Safeguards to Prevent Warping an Action

[Uncle Grinch]

I've picked up a Midway action wrench and vise and have a couple of large and small ring Mauser actions with bad barrels. Are there any tips to prevent warping or twisting an action when removing the barrels? I know it happens because I have purchased them off various websites before.
I don't want to mess mine up.

[Stephen Cohen]

A couple months back a friend of mine did just that, I told him I would have used his lathe to relieve some of the barrel where it mates with action, he chose not to. He did manage to get the action back into a serviceable condition after some time and effort. Some of those Mauser barrels are near welded in.

[Cactus Farmer]

Put the barrel in the vice close to the action. Use an action wrench that fits the action and is clamped onto the receiver ring, over the barrel threads. If it doesn't move with pressure,warm the area up with a heat source,ie,heat gun-propane torch until it is very warm to the touch. A sharp rap with a lead hammer on the wrench handle will sometimes break 'em loose. They can be very tight! I have welded a piece of junk to the scrap barrel to keep it from turning and then when it finally broke,it sounded like a pistol shot. (fingers crossed) I have,as of now,never hurt an action and have never turned a relief on a barrel either. I use a 4 foot cheater pipe and a big 3# lead hammer on the tough ones.
Just get the barrel vise tight(cheater pipe) and get a tight fit on the wrench to keep it all from slipping. Heat guns are cheap at the Chinese Tool Store and will become your best friend for all sorts of heating jobs. YMMV

[Reg]

Have found the 1917 Enfields and some 1903 Springfields to be the tough ones but have had a couple of Mausers that also were tight. Big thing is don't get heavy handed. Use a good fitting action wrench and common sense. If that barrel will not move with a reasonable amount of force, chuck it up in a lathe and use a parting tool to cut down just in front of the barrel to relieve the pressure between the face of the action and the front face of the barrel. Quite often you can almost unscrew them by hand then.
If the threads are actually rusted in place so badly they will not back out you can cut off the barrel, hold the action on a mandrel and run the front of the receiver ( carefully ) in a steady rest and bore out the rusted in section. Bore only until you just see the tops of the receiver threads showing then use something sharp and hard like dental picks to pick out the thread pieces. Make up a homemade cleaning tap to smooth and clean the threaded area.
Big trick is to not crush the front of the receiver ring by over tightening the clamp bolts on the action wrench or get twisting started in the linear length of the receiver frame.
Just don't get goosie, if it doesn't want to move with a normal amount of force, stop and find out why.

[Uncle Grinch]

Good advise....

Thanks all.

[MBTcustom]

Have found the 1917 Enfields and some 1903 Springfields to be the tough ones but have had a couple of Mausers that also were tight. Big thing is don't get heavy handed. Use a good fitting action wrench and common sense. If that barrel will not move with a reasonable amount of force, chuck it up in a lathe and use a parting tool to cut down just in front of the barrel to relieve the pressure between the face of the action and the front face of the barrel. Quite often you can almost unscrew them by hand then.
If the threads are actually rusted in place so badly they will not back out you can cut off the barrel, hold the action on a mandrel and run the front of the receiver ( carefully ) in a steady rest and bore out the rusted in section. Bore only until you just see the tops of the receiver threads showing then use something sharp and hard like dental picks to pick out the thread pieces. Make up a homemade cleaning tap to smooth and clean the threaded area.
Big trick is to not crush the front of the receiver ring by over tightening the clamp bolts on the action wrench or get twisting started in the linear length of the receiver frame.
Just don't get goosie, if it doesn't want to move with a normal amount of force, stop and find out why.

That right there pretty much covers it. Solid advice.
If you don't have a lathe, you can use a hacksaw, but its not nearly as precise, and you will probably need a lathe at some point in the build, so you better get one lined up.

[Antietamgw]

I've always cut a relief groove on bad barrels. I figure why take a chance stressing a good action to save a barrel that's going in the scrap pile anyway. I generally just do it in the lathe but have used a hacksaw. Gives you a place to squirt a little Kroil in too. If you have the time, let it soak in overnight. I think it makes a big difference. Good luck with it!