Tikka barrel swap

[SamsonMan22]

I'm sure the SAC is better than the Viper than. I tightened it several times with everything I had. Always spun on me. Used card stock, used leather, bang with a dead blow or just using my body weight.

Sounds like I'll be trying brown sugar, if that doesn't work relief cut.

Might try the leather in conjunction with the brown sugar. Once you have that sucker where it won’t spin use a long handle that lets you put good steady pressure on it and give it a smack with something.

That SAC with the bushings gives a lot of contact and a lot of grip. It’s also a big beefy vice and has a ton of clamping force. The good news is once you get it broke free the viper should work for any barre changes afterwards without issue.

 

[solarshooter]

I've pulled 4 off without marring. I use the Viper barrel vise and an external action wrench. My process is:

• Dry and clean barrel and vise, no tape or anything. The Viper is powder coated aluminum and much softer than any steel. It will not mar from clamping pressure.
• Clamp the barrel as close to the action on the shank as possible. Tighten these two closest bolts the most, and bring all 4 down incrementally to get a good even clamp. Go TIGHT, I have a 10" ratchet and I go pretty hard on these.
• Heat the action around the threads liberally
• Install the action wrench at 12 oclock, using a deadblow or mallet smack the wrench handle to break the action loose. It also helps to tap on the action with a hammer while applying torque.

The secret here is heat and some shock loading to help break the threadlock/compound bond.

 

[Bowfinn]

I had problems with the viper spinning and thought I had “one of the hard Tikkas”. When I used a breaker bar and tightened the vice down until I couldn’t any more, and the action popped free when hit with a hammer. The top part of the viper vice is actually has a slight bed in now, but I like to think it’s custom molded to a tikka barrel contour now.

 

[mjspeers]

I had problems with the viper spinning and thought I had “one of the hard Tikkas”. When I used a breaker bar and tightened the vice down until I couldn’t any more, and the action popped free when hit with a hammer. The top part of the viper vice is actually has a slight bed in now, but I like to think it’s custom molded to a tikka barrel contour now.

Did you use anything? Leather, paper, brown sugar?

 

[Bowfinn]

Did you use anything? Leather, paper, brown sugar?

Rolled up paper. And rolled up envelope for the second one. After both times the paper was brittle and fused together where it contacted the barrel vice, but no marring on the barrel.

Edit- looking as scholar shooters post that about sums it up. I didn’t use heat but I did use an 18in breaker bar. Also I don’t think my barrels had thread locking compound, but they did have something so I could be wrong.