Hi all, I orderd a 45acp conversion kit for M-98 Mauser from Rineland arms. I have a 1908/34 Brno with a sewerpipe 7mm barrel. I went to take it off tonight and I can't get it to budge. The barrel would just slip in the wooden blocks in the vise. I then put a thin wood shim in the vise and put the action in and used a pipe wrench on the barrel as it's not any good anyway. I couldn't get it to budge and now I tweaked the action just abit. I'll have to un tweak it later. I put the barrel in the lathe and took a relief cut right up against the action down to .9" and still no luck. I sprayed some penetrateing oil in it and put it up for the night.
what should I do next? Heat the front reciever ring slightly?
what should I do next?

No heat, please.

You need a real barrel vise and a real action wrench. Wood jaws/bushings are a joke.

Below is a vise I made in 1972. Clamp bolts are 1" diameter grade 9. I tighten the vise bolts with a 30 inch long 3/4" drive ratchet & socket to fit the bolt head. Bushings are made from brass or aluminum. The action is a Remington, with a wrench machined to fit the Remington action. I have a dozen or so action wrenches, each machined to fit a specific action. Note the snug fitting turned rod pushed in the action: Prevents "tweaking". Other side of the Rem wrench has a special socket to fit the recoil lug and properly index it to the action. This socket is removable, and I have sockets for the Rem lug, the Holland lug, and the Tubb lug.

I have pulled hundreds of M98 Mauser barrrels, P-14 and P-17 Enfield barrels, M70 barrels, etc., and have never had one slip with this setup.

If the barrel isn't turning in the blocks you are Ok as to a vise. Remember the barrel has been in there for
a century. Putting the action in the vise won't work well as the receiver is in compression tightening the
joint. Give the penetrating oil a chance. These rifles were tightened against the internal shoulder.
Heat within reason will not harm the action. A solid vise and a good rap on the barrel wrench usually works.
If you have a lathe, the last resort would be to bore it out.
Good Luck!

Not a problem.

Here's what you need to do
If the barrel is junk as you say, Turn it in a lathe and run a hacksaw blade right in front of the receiver ring about 3/16" deep. This will cut away the outer shoulder of the barrel where most of the pressure is.

Next Heat it up about 16" in front of the action until it's red hot, and bend it 90 degrees. Let it cool slowly.

Now when You put it in the blocks, the end of the barrel will brace on the bench, and it can't turn, and 80% of the pressurt will be gone. Works every time

If the barrel is junk, I turn it in the lathe and use a bit that I grind down to look like a parting tool. Ends up about a 1/16" wide when done. I cut the barrel just in front of the receiver about 1/8" to 3/16" deep. barrel will turn easy after that.
I also agree with Rick, if you have a good barrel vise with steel bushings, it should hold it tight enough to pop it loose.
If all else fails, hook a 24" pipe wrench to the barrel.

I'm always perplexed by those that advocate cutting a relief in front of the receiver ring. I've yet to see one Military Mauser that had any torque on that shoulder. They are all butted up against the inner "C" ring. Not saying that a few might not be set up that way but they are darned few.

That said, nothing beats a good vise with proper bushings, I turn mine out of Aluminum to fit the contour of the barrel. The only ones I've ever had slip are those I was too lazy to find the proper bushing for. My Bad!

Those Rhineland instructions make be wence. The pipe holder in a bench vice! How mickey mouse can you get?



Use aluminum or maple blocks on the barrel. Rosin will prevent slipping. You need a real barrel vice. You need a real action wrench. Make them or buy them. Did you stick sonething between the rails to damage your action? Never ......never ever, do that. With proper tools you can lean on the wrench and give it a wack with a hammer. It will bust loose. This acts as a sort of impact wrench. Just put some good pressure on it and start wacking. You don't need to beat it with a sledge, just moderate blows and strong pressure. You don't need 4" cheaters. It will come if your wrench and vice are good.

Whatever you do, don't put ANY force to the receiver rails. All the pressure should be delivered to the cirumferance of the front receiver ring.



If you are going to putz with Mausers, you need to get a proper barrel vice and action wrench, as others here have said.



Cutting a relief ring works on M17 actions, and others like them, but usually does NOT work on Mausers.



Make absolutely sure the action wrench is not only a proper one, but properly fitted to your receiver, or even it will mar the outside of the receiver ring when enough force is used to remove a really tight barrel. Make sure the recoil lug on the action is fitted into the recoil lug indent in the wrench and snugly fit against both the back of the indent and the side on which the force will be delivered.



A long piece of pipe over the handle of the action wrench will give you enough leverage to take anything apart, but it may cause damage to the receiver ring. Best way is with the "pressure & tapping" method also mentioned by a previous poster.



One of the problems of playing with surplus guns is that you still have to invest money in tools. Except with pure blind luck, there is no dead cheap way to just yank a barrel off and properly fit another.



A good action wrench, for instance, can run $150 or more if you don't have the equipment and knowledge to make your own. A proper barrel vice is cheaper, but not a heck of a lot cheaper. A quick look in a Brownell's catalogue will show you exactly what the toll is at full retail.



So, if you have circa $250 (or more) into a good action wrench and vice, you really need to do at least several military rifles before you end up saving much money by converting them.



The cheapest way, for a person who wants to do just one rifle, is to take it to his local gun emporium and have the 'smith yank the barrel off. May run you $15-$35, but that is a heck of a lot cheaper than buying all the proper tooling.



Good luck



AC

I have removed 20 Mauser and 2 Arisaka barrels in the last two weeks.

I made an action wrench and barrel vice both from two parrallell lengths of 2"x2" steel.

The barrel vice is bolted to 2'x3' bench weighing hundreds of pounds with the top made of 1/2 steel plate.

I make collets from 1.5" aluminum round stock.

For Mausers with sights, I use a split collet.

Because the action wrench weighs 12 pounds, I cannot hit it with any sledge hammer I own, so I use a round piece of steel 2.75" diameter and 10" long that weighs 16 pounds.

The fine threaded hardened bolts of the barrel vice are tightened by me pulling as hard as I can with a 14" socket wrench.

The moment introduced by where the steel impacts the wrench is ~ 10".

I would estimate that I can hit with 20 foot pounds of impact.



If I want, I can get real serious and either:

1) Make a relief cut on the barrel next to the receiver.

2) Go get a kid to hit the action wrench while my large rear sits on an 5' lever arm on the action wrench [1000 foot pounds or torque + impact]



But my kids are hard to enlist and the relief cut is a pain and wrecks the barrel, so I just hit the action wrench a few times with the 16 pounds and 10" moment arm..



If it doesn't move after 5 or 6 hits, I dribble 5 drops of Kroil on the barrel - receiver junction and wait 10 seconds and then hit once more.

They all gave up with that.



picture of 9 Mausers I debarrelled, drilled and tapped this week



picture of 9 VZ24s I debarrelled, drilled, and tapped last week



And Glen, if you drive over here to Seattle, and I will take it off for you, and let you shoot MY 45acp Mauser



--

A society that teaches evolution as fact will breed a generation of atheists that will destroy the society. It is Darwinian.

Seattle is abit far for me to drop over for the afternoon, but I'll keep it in mind. I stopped by the local Smith today and he is down with somekind of nerve inflamation on one side of his face.

I"ll stop by the steel place this afternoon and pickup some stuff to make the proper tools. I thought I could cheat it with the wood blocks. I already did the relief cut as I had read about it being used on P-14s.

Thanks.

Success!!
I picked up some 1x2" steel and cut two blocks, then drilled 3/8" holes and tapped 2 holes in the anvil part of my bench vise to bolt it to. I then put in the mill table and drilled a center hole to fit the barrel. I put it in and leaned on the wrench while hitting with a 5lb sledge. I ended up heating the reciever ring until spit just steamed off of it, then leaned on it and hit with the hammer again. This time it came off. It had some rust inside of the threads, so I cleaned it out. Setting the headspace on the 45acp barrel took about 1 min with the savage style locknut. I just need to inlet the stock and unbend the action.

Thanks.

If penetrating oil combined with a proper barrel vise and action wrench fails to get the job done with some old fashioned leverage, try this. Put the barrelled action in the deep freeze overnight. The next day, clamp the frozen barrel securely with a proper barrel vise and ready the action wrench, and then pass some heat lightly over the frozen receiver ring; just enough to see some condensation. It just takes a quick pass over the receiver ring with the flame. That should expand the receiver just enough for your other efforts to succeed, without affecting heat treatment of the receiver.

I machine all my barrel bushings from aluminum to fit the barrel & add a bit of rosin & the barrel won't slip. IMHO wooden blocks are a waste of time.

Cut the barrel off just in front of the receiver ring, leaving a stub big enough to grab onto. Then take a hacksaw blade and start a cut in the chamber. Cut through to the receiver ring threads, being careful NOT top cut into the threads! Now you can unscrew the barrel stub from the receiver easily. This is the method I use to get GI barrels off of P14 and P17 Enfields. It does not put ANY stress at all on the action, avoiding cracked receiver rings, etc. etc. Of course, you lose the barrel, but in a case like yours, so what?? With this method, you don't need a barrel vise, an action wrench, or a lathe. Plus, no heat is involved, so you don't have to worry about ruining the action's heat-treatment.