Barrel removal,

[Remiel]

I'm playing with my second 1916 Spanish mauser and can't seem to get the barrel off, soaked it for anout 3 days in diesel/kerosene but it still won't break free, even with a long bar and a few whacks on the bar with a dead blow hammer. What do you guys recommend to free it up? Would kroil work?

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[oconeedan]

I'm not a gun smith, but a mechanic. Kroil is the best penetrating oil I know of. If that won't do it, I would apply heat. Not enough to hurt the temper, but enough to help. I would heat the receiver, and it should expand a tad allowing the barrel to unscrew. Wave a heat gun over it, or propane torch, and get it hotter than you can touch but not hot enough to hurt anything. If you have to heat more than that you may want to get help from a gun smith.

[Remiel]

I'm not a gun smith, but a mechanic. Kroil is the best penetrating oil I know of. If that won't do it, I would apply heat. Not enough to hurt the temper, but enough to help. I would heat the receiver, and it should expand a tad allowing the barrel to unscrew. Wave a heat gun over it, or propane torch, and get it hotter than you can touch but not hot enough to hurt anything. If you have to heat more than that you may want to get help from a gun smith.Tried the heat to no avail, I want to avoid heating it too much cause its a Spanish mauser, and well I don't want to tempt fate.

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[Texas by God]

Have you cut a relief groove in the barrel close to the action ring? I did on my 1916 and that did the trick.

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[Remiel]

Have you cut a relief groove in the barrel close to the action ring? I did on my 1916 and that did the trick.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using TapatalkI may have to, im not saving the barrel, in fact I have one you did like that for the sights that I needed, what did you use? BTW the bench vise uses lead sheets to grip the barrel.

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[country gent]

I have seen military barrels torqued in tight to time them. cutting a relief groove helps a lot. lathe with a cut of blade works well. Stay about 010-.015 away from receiver face and cut slow be ready on the machine clutch , it may pinch the blade when you get to depth.
This relieves the thread shoulder tension, leaving the threads tension to deal with. Another trick s to set it in the vise tight soak with kroil and insert the action wrench with a 3 ft pipe on it hang bucket on it and add 200-300 lbs of lead in the bucket then let it set

[copperlake]

I may have to, im not saving the barrel, in fact I have one you did like that for the sights that I needed, what did you use? BTW the bench vise uses lead sheets to grip the barrel.

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If you're using a bench vise, can I guess you don't have an action wrench? You can use the biggest honkin' Wilton and that won't cut it. As far as heat goes, it (usually) takes dull red heat and slow cooling to alter case hardening. I've arc welded bolt handles on 1916 bolts and a mere 1/32" away from the weld would not be scratched with a HSS end mill. Try boiling it (for a looong time) and have another go. Water is a lubricant, when boiling a penetrant, and the continuous low heat will soften crud.

[Remiel]

I have seen military barrels torqued in tight to time them. cutting a relief groove helps a lot. lathe with a cut of blade works well. Stay about 010-.015 away from receiver face and cut slow be ready on the machine clutch , it may pinch the blade when you get to depth.
This relieves the thread shoulder tension, leaving the threads tension to deal with. Another trick s to set it in the vise tight soak with kroil and insert the action wrench with a 3 ft pipe on it hang bucket on it and add 200-300 lbs of lead in the bucket then let it setMay have to try the lathe idea

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[B R Shooter]

I had to make a relief cut on a O3A3. Even though I took it out of the lathe after I made the cut, it came off so easy I bet I could have taken it off by hand.

[Gewehr-Guy]

You can use a hacksaw to make the relief cut on the barrel, I've done it on a couple of 03A3 drill rifles.

[country gent]

A hacksaw can do it but be carefull and work it slow cutting o the forward stroke only.

ANd as I stated be ready to shut machine down quick if it pinches. Keep everything as short as possible amount of blade out, holder length and work slow.

[William Yanda]

Gently warm the action and cool the barrel, for more temperature difference effect?

[Froogal]

I have very little gunsmithing experience, but I do have considerable mechanical experience, so just let me say that more often than not, a deadblow hammer is not your best friend. Sometimes you need the vibrations that occur when using a steel hammer.

[Wayne Smith]

Best advice I've heard is to put your longest extension on your wrench, use Kroil, fill a bucket with sand and hang that on the end of the extension. Come back in the morning and see what you have.

[ascast]

I am curious, at what temp. does the case hardening get ruined? Anybody know? I had a friend once tell me that holding a fresh made bullet nose on a piece of case hardened steel will soften it enough to drill a hole with normal drill. I never really believed it it. Anybody's thoughts? Lead melts at 621 and alloys lower, say 550. Temp would be lower if hard and out of mold.

[John Taylor]

I usually don't spend a lot of time on getting a barrel off. My barrel vise has a 20 ton jack and I machine aluminum blocks to fit the barrel. There is an eight pound hammer sitting next to the vise for when something does not move the way it should. And yes, I have used heat a time or two. Making a relief cut on a Mauser may not do much good because the Mauser barrel seat on the inside. I have machined the old barrel out of the action when they are rusted in but that is very seldom.
Case hardening is not very deep, if you heat till you see blue you have gone to far. When the case hardening is tampered with on a Mauser you can have bolt set-back. This sometimes happens with out heat when chambering to a high pressure round.
If you are not going to use the old barrel again you can grind flats on it so it won't turn in the vice or weld something to the barrel.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I also use a shop press with a 20 ton hydraulic jack. I use steel blocks with aluminum inserts to grip the barrel. The steel blocks are bolted together around the inserts around the barrel. For most jobs I used a Brownell's action wrench that comes with several top halves to closely match the more common receiver rings. The barrel in the blocks is held in the press under the jack's ram, and the wrench turned counter-clockwise. Often, on Mausers, it is necessary to used a pipe extension on the wrench's handle. As noted in several posts, a sudden sharp blow on the handle will often loosen the barrel, and sometimes the same blow in the opposite direction will help break the rust bond if there is one. I have only had to make a relief cut on one barreled action, a No.1 Mk.III Lee Enfield. It can be summed up as the irresistible force (wrench) vs. the immovable object (press). For certain, proper set-up is important, because if you twist or otherwise deform the receiver the game is about over.

[Texas by God]

The Mauser 98 has the stop ring inside- the OP has a 1916(93) which doesn’t. The barrel shoulder is the stop ring. Good tools are key as stated above.

[copperlake]

I am curious, at what temp. does the case hardening get ruined? Anybody know? I had a friend once tell me that holding a fresh made bullet nose on a piece of case hardened steel will soften it enough to drill a hole with normal drill. I never really believed it it. Anybody's thoughts? Lead melts at 621 and alloys lower, say 550. Temp would be lower if hard and out of mold.

One more time re case removal:

263686

You can find this a hundred times on the interwebs.

[country gent]

Case hardening is a little different as it a thin hard layer and normally don in a cyanide or arsenic bath. Most modern too;s steels are hardened to hardest point and then "drawn back" by annealing with a soak time added. The process actually starts around 400* this just relieves a little of the brittleness and the part is still very hard. Case hardening the heat bath set the hardness and the soak time the depth of the case.

[Scrounge]

I'm playing with my second 1916 Spanish mauser and can't seem to get the barrel off, soaked it for anout 3 days in diesel/kerosene but it still won't break free, even with a long bar and a few whacks on the bar with a dead blow hammer. What do you guys recommend to free it up? Would kroil work?

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Kroil would very likely work. Or you can try a 50/50 mix of acetone and ATF. Lots of folks who do machine tool restoration use that. Put it in a container with a lid that won't melt from the acetone, shake it real well, and then pour it on, or submerge the action in it for a few minutes, then pull it out, wait a bit, and try to break it loose. Acetone acts as a carrier for the oil, and then evaporates, leaving the oil behind. PB blaster would probably work, too, but it may damage the bluing. If you're not planning on refinishing the action or barrel, stay away from it.

[Texas by God]

Good tip on the PB blast. Good to know.

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[Remiel]

Got it off, but the new barrel doesn't fit(now military barrel) is there an intermediate ring size between small and large ring?

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[Texas by God]

There is only large ring and small ring sizes as far as I’ve ever heard. The 1916 is a small ring. Is the threaded shank of your new barrel too big? It must be for a large ring action, then. More details or pics?

[Remiel]

There is only large ring and small ring sizes as far as I’ve ever heard. The 1916 is a small ring. Is the threaded shank of your new barrel too big? It must be for a large ring action, then. More details or pics?I will have more info tomorrow, the action is at my gunsmith freinds, not at home. He is letting me use some of his stuff to build it(he's the one who got the barrel off using violin bow Rosen on the barrel) and he's the one that noticed the size difference between the receiver and barrel, he compared it to a 98 8mm barrel he had and said the thread shank looked smaller than the 98 but won't screw on the receiver. He did not measure it, but i will when I drop off the 25cal blank I found for him.

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[LAGS]

I hope you didn't crush your receiver ring out of round.
It is easy to do on those soft receivers , even with the proper action wrench and barrel vise.
Trust me , I found out the hard way , and ended up buying a Tap to at least get the new barrel to thread into the receiver.

[Remiel]

I hope you didn't crush your receiver ring out of round.
It is easy to do on those soft receivers , even with the proper action wrench and barrel vise.
Trust me , I found out the hard way , and ended up buying a Tap to at least get the new barrel to thread into the receiver.I hope not either.

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[Remiel]

So the barrels I bought are large ring 8x57 not the small ring 7x57 that I was told they were, back to the hunt for a barrel, and a large ring action to build another 8x57 mauser.

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[john.k]

Whats wrong with simply rethreading .....small ring Mauser is about .1" smaller than a large ring ,same TPI ,so rethreading is a very simple project......I might also observe if the guy had trouble removing a small ring Mauser barrel ,seems likely he s a black plastic type smith.

[PHyrbird]

A follow up: Archie Stahl ( now passed) used a plug of steel to spot anneal for drilling case hardened parts. Heated it cherry red, set it on the spot, let it air cool. I agree heating till metal colors is changing the metallurgy. An item that will help. Heat with a heat gun till boiling temp, then use some medical freeze spray on the internal threads or parts. You will be surprised how much clearance you can generate. At a aluminum mill I worked we created .005-.007 clearance on .004 interference fit bearings & gears. All we used were induction heaters to heat bearings to smoking grease temp, then freeze the shaft with a CO2 extinguisher. If you ever stopped the install or it hung it was back to the BIG press again to get it apart. Some of the jobs involved shafts up to 2 feet in diameter, no sweat.

[LAGS]

The large ring barrel can be Re Threadded to a small Ring shank.
I did that on a 25-06 large Ring barrel to install onto a Turkish 38 large ring / small Ring shank receiver since there is limited supply of Small Ring barrels.
Plus the small Ring barrels you can find are limited in what calibers are available.
The old 8mm barrel that I took off was re fitted onto a Spanish 1916 action that had a poor .308 barrel.
I still have the Turkish 38 in 25-06.
It shoots great.
The 8mm Spanish was given to a friend years ago.
He may still have it , or was forced to sell it because of the economy.
But it shot great too with cast Boolits.

[Remiel]

Whats wrong with simply rethreading .....small ring Mauser is about .1" smaller than a large ring ,same TPI ,so rethreading is a very simple project......I might also observe if the guy had trouble removing a small ring Mauser barrel ,seems likely he s a black plastic type smith.This was an old western scrounger action that wasn't stored to well(its was pretty rusty), once it sat in a tube of diesel/kero it broke loose. As far as black rifles, he doesn't have or know what to do with one. And rethreading is an option, or I can wait until the .257 barrel I want comes in. I was doing most of the work and learning. He was just helping me when taking breaks from building his new addition on the house. He was the one that looked at my new barrel and said it was a large ring and broke the action loose when I wasn't there(said I should have boiled it too to clear the crud gluing everything together). I'm still a novice outside of swaping parts or assembling black plastic guns. He is letting me use his stuff at no cost and helping when he can.

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[LAGS]

I have two Adams Wright barrels in 257 Roberts that I bought to turn the shanks down and rethread for small Ring actions.
Buying the large Ring barrels was way cheaper than trying to find a small Ring barrel.
I am selling off lots of spare parts since I am cutting back on my gunsmithing since I retired.
I have a Small Ring Sporterized Stock that is Brand New that I am trying to sell.
PM me if you need parts , I may have what you need.

[toallmy]

I put a small ring together with a midway special 7x57 short chamber barrel . It's not a tack driver but it's a solid inch and a half 100 yard shooter with jackets .

[Clark]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOjYro4w0Bc

I made this video 10 years ago.