A Tight Mauser

[KCSO]

Now I have taken more than a few Mauser rifles apart and I have a special action wrench to do the job. I have had a few barrels that wouldnt budge until I turned off the barrel boss but...

Here is a mauser action that was rusted in place. I had the barrel in the lathe and turned off the boss and put the barrel in machined aluminum blocks with 80 grit compound and... with a 3 foot cheater just turned the barrel. So I put undersized blocks on the barrel and put the press up to a full 50 TONS. and with a 4 foot cheater actually crushed and twisted the barrel befor eit finaly gave way. And yes I used Kroil and t had penetreated all the way through the rusty threads. The only thing that saved the action was the action wrench that surrounded the whole action. 78638

[Walter Laich]

that was one tight barrel

[aspangler]

I've found that a little heat sometimes works wonders. Some Mauser barrels almost weld themselves to the action.

[John Taylor]

I don't fight them, I use a little heat. Sometimes they need to be heated and cooled several times. I have run into lots of Remington barrels that are glued in and the heat helps there also.

[Pirate69]

I just happen to be the lucky owner of the two "tight" actions that KCSO is working on. They were Brazilian Contract Rifles brought from AA Armory, 8834 East County Rd 225, Gainesville, FL 32609. I bought them for the actions and had I known they were in that shape, I would have looked somewhere else. Let the buyer beware.

[tomme boy]

Impact works better. As long as the action is mounted very securely, I use a 2 lb. sledge on the barrel wrench. 3-4 whacks and they will all come loose.

[mikeym1a]

I bought my son an old 8mm mauser, type I don't remember, some years ago at an auction. When we got it home and tried shooting it, it was disaster. After a through cleaning, we determined that the remains of the rifling were singing '...Nearer my God to Thee!!...', and elected to have the barrel replaced. My old smith tried a pipe wrench on it, and it didn't budge, so he elected 'ramdon molecular excitation'......the torch! He got it nice and hot, and still had to use a cheater bar on the pipe wrench to get it off. The replacement barrel screwed in very nicely, as the action was still quite warm. That was the last job he did for me. He sat down in his rocking chair for a nap one day, several years later, and never woke up. I miss him.

[KCSO]

I forgot to menton heating and cooling and I don,t hammer because I have cracked receivers that way if a 4 foor cheater won't budge it there are problems. This was just and even cating of rust that glued the works together.

[danski26]

Wow!! That thing was really in there! I have "big Larry" for jobs like that. He's about 3 foot long and about 15 pound crescent wrench that I clamp on the action wrench. It sounds like big Larry might have met his match with that one though!

[MBTcustom]

I believe I would have welded the barrel to plate and put the stank on it before it cooled off, but that might not have worked one bit better. It's just something I keep in mind for a last resort.
Honestly, I've never had one that hard to get off.
Good on ya for not letting the krauts win, LOL!

[Pirate69]

With KCSO's permission, I will highjack this thread and provide any update. KCSO did in fact get both barrels off for me. He offered to remove the barrels after I had basically given up on removing them myself. He did this without damaging the actions or the threads. I have cleaned the threads up and can screw a new barrel on by hand with little effort. I was afraid I was going to lose the actions and had told him that any damage to them was owned by me.

KCSO cut the bolt handles off and did a great job of reweld new ones on for me. They are perfect for my need. I asked him to use his best judgement on the replacements and I could not be happier with what he selected.

I have drilled and tapped both actions. Thank goodness that did not give me a problem. Now on to rebarreling the actions and creating "wet weather" rifles for my brother and nephew. Without KCSO's help, I would have been dead in the water.

If it sounds like I am beating KCSO's drum; I am. He provided a great service at a very reasonable. If you are in need of his services, I highly recommend him.

KCSO, thanks again for all your help.