Looking for a gunsmith near Kansas City

[bruce drake]

Folks,

I'm looking for a reasonable gunsmith or a "learned man" within 120 miles of Kansas City who is willing to pull two barrels off for me. I would like to pull a barrel off a #4 Enfield and a T38 Arisaka and I'm personally not having any luck with my barrel vise and wrench setup.

Bruce

[JeffinNZ]

Aaaaawwwww. Can't you fit your Pygmy barrel? HAHAHAHA.

[bruce drake]

Can't get the dang old barrel off! Smashed my finger this morning when the wrench slipped off the barrel vise trying to crank it down...

The T38 also needs to have an old barrel pulled off (its smoked) and place a fresher 6.5x50 T38 barrel on it as well. With my heading out of the country for a few weeks I just decided to out-source it to someone else.

Bruce

[bruce drake]

And Jeff, for your snarkiness, you need to take a spoonful of AD as penance...

[MBTcustom]

Bruce. I have experience with both of those actions. I built an action wrench with a 3' handle to even the score a little. I'd do it for free if you showed up with a 6 pack, but dang! so close and yet so far! Then again, those gunsmithing fees pay for a lot of gas. We could do it together if you want, and I have a place you can get some sleep and head out fresh. My humble home is open, and honored to accommodate you. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and coffee is on the house, and my shop and I are at your disposal.
I live in Conway Arkansas, if you are interested.

[MBTcustom]

Then again, have you tried making cuts with a hack saw on the barrel close to the action face? If you are going to scrap the barrels anyway, then you don't have anything to lose. The hacksaw cuts help relieve the tension on the action face.

[bruce drake]

I haven't done any relief cuts as yet. I have not added an extension to the wrench handle as yet...

I'm heading to South Korea on Tuesday for a training mission for the Army but will be back around the 10th.

Woo, that would be a 7hr drive one way...tempting...very tempting and I think a few of those "adult liquid refreshments" would be available... ;) perhaps after the next election the gas prices might be lower...

Bruce

[MBTcustom]

I'll throw in 2Lb of 63% solder.
Like I said, you can stay the night. I just cleared it with my wife.
:drinks:
Now, back to you doing this job yourself.
Mix ATF fluid and acetone 50/50 and soak the threads for a day in that solution (that is some amazing stuff. I think it works better than Kano Kroil. You get this swirling, pink fluid that boils when it touches steel. http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/general/ot-penetrating-oil-196347/)
Mount that MO FO in the barrel vice, and tighten it till that big vein in your neck gets all buggy.
Take a hairdryer to the action and heat it up nice and toasty.
Remember to get the wrench and the vice as close to eachother as possible.
Get on your wrench handle and push on it hard as you whack it with a deadblow hammer.
So far, that has been sufficient for me to get any action apart.
If you have one that does not bow to your iron will, then use a hacksaw and cut the barrel about 1/8" deep all around and about 1/32" away from the action face.
Repeat the before mentioned process (including the ATF/Acetone, and heat) and you should be good to go.
If not, you need a man with a lathe to cut the barrel out of the action threads.

[bruce drake]

There's no need to bribe me with a lead stash. I'll have to clear with my wife as well as my command here in Kansas for some time off to drive there.

Bruce

[JeffinNZ]

And Jeff, for your snarkiness, you need to take a spoonful of AD (After Death Hot Sauce) as penance...

I may be snarky but I ain't dumb. :groner:[smilie=l:

[bruce drake]

Just checking...[smilie=l::2 drunk buddies:

[MtGun44]

Bruce -

Mix up a 50-50 mix of acetone and ATF or MEK and ATF and apply generously to
the breech area before you leave. Might make it when you get back. This stuff is
really amazing at what it will do with jammed threads.

I am in SW suburban KC, but have no experience in this area. Only rebarreled a Savage
and that is "cheating".

Bill

[Mk42gunner]

I mounted my barrel vice on the end of a 4 foot piece of 1 1/2 inch angle iron, then C-clamped that to the picnic table. Anything that I couldn't hold with the barrel vice got an 18 or 24" pipewrench to hold the barrel. These were all nasty tomato stake grade barrels I was removing.

Tim is right about using a BFH on the action wrench, many times a sharp blow will jolt things loose where steady pressure won't.

Soak the threads while you are gone; it can't hurt anything, and may just work.

Robert

[bruce drake]

Where do you folks find Acetone? I can easily pick up ATF but not sure where I'd find the acetone. would it do bad things to the metal if it sits for 2 weeks?

Bruce

[MBTcustom]

Acetone can be found at any wal-mart, hardware store, or paint store. While you're at it, pick up some mineral spirits and kerosene. Use what you need of the quart containers of acetone and ATF fluid.
When you are done, combine equal parts of mineral spirits and kerosene with the remains of the other two, and viola! You get a few quarts of Ed's Red gun cleaner as a bonus.
I go through several cups of Eds Red a week in the course of cleaning guns for customers.
Ed's Red and an air compressor, the best gun cleaning tools I ever bought.

[MtGun44]

Hardware store, in pint or quart cans usually. Acetone is harmless to metals,
it is what will carry the ATF into tiny crevices.

Bill

[happie2shoot]

did you heat it up with a torch first

[bruce drake]

no heat involved as I don't have a torch setup....yet.

[happie2shoot]

not even a propane torch

[MBTcustom]

Be careful if you use a torch. Don't go too far. When it's too hot to touch, its too hot.
Also, the only things on a firearm that acetone will damage is painted surfaces, the finish on your stock, plastic objects, bedding compound etc etc etc. Steel is unharmed by it, and it cannot do anything to your blueing. It is a common component in gun solvents.

[Boerrancher]

Bruce, I have pulled literally hundreds of barrels off of those old military actions of all kinds. I got to where on the Japs and all Enfield models, even those made here in the U.S., if I was going to go back with a non-standard barrel, I would put the action in a vice and use a 24 inch pipe wrench on the barrel, after doing the ATF and Acetone trick. Then I would take the old barrel and saw it off to where I had the threads and about 1/2 inch of barrel past the threads. Then I would use the old Remington trick to instal the new barrel by using the old barrel stub. That way I didn't have to worry about getting the threads and extractor slot right. It was already there.

Best wishes,

Joe

[bruce drake]

I've got replacement barrels for both rifles already on hand. Jeff's 303 Pygmy for the Enfield and another T38 barrel for the Arisaka. Both old barrels can be tossed as they are toast.

My main issue is that they keep turning in my Brownells Barrel Vise when I go to turn them off. I have the Oak barrel inserts for the vise and I use powdered rosin to hold the barrels in the vise. I've cranked the vise down so that the wood starts compressing around the metal barrel and they still turn.

My barrel wrenc is from Brownells as well and have the Universal V-Block on the wrench and its tightened down as well but it has the stock 2' handle. I've used the back of an axe to crack the wrench handle in the past to loosen a barrel but it isn't working this time.

My setup has always (eventually for some) worked with Mauser rifles but these two are being stubborn.

Bruce

[Blacksmith]

Cool the barrel pack it in ice, dry ice is better, and heat the action even a hair dryer. Even a few degrees difference can make a tough joint break loose. Also while soaking every so often a few taps with a brass or rawhide mallet will help the solution penetrate.

[MtGun44]

Would a phenolic bushing work better?

Bill

[MBTcustom]

Ditch the oak. I know its supposed to work, but I tried walnut, oak, pine....you get the picture. I ended up making some aluminum blocks with the correct (or close to correct) hole for the barrel. The other nice thing about aluminum is that if you are working on a nice blued barrel that cannot have any scratches on it, then the galling can be removed with a BC blueing pen.
Maybe the oak is supposed to work on Savage actions or something (either that or I did it wrong) but I never did get it to work. That, and I have plenty of aluminum lying around.

[JeffinNZ]

Bruce, you may just have to package up the barrel and send it back to me.......... ;-)

[bruce drake]

Nope. But I might have a line on a new P14 barrel to rub in your face... ;)