Barrel to action torque?

WildRose said:
No, I think that is a great way to induce errors. When you force two things together that are not perfectly square and true soemthing has to give and that screws up the centerline of the bore and will likely push the action somewhat out of square.
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Yes I didn't mean something way out, i should have clarified. Thanks for catching me on that. my kids are playing around like crazy animals so it was difficult to get my thoughts straight
 
Great question! There was a guy in utah at a mile shoot that had a switch barrel that he kept hand tight. Talked to other smiths that torqued up to 200lbs! I dont use a torque wrench. I tighten and loosen about 10 times then give it a firm slow pull with a 16" action wrench.
 
J E Custom said:
35 to 40 ft/lbs is minimum and 65 to 70 is maximum in my opinion. I use a thread lubricant that reduces torque requirements but reaches the same compression on the receiver. after testing the torque without any lubricant and then with, the torque came to 57 ft/lbs and is very repeatable if the barrel has to come off at a later date.

Some bench rest shooters tighten there barrels hand tight, but they must keep a constant watch on the barrel (They do this to minimize any stress).

Consistent torque is very important to maintain perfect head space and stresses.

J E CUSTOM
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Those benchrest shooters that hand tighten don't win either....read Vaughn's book.
 
Joefrazell said:
Ok so I've got a rem 700 with a bartlein barrel that I had a gunsmith chamber and install. Also had a mbm muzzle brake installed. When I got the rifle back I noticed the brake was pretty loose. I was able to take it off with very little force with my hand. Anyways I know it would come loose under recoil so I grabbed a old inner tube and cut a good strip off and wrapped it around the brake several times and used a 10" pair of channel locks to snug it down. I'm a mechanic by trade and typically know how tight to get things by feel. It was snug but definitely not too tight. Okay so fast forward a month or so. Been having accuracy issues and trying to narrow down the problem I thought it would be a good idea to remove the brake and see if accuracy increases. So grab the inner tube and channel locks and start turning. I held the stock in one hand and the channels in the other and applied some pressure and the next thing I know the barrel is loose from the action. I was very surprised that this happened. If I had to put a torque value on it I'd say maybe 10 ft lbs max. It was not very tight. Now from what I've researched is they should be anywhere from 40 ft lbs to 100 or more. Would the lack of torque be my accuracy issue? I've got a call into my Smith and am waiting for a call back.
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To be honest the torque on the barrel should stress the barrel around .004. I replaced a barrel on a .22-250, it shot sub-half minute groups, owner hired another gunsmith to install a muzzle break (of all things) the accuracy went to hell. He brought it to me to fix. It ain't right yet.
 
Sam Summey said:
To be honest the torque on the barrel should stress the barrel around .004. I replaced a barrel on a .22-250, it shot sub-half minute groups, owner hired another gunsmith to install a muzzle break (of all things) the accuracy went to hell. He brought it to me to fix. It ain't right yet.
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What do you mean by stress the barrel .004? Are you talking .004 on the threads or pulling it out of alignment .004 at the muzzle? Thanks
 
Shouldered, spin it in hand tight. Barrel nut, I might have 10ft/lbs... I just give the barrel nut wrench a limp wristed swat with a rubber mallet with my elbow maintaining a 90deg bend.
 
There is a lot of slack in threads(relatively speaking) between action and barrel that I think you would want enough torque to remove the slack and verify a solid seat against the shoulder
 
Well it sounds like everyone has their own way of doing it. No set standard. Personally I'd think a good torque would be better for seating it properly. As long as everything is true it shouldn't hurt anything by torquing it some so it doesn't come loose during a hunt. I'm thinking 40 ft lbs
 
40-50 ft/lbs is plenty. It won't come loose. And while you're at it, check your action screws and torque them to 45 in/lbs. Do the front screw first.
 
Rflshootr said:
40-50 ft/lbs is plenty. It won't come loose. And while you're at it, check your action screws and torque them to 45 in/lbs. Do the front screw first.
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I did check the action screw torque. That's usually the very first thing I check when dealing with accuracy issues. I actually swapped stocks. I've got two stocks that are bedded to this barreled action so figured I'd swap them to see if it helped but it didn't.
 
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