Rebarreling axis .30-06

I have done savage axis re-barrels before, as well as a couple Mausers and have the tools. This .30-06 is beyond stubborn.

I am thinking that maybe the barrel nut has no room to back off? I have cracked 3 sets of barrel vise blocks tightening it down some "more" after the barrel starts to slip. Should I try and turn the action loose first? Has anyone else seen this?

Thanks in advance for your response.

I had the same problem when I swapped out my 270 barrel... I had to use the smallest of the blocks for the barrel vise and a lot of rosin. The most helpful thing during the process was to heat up the barrel nut with a propane torch. It eventually broke loose. I had a newer one of the 111's with the smooth barrel nut (before the latest change Savage made). I used a heavy duty pipe wrench to get the barrel nut off. Had to put a new notched barrel nut on it, but I had planned on doing that anyway.

I wouldn't try breaking the action loose first, as you can bend it or warp it.

I use a heat gun. I never get it to hot to touch.

For some reason the Axis has a lot of buying salts in the threads that bind the barrel up. Heat is your friend. I had one that the nut was frozen on the barrel so bad that I had to cut it off.

Thanks y'all. I'll try a little heat and see how it goes.

All else fails you can try Kroil or immerse it in diesel for a month like the old timers used to do.