New Action Wrench

HOSSONE

HOSSONE

CGN Regular
Rating - 100%
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Location
Southern Ontario
Hey Guys, I'm putting together a Remington 700 and needed and action Wrench. We are a little slow at work So I designed one up and had the guys machine it for me. Made the piece on the end to go in a vice or it can also accept a 1/2" drive rachet. Gotta love working in a Machine Shop.



 
What grade of steel was it made from??

Very nice job.

I've made up a few that were similar to the one in your picture and finally went with a piece of flat bar made from a leaf spring.

Your wrench should fit most Winchester, Mausers and Remingtons and several others.

Glad the guys in your shop will accommodate such things. Good on them and good on you.

Tell them they do very nice work.
 
bearhunter said:
What grade of steel was it made from??

Very nice job.

I've made up a few that were similar to the one in your picture and finally went with a piece of flat bar made from a leaf spring.

Your wrench should fit most Winchester, Mausers and Remingtons and several others.

Glad the guys in your shop will accommodate such things. Good on them and good on you.

Tell them they do very nice work.
Click to expand...


Its Just 4140 plate steel. I figured Id rather damage the wrench then the action and I can always whip up a new one if needed. I'm the ENG and Machining Manager so that makes it easier for things like this to "fit" in the schedule...lol. Good to know about it fitting other actions. I'm pretty new to this and only done one savage before. Thanks for the info
 
An inside action wrench may not be the best choice for removing factory barrels. Occasionally they are pretty tight. Sometimes heating the receiver ring hot enough to fry spit helps. No hotter.
An inside wrench is great for installing a barrel.
To reassemble a 700, you are going to need a jig to hold the recoil lug in place while the barrel is torqued in. One of those would be an easy project for your friends on the shop floor.
 
To use those internal, "rear entry" type action wrenches, especially on really tight barrels, I found very hard to keep it concentric with barrel / receiver ways, when using big strong arm - so I ended up to build a "tower" to hold that thing to be straight - in-line - while I got serious about cranking on that strong arm. I likely fool myself to thinking is less of an issue with an external type of receiver wrench, and a big snipe pipe on it - but at least I do not see the mis-alignment occur, like with that internal one. As mentioned above, internal type VERY handy to spin a receiver onto a barrel held in a barrel vice - especially when not worried about it also having to do duty as a bayonet handle! But I MUCH prefer the exterior type for un-doing really cranky mil-surp barrels. I do not have much experience at undoing factory sporter type barrels - really no clue how tight those factories do that - but I unscrewed a couple Lee Enfield that must had been installed by proverbial 700 pound gorillas using 13 foot snipes.
 
I do not like to make the rear entry wrench with full length contact with the ways. If an action is very tight and the wrench twists, it could twist the receiver. Having said this, it's pretty unlikely it could twist that much.
 
When it comes to action wrenches, it's each to his own preference.

I use both inside and outside wrenches depending on the job.

I've only had a few factory barrelled receivers that were hard to remove. Three of them were military and one was a pre 64 Winchester, which for some reason had some sort of glue used.

The milsurps surprised me, one was an Oberndorf made Brazilian M1935, the other two were P14 and P17 Enfields.

I should mention I've also had some No1 and No4 Lee Enfield barrelled receivers that were very difficult to take apart, to the point of having to chuck them up in the lathe and cut reliefs in the barrels, just in front of the receiver ring faces, but I use outside wrenches for this type of action
 
HOSSONE said:
I’m just using it to install a new barrel on an a new action that I bought.
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You might want to look into the amount of torque required to do that - I had been under impression that it was a LOT - based on the mil-surps that I had dismantled - but on CGN I have read of competitor/target shooting guy who helped a co-competitor change out a barrel during a match - no tools and did not dismantle the rifle - old one turned out and new one turned in by hand power only - so seems to me there are "extremes" at each end - from only hand tight, to all the way to VERY tight. Another CGN poster mentions cutting the barrel tenon thread to exactly match to threads in receiver - so, again, can spin that together by hand - not real certain how much "extra" is given to snug that up - if any. I do not think the process is like tightening up wheel lug nuts on a grain truck in the 1970's. I suppose like many of us, you spin it together, get headspace correct and try it - as you know, barrel thread torque one of MANY things in a rifle that contribute to ultimate accuracy - maybe what you get first time, is okay with you?
 
Generally speaking, it isn't necessary to use a lot of torque when installing a barrel on something like a R700.
Theoretically, a No. 4 Lee Enfield pulled up to index with 120 ft.-lbs, from a hand tight position 14 degrees off. That is way more than on most sporting rifles.
When I'm putting a barrel on a R700, I might use 50 ft.-lbs.
 
That barrel nut might make a LOT of difference in the procedure! I got a 243 Win Remington 783 for Grandson - no doubt, he will want "more power" shortly - so I got what is alleged to be a new, never fired 308 Win take-off barrel for that Rem 783 and the fancy wrench to grab that nut. From a Brownell's video, it appears the guy hand spun the barrel to position on that receiver - was a pre-chambered and pre-tenon-threaded barrel - he just turned it to get correct headspace with the gauges against the bolt face. As I recall, the "torque" was applied to the barrel nut, not by rotating the receiver - so - I have not done that swap, but I suspect is more an issue of keeping everything - receiver, recoil lug, barrel - in exact position, while that barrel nut snugged up. Does not appear to be the same as torquing a Mauser (or other) receiver face into the barrel shoulder.
 
Potashminer said:
That barrel nut might make a LOT of difference in the procedure! I got a 243 Win Remington 783 for Grandson - no doubt, he will want "more power" shortly - so I got what is alleged to be a new, never fired 308 Win take-off barrel for that Rem 783 and the fancy wrench to grab that nut. From a Brownell's video, it appears the guy hand spun the barrel to position on that receiver - was a pre-chambered and pre-tenon-threaded barrel - he just turned it to get correct headspace with the gauges against the bolt face. As I recall, the "torque" was applied to the barrel nut, not by rotating the receiver - so - I have not done that swap, but I suspect is more an issue of keeping everything - receiver, recoil lug, barrel - in exact position, while that barrel nut snugged up. Does not appear to be the same as torquing a Mauser (or other) receiver face into the barrel shoulder.
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Correct. There is a tool that bolts to the bottom of the receiver that keeps the lug aligned while installing the barrel. - dan
 
As I discovered, that "tool" for aligning a recoil lug onto a Remington 700, does not work on a Remington 788 - that 1/4" action hole is in different place relative to the receiver front edge - as indicated in post above, is easy enough to make one, once you have seen the idea, though.

Not sure if those can be used with an external clamping receiver wrench, though - I had got one that does - someone was quite fussy to modify that receiver clamp - to also hold the recoil lug at same time that it grabbed that receiver. He did that by drilling and tapping a couple holes in the face of the receiver clamp - so edge of screw head bears against side of the recoil lug. Must have been a fussy thing to figure out exactly where to drill that tap hole.
 
tiriaq said:
Generally speaking, it isn't necessary to use a lot of torque when installing a barrel on something like a R700.
Theoretically, a No. 4 Lee Enfield pulled up to index with 120 ft.-lbs, from a hand tight position 14 degrees off. That is way more than on most sporting rifles.
When I'm putting a barrel on a R700, I might use 50 ft.-lbs.
Click to expand...

In hindsight, I usually torque up Lee Enfield barrels from a 6-8 degree location to the point it's properly indexed properly. Those actions are ''soft'' when compared to others and bend/twist/distort very easily.

I had one come into the shop, built up as a No4 MkI "T" clone. The bolt was stiff because the barrel had been torqued into the receiver so tight the mating surfaces bulged. That rifle was put together by a fellow from Saskatchewan.
 
You can make them double ended. I start with heavy walled tubing, bore to slide fit on receiver, cut in half, lay out a center line, drill hole, cut notch. My mill drill speeds things up, but can be done by hand if the tube fits the receiver.
 
Potashminer said:
As I discovered, that "tool" for aligning a recoil lug onto a Remington 700, does not work on a Remington 788 - that 1/4" action hole is in different place relative to the receiver front edge - as indicated in post above, is easy enough to make one, once you have seen the idea, though.

Not sure if those can be used with an external clamping receiver wrench, though - I had got one that does - someone was quite fussy to modify that receiver clamp - to also hold the recoil lug at same time that it grabbed that receiver. He did that by drilling and tapping a couple holes in the face of the receiver clamp - so edge of screw head bears against side of the recoil lug. Must have been a fussy thing to figure out exactly where to drill that tap hole.
Click to expand...

Yes, 788's don't use the same tool as 700's. - dan
 
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