Two Down, One To Go

[Bent Ramrod]

Two new rebuild jobs at least begun. Got the sewer-pipe barrels off a Sharps-Borchardt and a Winchester Low-Wall. The Remington 7mm Rolling Block Carbine is still "negotiating" with me.

Liquid Wrench, Kroil, heat, pounding on the action wrench, torque, vituperative incantations, repetition--the usual story. The threads weren't even rusty, as far as I could see. All it takes is being screwed together nice&tight for 100 years or so. Has my vote as the meanest job in gunsmithing.

I plan to reline the Borchardt with a 1-17" TJ's .45 Liner (shown above the barrel), and maybe mill the rear tang so one of those tang sight base tangs can be attached. Might leave the rest of it in its military configuration, except for front sight, which I can't see well.

The Low-Wall was just a receiver on a shot-out .22 Long barrel. I have a pretty good .25WCF barrel and a centerfire breechblock so I'll probably convert it to that. Need to round up some parts.

Don't know what I'm going to do with the Rolling Block yet. That miserable little tapered carbine barrel is hard to grab onto. It's the one they used to offer in the old gun magazines with the caveat "may be missing some parts." It lacks a forend, and has the correct breechblock for a sliding extractor but barrel and receiver are set up for a rotary extractor.

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All these kind of jobs wind up being easier to start than to finish, of course.

[Pipefitter]

Try chanting nonsense in Latin while swinging a dead opossum over your head.....

[marlinman93]

If the carbine barrel is not any good, and you don't mind ruining it, I've slipped a large nut over the barrel and welded it to the barrel with my wire feed welder. Then while it's still warm I clamp the nut in my barrel vise and turn the action off. Never had one that didn't come going this extreme.
If you don't have a very large nut, then you can weld a piece of bar stock to each side and it will hold almost as good if you get a good weld.

[Tom W.]

Try chanting nonsense in Latin while swinging a dead opossum over your head.....

Frog guts judiciously spread about the room have been known to help.....

[country gent]

I have a block made to use lead for barrel inserts they are poured around the barrel itself makes a perfect fit split block for your vise. Mine is simply a rectangle metal box 3 1/2" wide 6" long and 1 1/5" deepwith a hole bore thru on center line. I use a piece of .060 banding and cut to go from end of box to barrel on each side. Pack of the gap between hoe and barrel with clay let dry some. In use install barrel in block close to where you want it, melt the lead and pre heat the box and barrel some then pour box full on each side. let cool and remove. Clean up splits as needed and use coat it with powdered rosin and this really grips well. I have a roller that's going to be a 38-55. with a 30" barrel.

[marlinman93]

I use a pair of lead blocks for odd shaped barrels also. But I simply cut a half circle in each block. Never had an issue with them forming to a barrel as I increase clamping pressure. Lead forms easily, and even with no barrel channel it will gradually form to the barrel as the clamping force is increased.

[Bent Ramrod]

I have been using a sheet lead strip around the barrel, with the closest fitting half-circle rings I have in the set. Also, a finger-full of rosin on the surfaces. Worked (eventually) on the gradual-taper Sharps and Winchester barrels, but the extreme curve of the Remington doesn't give much gripping surface past the chamber part. Will machine out a couple half circles that fit if it's too stubborn.

I guess I'm lucky so far. I have another Borchardt barrel that somebody filed a groove in, doubtless to relieve shoulder pressure to get it off. Too bad, as the bore and chamber are no worse than B-. A specialty antiques welder I contacted was afraid to weld over the chamber and fill the groove, which isn't all that deep, just messy.

I'd rather not do the extra machine work, but would like to get the barrel off the Remington whole, just on general principle. Lassen College had a "Doomsday Machine" that got the barrel off any action, with the action good for rebarreling. Never saw it in operation, but I understand the barrel was only good for a tent stake afterwards.

I have managed to bust off the forend lug from the Rolling Block barrel, which was held on with two screws. No big loss, of course, but gives an idea of the torque applied, thus far.

It's comforting to reread the section in one of Dunlap's books about how one of the "hidden struggles" of WWII was the question of which nation could screw the barrel on the receiver of their battle rifle the tightest. Kind of puts things in perspective for me.

[barrabruce]

It's comforting to reread the section in one of Dunlap's books about how one of the "hidden struggles" of WWII was the question of which nation could screw the barrel on the receiver of their battle rifle the tightest. Kind of puts things in perspective for me.

I read that too.

Also there was some who said they used to use some form of acid I think to coat the threads and then screw on so as they would weld together...

The parting off tool relief pressure to shoulder is supposed to work as well.

Maybe you can machine a small step in the other barrel and a washer/ring to fill the gap instead of welding if there is enough meat left.
Or just re index it to fit on a new shoulder.

I dunno cos I don't do that sort of thing thou.

I would probably make the air blue with foul and vile language.
Jump around like a gorilla having a tizzy fit.
Get a couple of big monkey wrenches and a couple of cheater bars and try and jump up and down on them to crack the bond.

The love marks from the debarreling will give it some "character" and can be somewhat filed out. You may even end up with a new and improved experimental chamber.

A couple of young ladies may get pregnant from the stray f'n and blinding emanating out of the shed thou.
And you may have to watch out in case the foofer valve releases or breaks

All and all in the end it should work.

Good luck.

[Bent Ramrod]

"All we can do is weight, and pray."

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[smilie=1:

[marlinman93]

You should have the lower tang assembled to the action to avoid collapsing the sides of that receiver. I speak from a bad experience that took some effort to fix later.

Steady weight will likely not do anything. It needs a sharp hit to the action wrench to snap it free. But having the weight on as you hit the wrench will be a big help!

[BigEyeBob]

I read that too.

Also there was some who said they used to use some form of acid I think to coat the threads and then screw on so as they would weld together...

The parting off tool relief pressure to shoulder is supposed to work as well.

Maybe you can machine a small step in the other barrel and a washer/ring to fill the gap instead of welding if there is enough meat left.
Or just re index it to fit on a new shoulder.

I dunno cos I don't do that sort of thing thou.

I would probably make the air blue with foul and vile language.
Jump around like a gorilla having a tizzy fit.
Get a couple of big monkey wrenches and a couple of cheater bars and try and jump up and down on them to crack the bond.

The love marks from the debarreling will give it some "character" and can be somewhat filed out. You may even end up with a new and improved experimental chamber.

A couple of young ladies may get pregnant from the stray f'n and blinding emanating out of the shed thou.
And you may have to watch out in case the foofer valve releases or breaks

All and all in the end it should work.

Good luck.

The acid used was sal amoniac ,plumbers used to use it to clean thier soldering irons just a weak 5% solution will rust in an hour .In the days before limits and fits in the engineering trades they used it to create rust joints to permanently fix parts together. Some of the old gun makers used it to clean shotgun barrels before soldering the top and bottom ribs between them ,the continuing rusting process usually caused the barrels and ribs to part company many years down the track.
Sal Amoniac comes in a solid block ,its a natural mineral ,and is mainly used these days by leadlight window makers .I use it for the rusting agent for my rust blueing .

[Bent Ramrod]

Seventeen days with the anvil hung off the action wrench and the occasional anointing with Kroil, heating with the Bernz-O-Matic, bashing on the action wrench, retightening the barrel in the barrel vise, and, of course, the necessary incantations and imprecations, today the Remington frame and barrel finally parted ways.

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No rust on the threads. just dirty oil, which seems to have penetrated all the way. I may use the 1.050" barrel stub as an adaptor for a smaller diameter barrel, like DeHaas used to show.

At least I didn't have to draw a Pentacle around the thing, light candles at the points and sacrifice a goat. Glad it's over!

[barrabruce]

I was wondering if the barrel and action finally parted or not.

I was hedging my bet the rope on the anvil would give way first and drop on your toe.
Glad it all worked out.
:)

[357Mag]

All -

" A couple of young ladies may get pregnant from the stray f'n and blinding emanating out of the shed thou. "

HHHaaaaa - hhaaaaa - HHHHHAAAAAAAAA !!!


With regards,
357Mag

[John Taylor]

It's always good when a plan works, glad you got the barrel loose. I have had a few tough ones over the years. Sometimes making up a set of aluminum blocks that match the taper on the barrel will hold it. And then there is heat and an 8# hammer to help.

[Texas by God]

"Till death do us part". The barrel died long ago but just couldn't let go. The action wll soon have a new life partner. I love the hanging anvil trick!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[woodbutcher]

:grin:Hi Bent Ramrod.Just gotta do like the"Boys from Brooklyn"do.Make it an offer that it can`t refuse.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo