Removing Stuck Choke Tubes

[KCSO]

I had a customer come into the shop with a choke tube stuck in a Winchester shotgun. He had NOT folloowed instructions and had screwed a choke tube with preservative grease and NO lube into the gun and had then shot it about 1000 rounds. He broke his tool trying to remove the choke. I soaked it in Kroil and tapped the barrel with a lead mallet and then broke my heavy duty tool and the choke wouldn't budge. Now Brownells sells a tool with knurls that bites into the iinside of the tube and will remove any thing, but they are $125.00 each and you ruin the tube. So I went to work. I annealed a file and ground and polished a shank to fit in the tube and then ground ears to fit in the choke tube notches. These ears were ground and filed to be an exact press fit. I then re hardened the tool and put a handle on the file so I could press into the choke. I then put the barrel in my barrel vise just behind the choke tube and pressed the tool into the choke. I then put on a 12" cresent wrench to the flat of the file and cranked. It came loose with a pop but did no damage to either the choke or the barrel. This was THE toughest choke tube I have ever had to budge. If anyone else has this problem let me know and I will send drawings of the tool.

I will note that I mounted the barrel in a bushing made from oak that was relieved for the vent rib. I had to rosin the block to keep it from turning.

[fishnbob]

What kind of lube do you recommend to keep on the choke tube threads? If my memory serves me correctly, I wiped it all off and reinstalled a choke tube with out it the last time I had it out, probably 6 months ago. I had better check it!

[Lee]

Perhaps careful application of a heat gun around the barrel/choke?
I know you would have to be careful not to get too hot, soldered ribs???
This of course after an evening soak in Kroil.
I've got some rusted on shaft collars off in this manner ..... Lee

[deltaenterprizes]

Never seize on the threads.

[10 ga]

Dittos for delta " " . I have a peanut butter jar with the copper anti sieze that drillers use on well drilling rods. It keeps stuff from seizing together. It was a "gift" out of their 5 gal bucket of the stuff. Lots cheaper than the $$ for a little tube at the auto parts store but about the same stuff. I use it on my breech plugs and vent liners for me smokeless MLs, screw in shotgun chokes and on bout anything else I crank down hard on and don't want to get stuck. Little goes a lonnnggg way. 10

[KCSO]

I use moly lube and have never had one stick. Heat, kroil, PB Blaster, tapping and standard wrenches all failed on this one. The worst I ever saw was rusted in and had to be turned out and retapped.

[Tom-ADC]

Something moly they make a choke tube lube works great. I don't think a heat gun could get a barrel hot enough to cause a problem, they have a tool that looks or maybe the plug for a boat, it expands and grips good should work.
I'd use "OIl of Wintergreen" after I heated the barrel with a heat gun, the wintergreen would wick in and free the tube.

[mister gizmo]

FWIW, I took my Kolar Trap Combo set to the factory in Wisconsin a couple of years ago for some custom stock work and a general tune-up. Got some skeet tubes for the over/under, too, and they patterned the gun in their indoor tube.

Guess what the factory uses as an all-purpose lubricant/anti-seizure product? It's inexpemsive, comes in a blue plastic bottle and is labeled "STP". Used with a small vet syringe, a drop goes a long way, not only on the choke tube threads, but also within the trigger group. Problem-free, so far.