HELP! Removing STUCK Mauser barrel

J

John Glowa

Inactive
Hi all,
New here, hope this turns out to be a great place to learn from the old-timers... I have a VZ24 mauser action that has an old sporterized military barrel on it. I picked up a new stainless one for it but the old one is terribly stuck. Yes, I have the proper barrel vice and receiver wrench and I've applied a good 250 lbs. plus of force but no luck. I know that I can "part" the barrel just in front of the receiver which would relieve any torque pressures but it might be thread friction and that would only ruin a perfectly usable old barrel. Any suggestions???
Thanks,
John
 
Take a propane torch and carefully heat the receiver .You don't want to go more than about 400F but that should do it .
 
1. I like to spray Kroil on the joint at the barrel/receiver juncture and also inside the receiver where the barrel abuts the "C" ring. Let it sit at least overnight for the oil to penetrate. The brand of penetrating oil is probably less important than the fact that it IS penetrating oil -- not WD 40, BreakFree, etc. If you can't find Kroil, PBBlaster is available at NAPA auto parts stores.
2. Dust your barrel vise jaws with rosin. I use a kid's Little League rosin bag, and I am sure that it will last me a lifetime if I don't lose it.
3. Use a hammer on your action wrench handle. Often sticky barrels will respond to a series of sharp blows when they won't budge with a 4' cheater on the wrench handle. I just use a 36 oz. ball pein hammer. Once you get the action to rotate a degree or two, you are home free.
4. The "parting" at the receiver face works fine for 1917 Enfields, but the Mausers have very little bearing surface at that secondary torque shoulder.

Good luck!

Clemson
 
got it

Hi guys,
I used a combination of the two actually, I was hoping to avoid putting any heat to it but I think it was used sparingly enough. Had to give the wrench a sizable whack with a hunk of firewood and then it let go. The last smith who worked that barrel had put some sort of threadlock on it and did a thorough job! The heat softened it up and with the whack it gave way. Gonna blast the action and then bake coat it with one of the brownells finishes, maybe the teflon. Should be a shooter in a couple of weeks.
Thanks,
John
 
removing barrels

My gunsmith has a two piece form and pours melted babbit around the outside of the forward section of the receiver, then places it in a double sort of v block in a press and uses a 36" barrel wrench, also with babbit and whamo, she's loose.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top