I’ve put in a lot of barrels on actions through the years. As we speak I’m highlighting a number of the instruments, processes, and suggestions and tips.
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The Primary Course of
To start out, you might have the motion/receiver and the barrel. With the barrel held in a barrel vise, you screw on the receiver. As soon as it’s hand tight, it’s good to use an motion wrench to tighten the receiver onto the barrel to 90 ft-lbs. That is sufficient torque to forestall the barrel and receiver from unscrewing from each other however not a lot that it’s extraordinarily troublesome to take away the barrel.
Wanted Gear
You want a barrel vise or some kind of clamping technique to put in or take away a barrel. My very first set-up was a Brownells barrel vise with 4 bolts, a heavy obligation clamp and bushings.
Whereas that is not my main vise, I did use it for my 50 BMG construct. I extra regularly use the bravo barrel vise and the modular barrel vise from Brief Motion Customs. Each use clearly marked bushing units and are sooner and lighter than the Brownells. My favourite is the modular barrel vise as it’s the quickest to make use of.
I at the moment have this vise arrange within the store and the bravo at Precision Rifle Ideas. (In the event you do select to make use of a extra conventional barrel vise, Gordy Gritters taught me that you should utilize a cheater bar to assist tighten the hex screws.)
Right here’s my overview of the Bravo and Modular barrel vises from SAC:
When you resolve on a barrel vise, you want an motion wrench. There are two essential types of motion wrenches: exterior and inside. Exterior motion wrenches are perfect for eradicating barrels requiring a number of torque, significantly manufacturing unit weapons.
Exterior motion wrenches additionally current alternatives for personalization. I customized match my motion wrench for a selected recoil lug and used the wrench to correctly clock the recoil lug.
On the con facet, these wrenches are sometimes bigger and take up extra space, are slower to make use of, and will scratch the barrel.
Inner motion wrenches are extremely easy to make use of and lock into particular actions.
This implies you want a wrench for each completely different motion sort you might have which takes up house.
SAC Modular Motion Wrench
The Brief Motion Customs modular motion wrench turns out to be useful once you desire a extra versatile answer that takes up much less house!. This software has compact replaceable heads for various motion varieties.
Right here’s our video displaying this motion wrench in motion:
Obtainable motion heads embody:
- Mannequin 1: Remington 700 actions, Defiance Deviant/Ruckus/Insurgent actions (doesn’t match Defiance Elite), Impression 737 actions, Bergara B14, Lone Peak Fuzion.
- Mannequin 2: Winchester M70, FN SPR actions, Springfield 1903 ***
- Mannequin 3: American Rifle Firm Mausingfield actions ***
- Mannequin 4: BAT Machine TR and comparable actions
- Mannequin 5: Tikka T3 actions
- Mannequin 6: Howa 1500 actions ***, Borden actions, Kelbly’s actions
- Mannequin 7: Bighorn TL, SR, and Origin actions, ejector should be eliminated. Gunwerks GLR Left and Proper, Savage Small Shank.
- Mannequin 8: American Rifle Firm Nucleus/Archimedes actions
- Mannequin 9: Curtis Customized actions solely, will no work with Terminus actions
- Mannequin 10: Defiance Elite, Pierce actions, Tuebor Raider
- Mannequin 11: Defiance .750″ diameter bolts, Surgeon XL
- Mannequin 14: Terminus actions, will work with Curtis Customs
- Mannequin 15: Sako TRG actions
- Mannequin 20: McMillan TAC50 actions
Final Reloader Course of
The very first thing I do when putting in a barrel is verify the barrel shank diameter subsequent to the place it’s threaded on the tenon. For my 6.5 Creedmoor barrel, it’s 1.230”. I opted to make use of the 1.250” bushings with drywall tape.
As soon as there’s tape wrapped across the shank and the barrel securely within the vise, I tighten it down and torque it. I do that by really feel, so I take advantage of a T-wrench, however a conventional torque wrench is a good suggestion too. I put some TW-25B grease on the barrel threads and with the bolt eliminated, screwed the receiver on. If I’m checking headspace, I’ll generally preserve the vise unfastened and clock issues so the ejection port is going through up. Subsequent is choosing the proper motion wrench head and torquing it to 90 ft-lbs.
To reverse the method, I take advantage of a breaker bar, not a torque wrench to loosen the receiver.
When utilizing bushings, you at all times wish to have a strategy to take up further house. I take advantage of drywall tape or powdered rosin. These additionally defend surfaces and forestall slippage.
Utilizing a Lathe
It’s also possible to use a lathe to put in a barrel! I’ve solely lately began utilizing this technique for big kind work and ELR weapons. The six-jaw chuck applies even strain and works like a barrel vise. The remainder of the method is similar. This system permits me to verify headspace with the receiver torqued onto the barrel.
*NOTE OF CAUTION: A lot care should be used with this method to keep away from slipping. Bigger diameter ELR barrels are much less vulnerable to this slippage as a consequence of their bigger diameter (1.75″ – 2.00″ vary shank).
Conclusion
I preserve quite a lot of instruments readily available, together with all the Brief Motion Customs modular motion wrench heads, as I by no means know what weapons will come into PRC. If you’re fascinated about studying hands-on gunsmithing, try the Colorado College of Trades.
Get the Gear
All of those merchandise can be found straight from Brief Motion Customs:
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Thanks,
Gavin Gear
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