So first thing I will share about this whole adventure is: "ITS ALL ABOUT THE RIGHT TOOLS!" I tried to make do with what I had on hand but sometimes you just need to belly up to bar and get the better tool off the shelf!
Success at last!!!
Mark Penrod (Penrod Precision) took all of few minutes to remove the receiver BUT I will say that the steel vise and aluminum bushing took a hit the first time he tried since the barrel turned in bushing. His response was: OK I see your problem and put a cheater on the vise and it chirped tight. He then said this will work now! He put a cheater on the action wrench and there was a loud pop and the receiver spun free. He laughed and said I didn't have a chance with oak bushings. The threads were loaded with red Loctite as we all suspected. He then ran a tap thru receiver to clean and chase threads to make it easier to work with for new barrel. Had wonderful discussion with him on variety of gunsmithing topics and he was a treasure chest of info.
The Wheeler vise is probably ok for an OEM barrel removal (maybe or probably so take your pick!) but no doubt a heavy steel vise with the selection of aluminum bushings is the right way to go. SO need to make out birthday list!
So on to setting throat needs for new barrel and send the dummies off with barrel order:
27" SS Light Palma contour
5R 1:8 twist
Throating for Hammer 156 HH to start with.
Have Precision stock, Timney trigger
Going to re-cerakote the receiver so the black will pop with the SS barrel and lug.
This all needs to take place in parallel to my shoulder surgery so when barrel is ready, I should be ready to shoot again...I hope!
I have 100 of 156 HH and a new 8 lbs of RL26 waiting to be popped as well once barrel arrives!
Anybody need a 30-06AI tomato stake? BTW - it is not stamped as 30-06AI not sure why it wasn't. Probably home grown reamer rental.
Success at last!!!
Mark Penrod (Penrod Precision) took all of few minutes to remove the receiver BUT I will say that the steel vise and aluminum bushing took a hit the first time he tried since the barrel turned in bushing. His response was: OK I see your problem and put a cheater on the vise and it chirped tight. He then said this will work now! He put a cheater on the action wrench and there was a loud pop and the receiver spun free. He laughed and said I didn't have a chance with oak bushings. The threads were loaded with red Loctite as we all suspected. He then ran a tap thru receiver to clean and chase threads to make it easier to work with for new barrel. Had wonderful discussion with him on variety of gunsmithing topics and he was a treasure chest of info.
The Wheeler vise is probably ok for an OEM barrel removal (maybe or probably so take your pick!) but no doubt a heavy steel vise with the selection of aluminum bushings is the right way to go. SO need to make out birthday list!
So on to setting throat needs for new barrel and send the dummies off with barrel order:
27" SS Light Palma contour
5R 1:8 twist
Throating for Hammer 156 HH to start with.
Have Precision stock, Timney trigger
Going to re-cerakote the receiver so the black will pop with the SS barrel and lug.
This all needs to take place in parallel to my shoulder surgery so when barrel is ready, I should be ready to shoot again...I hope!
I have 100 of 156 HH and a new 8 lbs of RL26 waiting to be popped as well once barrel arrives!
Anybody need a 30-06AI tomato stake? BTW - it is not stamped as 30-06AI not sure why it wasn't. Probably home grown reamer rental.
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set backs it was fun learning experience! The Wheeler with correct diameter blocks, rosin, clean dry barrel and OEM rifle from factory is likely to work fine. But I also learned how to make better oak blocks and use hickory flooring as backing plates to increase compression. A 4' 2x4 oak cost same as replacement oak block so you have way more to work with in a 2x4! I increased the size of the blocks twofold but you need to add in backing plates to give solid compression. PB, Kroil and acetone mixed and injected into first base hole with syringe can help penetrate deeper into threads. The overnight 24 hours in freezer didn't really do anything. Hammers of Thor didn't work even on cheater. Tried heating with heat gun and even with Mapp gas monitoring with an IR scanner to insure the max temp of 350 I wanted wasn't exceeded. Trailer hitch wrench from Walmart for about $15 gives huge torque to Wheeler vise nuts. I even tried CO2 to "freeze" barrel from receiver but that didn't work either. A lot of these steps might break a normal barrel but when Red Loctite is used all bets are off. I thought about using dry ice but did not get into that. Soaked threads vertical muzzle up and receiver up for days on end to no avail. Tried using teak as barrel blocks and they may still be a good option if you have it around. Pretty dense wood! Tried sheetrock tape around barrel but didn't get any help with it. The dang loctite!
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