Building a homebrew action vise

[chromatica]

After purchasing a .260 heavy barrel, my next step was to remove the stock barrel that came on my Savage. The seller of the barrel described a design for a homebrew action vise made out of wood. I peppered him with questions until I had a plan for moving forward. Here are some pics...

 

[jonbearman]

Did you make the steel barrel wrench? What kind of bushing is in it.

 

[chromatica]

The barrel nut wrench is made by Wheeler. Three wrenches come it a set. The one you see in the picture is for the smooth barrel nut. The bushing is just a strip of .016 brass - 1/2 x 4".

 

[chromatica]

Success!

I was finally able to remove the factory barrel from my Savage 11 receiver. I originally applied penetrating oil and let it set overnight. No luck. Then I applied more oil and let is set for several days. Still no luck. Today I used a small propane torch to apply heat to weaken the threadseal that the factory uses. I tightened the grip of my Wheeler smooth nut wrench by using a thicker strip of brass - .032 x 1/2 x 4. Then I started rapping on the wrench handle with a brass hammer. At first the wrench was slipping on the nut. I kept tightening the grip nut until the slipping stopped. A few more raps and the barrel broke free! The smooth nut came off with the barrel. With a few new wood blocks, the homebrew action vise will become a barrel vise.