barrel nut wrench modifications

got a quest. i may have covered some of it in a previous post but im not positive.

has anyone tried to make a spanner type wrench out of a normal wrench?

ive seen a few pics of someones rig that drilled a hole in the nut and made their own spanner wrench to fit the hole. i know lots of people complain that factory torqued nut destroy cheaper wrench teeth.

my goal is to possibly try to alter a wrench so it fits over the barrel just behind my scope bell instead of having to slide over the whole barrel length.

it would be nice if someone made a 2 piece wrench that fits together to clamp over the barrel. that would make barrel swapping so much easier!

brian

Spanner type wrench would have to be three times as thick. Otherwise, it will spread, slip, hit your scope, fall on your foot, and then you would have some 'splainin' to do. :)

I ground the end off of one of my wrenches so I didn't have to remove the scope to loosen the nut. I would never use it on a factory tight nut.

geargrinder,

thats kind of what i had in mind. cutting off enough of the outside radius of the wrench just to clear the barrel behind the scope bell. i know i would need about an inch clearance to fit over the barrel cuz thats where it starts tapering. i know i would have to use it carefully cuz those little teeth are not very robust and ive read they mar kind of easily on the cheaper wrenches.

i thought about testing it out first on the end of the wrench that has the rounded teeth cuz i figure i wouldnt ever have a need for that end.

ide prob get a separate wrench for removing those gorilla tightened factory nuts.

i think it would work to have a 2 piece fitting with the teeth for the nut on the inside that had flats machined on the outside to allow it to fit over the nut like a sleeve and then use an adjustable wrench on the flatsto loosen and tighten it up.

or just have a reg nut machined to put flats on it instead of using the teeth. but i know there wouldnt be much clearance for that.

ive was up a bit late pondering the possibilities and feasibility of them....lol

brian

I have an idea, but I'm not sure if it would work, just throwing it out there. Could you take two barrel nut wrenches, cut a section out of the end of both, drill a couple of holes and make a sort of pliers that could be opened to get behind the scope bell then closed and pinned shut so you would have complete teeth engagement all around the nut? Here is a very poor paint modded pic of how I would cut and drill if i was going to try to do it. You would need to do it times two, and yes I have no skill at drawing with a computer mouse.
[img width=600 height=450]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b98/NissanRob96/savage%20stuff/barrelnutpliers.jpg[/img]

labrat,

ill check it out tonight on my laptop cuz my crappy phone doesnt show pics.

hopefully someone on here has a mill or metal working equip they can try some of these ideas on. i def would buy a wrench that is purpose made to fit under a scope to remove the nut without having to removed the scope. i use DNZ mounts so if i remove the scope it has to be the ring tops and the scope and that gets to be a PITA to put back on and re-align the crosshairs and eye relief and makes barrel switching more work than i would like.

i could go to a rail so all i have to do is remove the screws of the rings (with scope as one piece) that hold them onto the base but i like the styling of the DNZ mounts.

I must be missing the point here.

Why is removing your scope before working on the action and barrel such a big deal? I wouldn't think of leaving one of my scopes on a rifle I was about to beat the sh*t out of with a 5 lb DB hammer.

uj

I think the point is trying to make as close to a true switch barrel rifle as is possible. I think the point that you are missing is that some people may want do things differently than you do.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Uncle Jack

I must be missing the point here.

Why is removing your scope before working on the action and barrel such a big deal? I wouldn't think of leaving one of my scopes on a rifle I was about to beat the sh*t out of with a 5 lb DB hammer.

uj

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After you remove the "factory tight" nut, you won't need the hammer. If you just tighten the nut hand tight, hand power will remove it.

thats my thinking. something like i envision would only be used to re-torque nuts that have been loosened from factory setting with a reg (unmodded) heavy duty wrench . that way you only put one oomph to it to get 30ft lbs for so.

ar-15 flash hiders are torqued to 20ft lbs so 30 lbs wouldnt be much more and its fairly easy to gauge w pressure on your hand.

but i would wrap a rag around the bell just to guard the finish from slips.

brian

Why not just use A.R.M.S. QD scope rings. Quick, easy and I have never had a problem with return to zero. If those don't do it for you there are some nice swing off rings and bases.

I cut my wrench to give clearance for the scope and it works fine. I've even removed factory nuts with it and not had any problem.

Andrew

andrew,

so ur wrench looks like a C?

i considered that too and figured it would be the easiest. it would still need to be slid down the length of the barrel and when u get to the bell u align the C with it and continue on to the nut......right?

brian

Quote:

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Originally Posted by airaddict

andrew,

so ur wrench looks like a C?

i considered that too and figured it would be the easiest. it would still need to be slid down the length of the barrel and when u get to the bell u align the C with it and continue on to the nut......right?

brian

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Pretty much. I can slip it over most sporter barrels just past the chamber. I've pulled 5 or 6 factory nuts with this wrench as well and never had a problem.
[img width=600 height=450]http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t260/collegekidandy/100_1355.jpg[/img]

Andrew

That's how I did mine as well.