Tips needed on removing my .50 barrel

[bowbender6]

Finally took the plunge and got a .45 Pacnor and barrel wrench from Luke. Any tips on holding the barrel and what to use so the barrel doesn't get marked up? I have most shop tools. Make a piece of oak and put in in a vise? Thanks

[Deleted]

You can use a piece of oak but don't use one that is grossly larger than you need. Make the hole about .050" smaller than where you intend to grip the barrel. Closer to the action the better. Do you have an action wrench? If not you're in for a tall order of tough! Squeeze it as tight as you can and then a good half turn tighter, use the sawdust or rosin as a grip agent, flour works also but someone will make fun of these options... Eat your wheatiea and grab an extra strength monster and you'll be good to go!

[fishhawk]

Put the action in the vice. Much easier to pinch the loading with wood than the barrel.

[rossman40]

Fishhawk,, Your not supposed to let out all the secrets.... But he is right, for removal on a Savage it is far easier to put the action in a vise with a V-block on the bottom side of the action on one jaw and like a 1"x3" in the loading port against the other jaw. All you have to do is break the barrel nut loose and then the barrel should be fairly easy to unscrew. At the factory the guy has a "click" type torque wrench set at 75ft/lbs but the bar is like 4' long and from the pictures the guy is cornbread fed and hasn't missed any meals so if he puts a little "extra" on it you'll swear it was a 700lb gorilla that tightened it. I use a 3' long 1/2" drive breaker bar on the wrench and I still run across ones where you have to put tension on the wrench and then hit the wrench with a hammer for a bit of a impact to break it loose. You will also want to take the front scope mount off. If the front screw is into the threads you can really mess things up.

For the install your setting headspace at the same time so it is best to put the barrel in blocks. Get the headspace where you want it, pull the bolt, then mark the barrel and action so you can tell if you moved it much. With the barrel in the blocks you can use a 16-18" crescent wrench or even a pipe wrench (with a aluminum on the jaws, I usually go with 4 layers of duct tape and the 1/16" aluminum sheet on the jaws) in the loading port to hold the action while you torque the barrel nut (an extra person helps). If you plan on taking it off again I would go in the 50ft/lb range, if not go for 75.

If it moves some don't worry too much, 20 tpi threads so one turn is 0.050", if the action moved a quarter turn your headspace is only .0125" off.

If your worried about marring the finish try drywall tape. Thick enough to protect and rough enough to grab but not mar.

[Deleted]

Guess I was envisioning a 700ml. Savage definitely put the action in the vise.

[7mmfreak]

Ok, my technique:

Use GRS Thermo-Loc to create a mechanical lock around the action port (and/or entire action so as not to induce torque and twisting of the action) and use any wrench of your choice so long as you create a surface for it to lock onto while the T-L is still pliable. Use a pair of block halves with resin or a T-L bushing and a barrel vise.

[10ga]

"Soak" with a penetrating lube. 50-50 atf/acetone best 1st choice, liquid wrench penetrant #2 and kroil or PB blaster #3. This will make removal much easier and I've never had a problem with a Savage or even old Stevens barrel nut and barrel removal with a good soaking. A "dry" removal can be a lot more difficult than necessary. 10 ga

[bowbender6]

Thanks, looks like I have a plan, the board comes through again.

[bowbender6]

PB blaster, liquid wrench, hard maple blocks on the action and a vise, 2 foot breaker-came right off. First group about 1.5" , with 58 grain of N120, 200 sst, now have too work on improving that
Thanks for the help

[1gifford]

Anybody got a pic of the Action Block setup Rossman is describing above?

[Deleted]

This is how I disassemble and install.