A cheap solution to disassemble a Savage barrel.

[dfrosch]

Not everyone lives in the Lower 48, with free, fast shipping.
That $34 at Midway would be doubled before it got to me.... oh wait, Midway won't ship outside the US.
Not to mention having to wait several weeks before it arrives.

How about Brownells? It's $5 cheaper there.

WHEELER ENGINEERING SAVAGE 10, 110 BARREL NUT WRENCH

Check out WHEELER ENGINEERING SAVAGE 10, 110 BARREL NUT WRENCH available Online at Brownells Today and many more Wrenches products are available in our Tools & Cleaning Department.

www.brownells.com

How expensive are Savage prefit barrels in Canada? A quick search found barrel prices are about double what they are in the US too. If you want to modify a cheap box end wrench and trust it to work on something that expensive, please do.

 

[2644ever]

How about Brownells? It's $5 cheaper there.

WHEELER ENGINEERING SAVAGE 10, 110 BARREL NUT WRENCH

Check out WHEELER ENGINEERING SAVAGE 10, 110 BARREL NUT WRENCH available Online at Brownells Today and many more Wrenches products are available in our Tools & Cleaning Department.

www.brownells.com

How expensive are Savage prefit barrels in Canada? A quick search found barrel prices are about double what they are in the US too. If you want to modify a cheap box end wrench and trust it to work on something that expensive, please do.

The idea was not originally mine. I just updated a suggestion made decades ago by no one less that Frank de Haas in his masterwork "Bolt Action Rifles".
I've never been too much into drilling and tapping, therefore I chose an alternative that would still use 4 points of contact.
Instead of a 30mm wrench, I could have used a 29mm one for an even better contact but it would have required twice more time to correctly file the "teeth".
Not worth the trouble.

 

[dfrosch]

The idea was not originally mine. I just updated a suggestion made decades ago by no one less that Frank de Haas in his masterwork "Bolt Action Rifles".
I've never been too much into drilling and tapping, therefore I chose an alternative that would still use 4 points of contact.
Instead of a 30mm wrench, I could have used a 29mm one for an even better contact but it would have required twice more time to correctly file the "teeth".
Not worth the trouble.

I haven't read Mr de Haas' book. Found a pdf version online - https://archive.org/details/Bolt_Action_Rifles_3rd_Edition/page/n3/mode/2up

That drawing is a little vague. There's no parts list, so it's hard to tell exactly what is going on. Since Mr. de Haas left us in 1994, I have to guess that the Wheeler wrench, and all other variations, came out after he was gone. It would definitely be more expensive to build than the Wheeler. My guess is ~$150, if you already have a machine shop.

Please refer to that material note: T.S.-HD'N ROCKWELL "C" 47-50. I can guarantee that your cheap box end wrench is nowhere near that hard. You would not be able to remove material with a file if it was that hard. I would feel uneasy trying to run the noted 5-40 tap into that material.

I also have to take exception to something in the text above the drawing. He says to set the firing pin protrusion about .055" to .060". This increases the risk of piercing the primer. I set all mine between .035" and .040".

Edit: Please forgive me if I'm being hyper critical of your homemade tool. In my career as a machinist, including managing a couple machine shops, I developed a philosophy of safety is always first, quality comes second and production is third. A big part of safety is using the correct tool. If one of my machinists brought in that tool, he would be sent home for the day and the tool would go in the scrap bin.

 

[2644ever]

You're absolutely right. My trick is to be considered as a field expedient not as an advice to avoid using the proper tool...
Incidentally I'm satisfied with the softness of the chinese steel as it prevents the wrench to leave unsightly dents on the barrel nut which is somehow harder.
My next experiment will be to weld roller bearings to an adjustable wrench in order to have the perfect fit. I won't brag about that achievement in my résumé ;-)
Have a nice day.

 

[SKWERLZ]

The idea was not originally mine. I just updated a suggestion made decades ago by no one less that Frank de Haas in his masterwork "Bolt Action Rifles".
I've never been too much into drilling and tapping, therefore I chose an alternative that would still use 4 points of contact.
Instead of a 30mm wrench, I could have used a 29mm one for an even better contact but it would have required twice more time to correctly file the "teeth".
Not worth the trouble.

Wouldn’t he overly difficult to make that.

 

[2644ever]

Wouldn’t he overly difficult to make that.

No, but it would be a waste of time.
I chose to compromise. ;-))

 

[2644ever]

I haven't read Mr de Haas' book. Found a pdf version online - https://archive.org/details/Bolt_Action_Rifles_3rd_Edition/page/n3/mode/2up

That drawing is a little vague. There's no parts list, so it's hard to tell exactly what is going on. Since Mr. de Haas left us in 1994, I have to guess that the Wheeler wrench, and all other variations, came out after he was gone. It would definitely be more expensive to build than the Wheeler. My guess is ~$150, if you already have a machine shop.

Please refer to that material note: T.S.-HD'N ROCKWELL "C" 47-50. I can guarantee that your cheap box end wrench is nowhere near that hard. You would not be able to remove material with a file if it was that hard. I would feel uneasy trying to run the noted 5-40 tap into that material.

I also have to take exception to something in the text above the drawing. He says to set the firing pin protrusion about .055" to .060". This increases the risk of piercing the primer. I set all mine between .035" and .040".

Edit: Please forgive me if I'm being hyper critical of your homemade tool. In my career as a machinist, including managing a couple machine shops, I developed a philosophy of safety is always first, quality comes second and production is third. A big part of safety is using the correct tool. If one of my machinists brought in that tool, he would be sent home for the day and the tool would go in the scrap bin.

Let me tell you the other reason why I try to be self reliant and to use alternate solutions: I once trusted a "gunsmith" to unscrew a factory barrel on a Savage 110. The guy had attended a good gunsmithing school and had done satisfactory work at the only Frog builder of target and sniper rifles (PGM Precision) https://www.pgmprecision.com/en/
Incidentally, I've worked with PGM in another lifetime, convincing them to propose the .260 Remington and 6.5x47 Lapua chamberings and testing the very first prototypes in those calibers. The company is a really serious one and I had no reason to doubt my gunsmith's credentials. What happened next is a horror story: the guy had no experience on Savage rifles and didn't follow my advice. He spent about an hour trying to unscrew the damn thing, after blocking the REAR bridge of the receiver in a vise and attempting to use various wrenches and even a blowtorch. In the end he used a Dremel tool and made a circular cut along the junction between the nut and the recoil lug in order to release the tension and finally managed to unscrew the barrel. A machine shop managed to save the nut (you may see it in the pics) but not the lug.
Back home, I fitted a new barrel, screwed the action in the stock and was puzzled to see the barrel touching the left side of the barrel channel ! I checked the receiver straightness with a precision ruler and, sure enough, I got the confirmation that the receiver had been warped during the torture session... The damage is too severe to be compensated with the scope windage corrections. As nobody would care to even look at the receiver, it lies now on my desk as an expensive paperweight.
As a conclusion, I think that filing a wrench to turn it into a poor man's Wheeler tool is a relatively benign activity next to some gunsmiths' achievements ;-)
Thanks for your attention.

 

[dfrosch]

To me, that story just reaffirms that there's no substitute for the correct tools.

Don't know if that "gunsmith" charged you to scrap your action. But an action wrench(or barrel vise) and a barrel nut wrench would have been cheaper than replacing the action.

 

[Kracken McGraw]

If you use a barrel vise, is a rear entry action wrench enough to do the job since the barrel vise is doing the holding job anyway?

 

[2644ever]

If you use a barrel vise, is a rear entry action wrench enough to do the job since the barrel vise is doing the holding job anyway?

No, on a Savage action the priority is to make the damn barrel nut move from the recoil lug because the assembly torque puts the barrel threads under tension.
Forgive my basic English.

 

[Kracken McGraw]

No, on a Savage action the priority is to make the damn barrel nut move from the recoil lug because the assembly torque puts the barrel threads under tension.
Forgive my basic English.

So it definitely takes the outside action wrench to do the job then?
I am just trying to learn about the barrel nut process.