Well, went to see how to install an aftermarket barrel for my Savage today with a friend. We had a $%*&$%# great time trying to get the barrel nut off. First we had the barrel in a vice, with wooden barrel blocks coated in rosin. No luck, barrel would spin before the nut. So then we put the barreled action in a rigged up jack that holds the barrel real tight. Still the barrel was spinning, so we kept tightening the wood blocks. Eventually one set of blocks totally got crushed/partially blown apart from the pressure. We got another set of blocks, a big 2 foot cheater bar, a propane torch, and heated the nut up. With both of us pulling on the cheater bar the entire top of my friends bench ripped out of the base. It was 10 big screws giving at once, pretty much everything on the bench ended up spilled or on the floor.

Finally we put the barreled action in a lathe and cut the nut right by the lug. After cutting it to a few thousands from all the way, it came off by hand! I don't know who Savage hired to put on barrels the day my rifle was made, but it was insane. Changing the bolt head was quite the chore too, as the back piece holding the bolt handle in place was essentially stuck also, although it didn't require near the work or aggravation. Barrel nut still works though, we cut the thin piece off and ground it true, and now you can't really tell a difference. Now I have to finish sanding that sporter barrel contoured stock to darn near bull barrel. Everything but the tip of the stock is done, I can't seem to get it floating the barrel there at all, even after over 30 minutes of just working on that spot.

I recently (last week) changed out a barrel on a Savage. The nut was pretty tight compared to others. I use powdered sugar and Derlin blocks and don't have any problem with barrels spinning. The nut was fairly thin and I think it might be distorting under the load of the wrench which may aid in the problem.

Remember when reassembling the barrel and nut to not only hold the barrel firm, but the receiver as well as you tighten the nut. Don't forget to allow for a little slack in the headspace when tightening the nut.

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Everything but the tip of the stock is done, I can't seem to get it floating the barrel there at all, even after over 30 minutes of just working on that spot.

Make sure that the action is anchored solid. Sometimes it takes something more aggressive than sand paper to remove enough material to float the barrel. Invest in a couple of barrel channel tools.

I was taking the barrels off ~50 Mausers and got a routine for show and tell.

The barrels were put on in 1938 and were hard to get off.

I would put barreled action is a bench mounted barrel vise and a 3 foot long cheater bar on the action wrench. Bouncing a 200 pound man's weight on the end of the bar makes ~1000 foot pounds of peak torque. Hitting the action wrench with a 20 pound sledge hammer at the same time adds up to even more peak torque. Still the barrels would be stuck.

Then I added ~ 5 drops of Kroil at the base of the barrel.
The barrel comes off with the next tap of the sledge hammer.

All the guys that saw my show now have cans of Kroil in their shops.

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Originally posted by tnekkcc:
All the guys that saw my show now have cans of Kroil in their shops.

The Kroil plus heat works on Stevens-Savage also. The factory seems to like what looks like Blak Max Lock Tite.Two weeks of patience heat and Kroil seems to be the answer. roger

The tip of this stock is about to drive me nuts. The inside of the fore end is hollow on the bottom so getting it to fit just involved wrapping sandpaper around a broom handle and going to town. But the tip of the fore end is solid, all that I need to take out is the bottom now, but I can't get it to thin out at all it seems like. I also can't get the stupid action screw in the gun, it looks like the action screw hole in the stock is a tiny bit off center, I can see the screw hole in the action through the stock, but I can't get the screw to go in. This project is becoming more work than I anticipated.

Here is my stock issue. Please try and look past the obvious skill I have in art and design. The red area is the part I can't seem to get deep enough.

Now the action screws won't even go back in.

Give the forend tip some support underneath as you try to sand it down.
Your action may be twisted in the stock and stopping the action screw thread from starting.
Try putting tape around your barrel and reassemble the stock and action. Then using a long strip of emery cloth . Place it between the barrel and the stock forend tip, With the cutting surface down on the stock.
Lock the whole thing in a vice or gun rest and take each end of the emery cloth in hand and pull up and down using the barrel as a former to guide the cutting action of the emery.
Keep the ends of the emery cloth as verticle as possible.
You can tighten up the actions screw a bit at a time untill they are tight and the forend is cleared out and nice and round.

On savageshooters we are trying to figure out the action to stock issue, until that's done the barrel floating is on hold.

Take a coarse rasp to it. I've never seen a forend withstand that.

Methinks someone has twisted the action. At least it sounds like you warped it.

Well I got the factory stock back on...it will be good enough for fireforming and getting the barrel smoothed out. The barrel simply sits on top of the barrel channel though so I doubt I will get much accuracy. The Boyd's stock needs longer screws.