Rosin ??

[shovelheadave]

Getting ready for my first barrel swap. I've fabricated all the tools I "think" I'll need to do it (I bought the barrel nut wrench from SSS though).

For the barrel vice and action vice I see that I should lay some rosin on the wood of the vice for grip.

Is this something I should be able to find at my local hardware store ?? I see that Midway sells it but I don't have time to get it here before the weekend.

Is this the same stuff that a baseball pitcher uses to grip the ball ?? Those little bags they keep out on the mound ??

Thanks for any help.

[Eric in NC]

pretty much the same thing as baseball guys use. I have found that good old leather works just about as well - just some strips of rawhide.

Be sure to get it TIGHT (gorilla tight and then a little bit more) and then use a deadblow hammer on the barrel wrench if you are taking off a factory barrel.

[82boy]

Yup similar to baseball stuff. Brownell's sells it. Lisa at SSS claims that powdered sugar works the same. A couple of pointers if you made a barrel vise out of wood, it needs to be a hard wood. pine will just crack. and yes you need to get the blocks tight, and have even pressure on them, the way this is done is by making sure the blocks are even in the jaws of the vise.

[shovelheadave]

Thanks guys.

I used white oak and 1/2 -13 bolts for both of them.

[Smokepole]

I used red oak and it still split, but that was a product of the bolts going right thru a natural weak point in the wood---oh well. For rosin, in my redneck state of mind, I went to a pine tree, cut off some lumps of pine rosin that came out of beetle holes. I put it on a piece of aluminum and heated the backside with a torch, then smeared it on the jaws w a toothbrush. Be advised, that stuff is sticky, flammable, and everything it touches is mostly trash afterwards! Worked great though and it smells awesome. Not a mark on the barrel, and just used some kind of degreaser to get the sticky off. I'd go for something else if I had known about it though.

[shovelheadave]

I built mine so that the bolts don't go through the wood, they sit just to either side and extend through the clamping plates only. I also welded the heads to the btm plate, I figured that might prevent it from being a three-handed operation....hopefully. My concern is grain direction/splitting, I have the grain running parallel to the barrel and I'm thinking I should turn that 90 degrees to prevent the block from splitting when I crank them down. Maybe I should make a few sets of blocks now with varying grain direction, just in case.

But.....I've never done a barrel swap before so, they may not turn out to work worth a darn. I'll soon see. ;D

[BrentWin]

When you are done fighting with the blocks, order an action wrench from Midway.

[BobT]

A good substitute for rosin is powdered sugar, use leather also it really helps.

Bob

[nrar15]

Got mine at a music store.
Bob

[RWO]

If you glass bed your barrel blocks to a perfect fit and then coat them with rosin paint, the grip is much improved. A big bench vise is sufficient. Make the paint by mixing some powdered rosin in acetone; the ratio is not too important. Paint on the glass and let dry. It sticks tightly to the glass and stays there through many uses. Beats messing around with powder every time you need the blocks.

RWO