I just tried to pull the barrel on my '09 Mauser but couldn't break it loose. I have a barrel wrench for flat-bottomed actions. This is an aftermarket barrel and I want to blue it.

Any of you smart guys ever tried heating the ring with a propane torch? The action has been hardened.

What part of the removal action is causing it to not work? Action wrench slipping? Barrel slipping? Just too tight for you to turn?

If too tight to turn, put your weight on the wrench (use a cheater pipe if you think appropriate) and then have someone smack the wrench handle with a 4x4 a couple of feet long to shock it.

If the wrench or barrel is slipping, get the appropriate wrench or vise, and rosin the blocks on the barrel vise to grip the barrel better. Then, use the cheater bar and 4x4 shock treatment.

Heating may help, but I've not seen a lot of success with it, although I've tried.

Dave- The barrel slips in the vice. I drilled a 1.2" hole in a block of maple, then cut thru the hole with a bandsaw, rubbed on some rosin, then clamped it in my vice, which is a big one. I could use a cheater bar on the vice but was concerned about clamping too hard.

I've used this method several times with success except for a low-number Springfield, which I ended up cutting a groove next to the receiver.

Plug the chamber, fill the breech with pb blaster or Mag penetrating oil, hang vertical muzzle down for a couple days. The oil will creep into the threads from the extractor side.
Has been working well for me for years.

You need a barrel vise. A bench vise will break before it clamps even 1/10th as tight as a barrel vise will.

For a barrel vise, you only need two 1" thick pieces of steel, say 3 inches wide, although 2 1/2 will work fine. Drill and tap for two 3/4" bolts, and use grade 8's (so they won't gall and wear, not for the strength) with hardened washers under the heads. Or, use four 1/2" bolts.

You can also just use two steel plates and a hydraulic press to clamp down the blocks onto the barrel. Use powdered sugar or powdered rosin generously on the blocks.

You say this is an aftermarket barrel, could be it was installed with loctite. Heat it with a propane tordh until is starts to smoke a bit. I will also second the comment on barrel vise, I always use aluminum bushings in my barrel vise and rosin with the stubborn ones.

Vise.
I use a 20 ton press aa a barrel vise, with wood blocks and lots of rosin. Those little vises made from bolts (I had one) are for amateurs. I NEVER have one fail to come off.
Heat or oil? It ain't the threads that are tight, so expanding the ring is a step in the wrong direction; in fact it makes it worse by making the shank longer; which is bearing on the inner shoulder. And oil does not help at all.
If it was loc tited on, which I rarely see, then some heat might help, but that is not your problem.
Enough horse on the blocks, is.
I just read that you are using a bench vise? Forget that idea; no matter how big it is, it will never work.

Using a barrel vice as described, or a press, is there a danger of distorting the chamber? Seems like there would be a point where it would. This is a chrome moly barrel.

If there is no danger of this, I can tighten the vice much more by using a cheater pipe.

HMM, so my barrel vise that is made from 3 inch square bar stock, with a 2 and 1/2" hole for the blocks. Which has 2 one inch diameter, grade 8 bolts, with a hardened thrust washer, and greased threads, that is bolted to one of the 6x6 uprights in my shop.
It may be two small, nice to know LOL. If it will not do the job I then use the 24 inch pipe wrench for the barrel vise.

Also I when I have a tough barrel to remove, I pull out the gallon of Mt. St. Helens ash, think of chunky cement type ash.
It really grips well but will mark the barrel, its OK for removing a tough barrel, but then have to re-polish it and use rosin to reinstall.

Just my 2 cents.
Have you noticed that the computer key boards no longer have the cent sign, but the old type writers do.

J Wisner

Guys; it's VISE!
A vice is a bad thing you do.
Crush the chamber? NO it won't. Not on a rifle barrel anyway. Yes, it's CM steel, except for old military barrels, which are nickel steel at best. Still no.
And if you put a cheater bar on your bench vise, you will soon regret that. Your lead screw nut will explode.
Don't ask me how I know.
Come on over and I will show you.

I agree with the need for a proper barrel vise to remove the most stubborn barrels. I recently removed a new old stock FN barrelled action from 1952 that required 4 different trips to the barrel vise and required a cheater pipe on the vice bolts to get sufficient grip to remove. Stay with it.

Vice is nice but incest is best.

Yup, the things we use in the gun shop are called "Vise".

Vice is for the Cop Shop.

And yup, if your vise is sub standard the barrel will slip. Hardwood blocks? Never heard of them.

Use a real tool.

That is a VISE!
I use hardwood blocks because of the many different contours of barrels I pull on a weekly basis; the wood conforms to any shape and the rosin grabs onto it. Plus I am to lazy to make the 25 metal ones that I would need.
Wood becomes plastic at the pressures I use. Meaning 20 tons.
No the barrel won't be smashed flat!

Wood Hunter's vise is along the same lines as mine (and others) One inch bolts ...? Can't go wrong, but I've use 5/8" studs for about 30 years and never had a barrel I could not pull.

A little nice added feature is to put springs between the upper and lower blocks to lower frustration level.

Keep a bar of 2" round bar of aiurcraft grade aluminum so you can easily bore a set for a particular barrel. I have no idea how many sets I have made over the years, but never regretted doing so...I now can ALWAYS find a set that fits

And...Good idea to stamp the ends with need information..diameter, 'A-5" etc

Haven’t had one spin yet. Maybe just lucky

you've got some ominous-looking machines!

I've got the barreled action standing with penetrating oil and manana will take it to the shop and try again. Brownell's has barrel vices but I'll try it my way first.

Thanks for the advice.

So let it sit for a couple of days with penetrating oil, then cranked down on the vice a bit harder, and it popped right off. Thanks for the advice.

Still a vise.

Pulling a barrel on a milsurop Mauser can sometimes result in a VICE if you don't have the correct VISE

And that, boys and girls, concludes today's lesson on Homophones. For those who dropped out of third grade English.