just the length away from the barrel joint. This makes it hard to do it solo. I am moving my vice to a permanent position on my heavy steel table so that I can barely hang the wrench off the table and support the action wrench where it leaves the action with a piece of wood between it and the table. Then, I can get a clean smack.
