TheNatural21
CGN Regular
- Location
- Fort Nelson, BC
I'm a lefty. That makes gun shopping hard. Even the manufacturers that offer lefty models don't give us the good stuff - such is the case with my Savage B22 F. Not available in lefty config with a heavy barrel. I shot it for a while with the sporter barrel, wasn't really happy with the accuracy, and decided to swap on a barrel from a right handed B22 FV-SR to try that out. Got my headspace gauges, made my own action wrench because there wasn't one commercially available (just some flat bar cut to match dimensions and clamp on to the outside of the action), and headed to the garage. Can't be that tough with the barrel nut system, right? After all, it's a breeze on my centerfire rifle which is one of the reasons I got this 22 in the first place. Well... I offer this story of my shame for your entertainment.
Threw the barrel in a barrel vise and tried to loosen the smooth barrel nut with a strap wrench. I tried some heat and penetrating oil with no success. That thing was stuck on there so tight that I literally broke my strap wrench. I tried to make my own clamping style barrel nut wrench inspired by commercial products for the centerfire smooth barrel nuts, but that didn't grip it very well either and left some marks in the barrel nut finish. If I didn't have this take off barrel to confirm the threads I would have thought I was turning it the wrong way. I had an extra barrel nut from the take off barrel anyway, so at this point I decided to sacrifice the barrel nut.
Out comes an 18" pipe wrench. A little heat with the propane torch, some grunting on the pipe wrench, and no progress on the effing nut (other than the surface destroyed by the pipe wrench of course). Then I noticed my receiver is a little bit bent. It twisted a bit while I was holding it steady with the action wrench and torquing on the barrel nut with the other hand. Hardly noticeable to the naked eye but the point of this was to get an accurate 22 and I'm not expecting to get there with a bent receiver, so I accept that I have destroyed this rifle. Now that it is destined for the trash, I still would like to get the nut off just for my own satisfaction and perhaps I could learn something along the way. Plus, y'know, social distancing and I'm pretty bored.
I tried some less careful grunting with the pipe wrench, and even got a bigger one out and had a pipe on the end of it for some extra leverage. But nothing has budged except the receiver is slightly more tweaked. This thing can go to hell, it may be a failed project but this nut is not going to defeat me. Out come the redneck rusty car bolt methods. I cut the nut off with an angle grinder so it's just the barrel threaded into the receiver. Still can't get the barrel out or thread it in any further. I try heat, I try letting it cool to room temp, but she's real good and stuck. I grunt and curse away, then grab the angle grinder and cut the barrel off, just leaving a little stub sticking out of the receiver. I weld a 4' length of 2" flat bar on to the end of the stub as a big T handle and put the action in a vise (and not a barrel vise). With my ridiculously over sized T handle I get about 1/4 turn before the welds fail. Re-weld, brake it again with no progress.
Everything is thoroughly destroyed but that damn barrel stub is still in the receiver. Angle grinder comes back out, receiver gets cut into pieces to signify the end of this project, and I admit defeat and go get some lunch. One of the receiver pieces still has the barrel stub threaded into it.
Threw the barrel in a barrel vise and tried to loosen the smooth barrel nut with a strap wrench. I tried some heat and penetrating oil with no success. That thing was stuck on there so tight that I literally broke my strap wrench. I tried to make my own clamping style barrel nut wrench inspired by commercial products for the centerfire smooth barrel nuts, but that didn't grip it very well either and left some marks in the barrel nut finish. If I didn't have this take off barrel to confirm the threads I would have thought I was turning it the wrong way. I had an extra barrel nut from the take off barrel anyway, so at this point I decided to sacrifice the barrel nut.
Out comes an 18" pipe wrench. A little heat with the propane torch, some grunting on the pipe wrench, and no progress on the effing nut (other than the surface destroyed by the pipe wrench of course). Then I noticed my receiver is a little bit bent. It twisted a bit while I was holding it steady with the action wrench and torquing on the barrel nut with the other hand. Hardly noticeable to the naked eye but the point of this was to get an accurate 22 and I'm not expecting to get there with a bent receiver, so I accept that I have destroyed this rifle. Now that it is destined for the trash, I still would like to get the nut off just for my own satisfaction and perhaps I could learn something along the way. Plus, y'know, social distancing and I'm pretty bored.
I tried some less careful grunting with the pipe wrench, and even got a bigger one out and had a pipe on the end of it for some extra leverage. But nothing has budged except the receiver is slightly more tweaked. This thing can go to hell, it may be a failed project but this nut is not going to defeat me. Out come the redneck rusty car bolt methods. I cut the nut off with an angle grinder so it's just the barrel threaded into the receiver. Still can't get the barrel out or thread it in any further. I try heat, I try letting it cool to room temp, but she's real good and stuck. I grunt and curse away, then grab the angle grinder and cut the barrel off, just leaving a little stub sticking out of the receiver. I weld a 4' length of 2" flat bar on to the end of the stub as a big T handle and put the action in a vise (and not a barrel vise). With my ridiculously over sized T handle I get about 1/4 turn before the welds fail. Re-weld, brake it again with no progress.
Everything is thoroughly destroyed but that damn barrel stub is still in the receiver. Angle grinder comes back out, receiver gets cut into pieces to signify the end of this project, and I admit defeat and go get some lunch. One of the receiver pieces still has the barrel stub threaded into it.
