I shoot several competition rifles and use a well known smith. I have seen him thread a barrel in the action till it stops with a side entry wrench, then smack the wrench hard several times, with a carpenters hammer. He does not measure torque.
Question: Savage three screw actions are very sensitive to torque, and I have read several articles with differing opinons re three screw torque for best accuracy. Here is one article and I have tried that method, with limited success:
http://www.accurateshooter.com/technical-articles/savage-action-screw-torque-tuning/
JE - Are Savage actions diffcult? What do you recommend?
Lots of people hammer the new barrels back on and don't torque them. Just not me ! I use a wrench that fits on the receiver ring and doesn't load the lugs or the ejection port. Actions can be damaged if care is not taken. I use copper shim stock to line the wrench to prevent marring and the action screw to index and prevent the wrench from turning.
In my opinion, torquing is consistent and has the lowest chance of damage to anything. I performed some test on barrel torque by making them up to a mark and measuring the torque to recommended values. hammering was not very precise. making the barrel tenon up without any thing on it (Dry)Showed mixed results and landed the action in different places according to the mark with the same torque.
Some smiths use regular gun oil on these threads. I preferred to use an anti seize for more consistent results for many years until I tried to improve the process. This was the results.
I tried different anti seize compounds and some thread lubricants. The most consistent lube I found was the ARP Bolt Assembly Lubricant That is designed for torquing high strength bolts for even torque values.
https://arp-bolts.com/kits/ARPkit-detail.php?RecordID=88
Of all the different things tried, this was the best and the most consistently repeatable.
It also reduced the torque wrench value buy 18% to reach the mark.
I feel that 100 inch/pounds is to much and not necessary. I found that there was no accuracy advantage to any torque above 35 in/lbs and settled for 55 in/lbs with thread lube and 65 to 70 in/lbs without.
I use the big rubber hammer to tear down barreled actions for the impact value and to prevent damage to my tools. I have only had one barrel that i couldn't break down and it was a Weatherby Vanguard as someone said and cut a relief cut just in front of the action. (It was a bad barrel and could not be used for anything but a tomato stake.
As to the question about the savages, I re barrel using the shoulder and recoil lug like the Remington's so I end up with a 1.250 shank instead of 1.000. and no barrel nut. they look great and shoot better in my opinion. Like all actions, different things and assembly techniques may vary but the savage action is no less than other actions if set up correctly.
J E CUSTOM
