I use the Wheeler barrel vise, action wrench, and barrel nut wrench to change out mine. That said, there are many different ways to accomplish this, as I'm sure others will point out. You should be OK with the barrel vise and the wrench to get the nut off; I use the action wrench in order to have some "back up" to hold the action steady as I tighten the nut when I'm installing the barrel. I wrap 1 layer of masking tape around the front portion of the action before I install the action wrench to prevent scratches. If you have the instructions that came with the Wheeler barrel vise, just follow them; they are excellent. I strongly recommend using a headspace "GO" gauge and NO-GO gauge to be safe. Don't worry about the barrel vise stressing your barrel; just use the appropriate sized wooden blocks that came with the kit to clamp the barrel, and only tighten it enough to keep it from slipping. I would be much more concerned about clamping my action in that vise, if that's what you were considering. It's a lot easier to bend or crush the action than the barrel. You shouldn't need any heat with a new rifle (not rusted) in order to get the nut loose; I've not used the new wrench for the smooth nut that you have, but with the old style square groove wrench that I use I've never had any problem getting them loose. Use a rubber or plastic mallet and whack it good and it should come loose (remember- righty tighty, lefty loosey). Don't be afraid of the Kroil; it is great stuff and will not harm anything, and wipes right off. I have some rifles with the competition lug and others with the factory lug; they all shoot great. It's one of those things that falls into the "it can't hurt" category; it can't hurt anything to remove one more item where factory sloppy tolerances can potentially foul things up, but it's hard to say if that one item will appreciably improve accuracy. It can definitely help with aligning the barrel in a more concentric fashion to the action, assuming that your action face is square and true, which if it hasn't been done by somebody like Fred at SSS, it probably isn't. But that doesn't mean your rifle won't shoot well; just putting on a quality aftermarket barrel usually helps a lot. Install yours and go shoot. You should be pleased.
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