Remington 700 BARREL WON'T COME OFF Picture of finishe rifle

[ourway77]

I have a Remington 700 BDL 243 that I sent away to have it re-barreled. The gunsmith said he tried everything to get the barrel off and it wouldn't budge. He has built other custom rifles for me and his work is top notch. He must have really put some muscle into it as he had to re-blue the action and barrel and returned to me. The rifle still shoots good but I wanted a better barrel as I have shot more out of it than I remember. I don't know the answer, If anyone does I'd like to know. HELP

[Deleted]

It will come off one way or another, do you intend do anything with the old barrel once it is off of there?

[7mmfreak]

Cole is probably better suited to answer this but between Kroil and heat I've always gotten them off. When I asked this question I was told if it absolutely isn't budging that you cut it off at the shoulder then bore it and what remains of the threads come out like foil.

[ourway77]

The gunsmith used heat as well the Krol oil he heated it and repeated a number times and let the whole action in the oil soaking and he is a competent gunsmith he did say something about cutting it off and removing the remaining on the lathe. I guess I should have just let him do it. Cole the barrel can be trashed I have laid out so much lately that after 54 years of marriage I will be in divorce court L.O.L How close to the action should I cut the barrel off? no sense in throwing more money away to ship the barrel when I can just ship the action. Now that I am into ML'ers again this action would make a fine ML'er. Something for me to think about Lou

[Deleted]

If you send it back to him to take it out on the lathe I would leave at least an inch. If you send it to someone else to try to twist the old barrel off leave 6"

[josh]

Cut a relieve groove in the barrel right next to the recoil lug. Machine a fairly tight fitting mandrel to slip into the action like a "dummy bolt" to keep his action wrench from squeezing the action tighter on the barrel threads. Many guys skip the mandrel and when their action wrench slips (probably why he had to reblue) they just tighten the wrench tighter - this actually squeezes the action tighter against the threads of the barrel making it still harder to remove.

I've never met a barrel that couldn't be removed.

Of course this is just my $0.02

[edge]

IIRC they are torqued to about 100 ft/lbs and may have thread sealer!

if you want to reuse the barrel you will need an action vice and probably some heat...but not tooo much

edge.

[ourway77]

The gunsmith that I used is no longer in business.

[smokepole777]

Apr 21, 2016 12:18:20 GMT -5 ourway77 said:

The gunsmith that I used is no longer in business.

Understandable. If he can't remove a barrel from a 700 action he really don't need to be working on or building rifles.... Imo.

Send it to a competent smith and I'm sure they can get it off... No problem if you know what you're doing.....

[ourway77]

I sent it too a gunsmith on the accurate shooting sight he said if it won't come off as previously tried he will cut it out. I bought a Brux 6mm Barrel with a 1-8 twist to shoot heavy bullets 105 gr.to be chambered for 243 at 28".and am having the action blue printed
Sent it too him along with the barreled action. Now the wait but shouldn't be too long as it's his part time job and came with very good feedback from others on the sight that have used him before. Thanks everyone problem solved Lou

[ourway77]

Got a PM from the gunsmith on the 6BR sight he said he got the Remington 700 barrel off He is going to true the action install the 243 Brux 28"SS Barrel polish the barrel and return it too me next week or so I expected it to take way longer I will post pictures when I get it Lou

[ourway77]

Got the action and barrel back yesterday from Lee Gardner precision (accurate Shooter forums) He did a terrific job got it back in a month from the time I sent it too him. He trued the action and he and crowned and chambered my 28" Brux barrel to 243 as soon as I can figure out how to post pictures with this new computer I will.

[ourway77]

Here is the finished product shot old ammo from take off barrel haven't worked up a load yet
Here is the first target