Mauser barrel stuck

[jbl_1967]

I am trying to get an old, and very crappy, barrel off of a Mauser K98. The K98 in question is one of the German 98's refinished in Yugoslavia with the "Preduzece 44" stamp next to the Mod 98 stamp. It is not an M24/47.

I built a barrel vise similar to this. My version has a top piece of 303 steel 2" wide and 1" high on top and a 2" wide and 1" high 7075 aluminum block on the bottom (the only decent scrap I had around). With this setup, I am able to get enough torque to destroy the oak bushings.

Using a Wheeler action wrench, I can't get the receiver to budge. I have tried using rosin powder between the barrel and the bushings, as well as brass and aluminum (with and without rosin), all with the same effect, the barrel and action turn in the vice when enough torque is applied to the action wrench.

I even broke out the propane torch and heated the receiver until it was hot, but no more than it would get after a long day at the range. Still no joy.

Since the barrel is toast anyway, I decided to go nuclear on it. I put the barrel in a pipe vise and torqued it down tight. I put so much torque on the action wrench that the cast iron on the bottom of the pipe vise cracked, but still the receiver didn't budge.

Any suggestions on getting this barrel off? The only two things I can think of are to either mill the top and bottom flat and put them in the barrel vise without the oak bushings, or weld the barrel to a sheet of steel. I would prefer to not have to go that far.

...and yes, I am turning the proper way. I checked the threads on the replacement barrel to make sure.

Thanks in advance for the help.

[tujungatoes]

When I did mine recently I had trouble with the barrel slipping in the aluminum jaws. I actually had to shock it to get it off. You might try loading up the wrench handle just to the point where it's about to slip and then hit it with a hammer. Might be enough to jar it loose.

[kcstott]

Better barrel vise. The wood block don't have anywhere near the holding power needed to break the barrel loose
Those actions have a tendency to be nearly impossible to remove sometimes.
I have a vise and action wrench and can do it if needed.

[jbl_1967]

Ok, so the oak bushings are crap. Is it worth trying to cobble something together with some scrap aluminum?

At one point I used some scrap aluminum in my barrel vise, but only had contact along three thin lines, which held worse than the oak.

I'd like to keep this project on the cheap if I can, and a $100 barrel vise to use for one rifle seems excessive, and I am also limited to what I can create with a drill press and a radial arm or table saw.

[kcstott]

The barrel vise I have is a copy of Brownell's top o the line barrel vise using aluminum split bushings. It also uses four 1/2" SHCS to secure it down. I've yet to have a barrel slip in this set up.


The other option is if the barrel is trash grind flats on it and use a BIG ARSE WRENCH.

[GSwain]

I'm assuming you have soaked it in a good penetrating oil? X2 on the suggestion to hit it while applying torque. Have someone hit the muzzle with a single jack sledge.

[jbl_1967]

I will probably try to make a set of V notch aluminum bushings next. After that, I'll give flattening the barrel a shot.

[kcstott]

Once the barrel breaks loose from the C ring it will just un screw by hand. But it's that c ring that is holding you up and no way around it but brute force.

[kendog4570]

A relief cut is required at the ring/barrel interface. You'll need a lathe and tooling to hold the barreled action for the cut. This works 90% of the time on Mausers, even though they torque on the inner ring. 100% of the time on actions with a standard torque shoulder. If that doesn't work, then the stub will have to be bored out. I can do this for you if you dont have any luck with the stuff you are doing. If you schedule it with me I can do it while you go out and grab some lunch or something. I go straight to this method on almost all milsurps if the barrel is toast. Heat and penetrating oil and such are a waste of time.
IF you have a vise/wrench big enough it will work with just leverage and torque, but the stuff sold to the trade is not beefy enough.

[Fjold]

I've chucked the barreled action up in the lathe and cut a relief groove in the barrel right in front of the action before to relieve the stress.

[jbl_1967]

A relief cut is required at the ring/barrel interface. You'll need a lathe and tooling to hold the barreled action for the cut. This works 90% of the time on Mausers, even though they torque on the inner ring. 100% of the time on actions with a standard torque shoulder. If that doesn't work, then the stub will have to be bored out. I can do this for you if you dont have any luck with the stuff you are doing. If you schedule it with me I can do it while you go out and grab some lunch or something. I go straight to this method on almost all milsurps if the barrel is toast. Heat and penetrating oil and such are a waste of time.
IF you have a vise/wrench big enough it will work with just leverage and torque, but the stuff sold to the trade is not beefy enough.

I may just take you up on that. A nice day trip to Santa Cruz is always a good thing.

I probably won't get to try the aluminum bushings until Monday, but I don't have a ton of faith that it will work.

[kcstott]

If you cut a relief groove on a mauser and it works to loosen it up it's only because the barrel was not installed properly to begin with. There should never be any contact between the barrel shoulder and the receiver face. That's the .002" crush factor. You add .002"or .05mm to the tenon length so when you apply torque to the barrel the shoulder is under no pressure from the receiver face.
Thats how Paul Mauser designed the rifle.

[kendog4570]

I agree, they SHOULD be set up on the inner ring. However, that isn't always the case, and sometimes 100 years or so of crud can take up that space between the ring and the front shoulder and create a bond also. The relief cut is the easiest first step to take on a trash barrel that doesn't want to come loose. Plunging through the stub with a big drill bit, just under inner-ring inside diameter, will usually get the stubborn ones off. Worst case one would have to bore the stub out almost completely till the thread is all thats left, and those can be pried out.

[6mmintl]

I also agree the shank should touch the Inner shoulder Kendog4570, I had to rework a mauser last year that had excessive headspace and had been previously "Trued" by an east bay precision gunsmith.

Seems he decided to face the outer ring of action and also recut the locking lug seats in a 98 mauser (bad idea as he cut away case hardening) which resulted in lug setback of .008". He also decided he would set barrel shank .017" off inner shoulder.

I shortened barrel shank .008" to bring headspace back in to tight Go condition and was still .009" off inner shoulder.

Customer said he had about 3800 rounds on the barrel and just wanted to "shoot it out".

Told him it would eventually set back again and for him to "Toss the action" when that happens.

[jbl_1967]

Ok, I reconfigured my home brew barrel vise. I took two 2" thick pieces of aluminum, chucked them in a vise and drilled a 1" hole in the center. The two pieces had a perfect half circle channel for the barrel. I had to mill out the back of one of the pieces for the rear site base.

I clamped the barrel, along with some thin aluminum shims and a little bit of rosin, to compensate for the marring from previous attempts to grip the barrel with a vise.

After everything was torqued down, I was able to slam the end of the action wrench bar with a 4 pound hammer more times than I could count without anything moving. Likewise any combination of body weight or pulling. (see the attached photos)

I have hit the end with what I can do at home.

Is there anyone in the Bay Area, or close by, that can help me out with this one?

Thanks!