Help with Dan Wesson barrel

[Mr. Herbergerber]

I have a DW 357 that needs the gap between the barrel and the cylinder adjusted. The first time I shot it the flash from the side of the gun freaked me out. I did some research and found out that the interchangeable barrels will often come out of spec. Mine looks to be about .009 and the recommended gap is .006 from the factory.

I bought the barrel nut wrench and the gap gauge, but I can't get the nut to budge, even with some penetrating oil.

If I were working on my motorcycle I would use and impact driver or center punch the nut to get it loose, but I am new to shooting. Using these tactics on such a fine weapon seems like a bad idea. Has anyone ever come across this problem and can it be fixed using ordinary tools or should I find a good gunsmith? I live in Marin, so a referral to a good local gunsmith would be appreciated, even if the fix is an easy one.

[MrNiceGuy]

My barrel nut was kinda tight too.
I just used one hand to hold the nut wrench on the nut and used a brass hammer and tapped the handle, a few good whacks and the nut busted loose (make sure it's in the right direction, you don't want to tighten it).

Obviously I'm not a gunsmith so take it with a grain of salt.

[dfletcher]

I'd say use the oil, then put the gun in a padded vise barrel end up. What you want to be careful of is having the wrench jump out of the slots when a fair amount of torque is applied - you'll round the edges on the tool, they're not hardened just plain old steel. So be certain you always have good, direct "down" pressure on the wrench.

Possible someone put loctite on it? Maybe a bit of head applied to the nut will loosen it a bit, the nut is fairly thin & should heat up quickly.

[ar15barrels]

I would start with a heat gun.
That will get you to about 400 degrees which kills any loctite or gunk that might be there, but it won't discolor the finish in any way.

Don't do this with any plastic front sight inserts installed though.

[Mr. Herbergerber]

Thanks, I'll try the suggestions. If that doesn't, is there forum for referring gunsmiths on the site. I would like to find on here in Marin anyways.