800 pound gorilla

Well, all my parts arrived and today was the day to put the new CBI barrel on the 11VT action. I had the belief that this would be a relatively quick endeavor. Boy was I wrong! No matter what we tried, we couldnt get the barrel nut to break loose. It must have been installed by an 800 pound gorilla with a 5ft breaker bar for extra leverage. Eventually I clamped onto the action and after 17 hernia's, got it to break loose. I was very nervous when the action and lug finally popped of the barrel because it appeared that about half the barrel threads had been shaved down a bit. The threads inside the receiver looked great and there were no obvious burrs. We cleaned up the receiver, added the nickel anti-seize to the new barrel's threads and then started to put it back together. The new barrel screwed down about 90% then hung up. I backed it off then re-tightened and it went on smoothly the rest of the way. Headspacing process went off without any problems. Dummy rounds chambered just fine. Anyone else have this issue with the factory barrel threads getting shaved down? It is a brand new never fired action off an 11VT. The threads were bad enough that I thought maybe it was cross threaded from the factory. I guess that'd be near impossible, so maybe there was a burr in there or some other shaving? Who knows.. Guess I'll have to really think about it before I attempt to re-barrel any of my other savage rifles. All that being said, I have to admit, she looked real good in the B&C stock and I cant wait for the smith to call to tell me the bedding job is done!

The little "shavings" you found are actually just tumbling media that worked it's way under the barrel nut. After the actions get barreled at the factory they are all tumbled in a couple different tanks prior to any following steps in their assembly process. And finally the answer to you question about factory barrels being difficult to break loose the first time is a pretty normal experience!

Often first time barrel swappers will leave the scope mount installed and the forward screw, if it is too long will act as a set screw on top of the threads. as the barrel is turned the threads are wiped.

There was definitely some crud that came out of the threads. I just assumed it was the metal shavings that had been removed from the barrel as the action was unscrewed. I hadnt thought about the media being the culprit. @Robinhood, I remembered reading here about the forward scope base screw, so I removed everything before getting started. My smith, whom Ive been going to for nearly 20 years, was also quite surprised at how difficult this barrel was to unscrew. He reassured me that the action threads were okay and commented that every once in a while, you'll get a rifle that just doesnt want to go the easy route.

The gorilla is actuall 827 pounds.

I had one I just could NOT break free, even with a short handle sledge hammer. I just cut through most of the barrel nut with an angle grinder. Even then, it was still tough to spin off.

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And finally the answer to you question about factory barrels being difficult to break loose the first time is a pretty normal experience!

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My 3 have come off much easier.

One was harder, but between the long nut wrench and a breaker bar and leaning on it with my considerably less than 827 lbs (but a lot more that I like) weight it came off smoothly.

I usually stand em up and let a little kroil do its magic for a couple of days after buying a savage because i know sooner or later that nut is most likely coming off. Then during removal I'll work the nut and the barrel back and forth as I go. After removing the barrel I'll clean up the threads on the barrel and the nut with a nylon brush and run the nut back and forth a few times. As for anti seize I've never needed it. I have found that a piece of bicycle inner tube is a great thing to have around for barrel swaps. I use it like a protective sleeve to keep from boogering up barrels with the wrench and have even used the tube in conjunction with a pipe wrench to remove smooth barrel nuts without boogering them up and leaving teeth marks. Good luck, You're over the hump now and oughta be fine from here on out with your project.

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Originally Posted by Robinhood

Often first time barrel swappers will leave the scope mount installed and the forward screw, if it is too long will act as a set screw on top of the threads. as the barrel is turned the threads are wiped.

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Sitting here with my hand in the air. [emoji9]

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Originally Posted by gbflyer

Sitting here with my hand in the air. [emoji9]

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Yup me too, hence the regimen I follow now :redface-new:




:redface-new: