How much torque on barrels

[Grimstod]

So I have heard differing things about how hard you should tighten a barrel. Some say 125lbs. And some of the bench shooters put them on with as low as 40 so they can change barrels at the range.

Now I have a friend who is a self taught gun smith. He turns on the barrel till it stops then puts a 8ft extension on the handle of his barrel wrench and turns it another 1/8 of a turn. Is this destroying the receiver? It's got to be more then 200 maybe even 500 lbs he is turning it to.

 

[chuckbuster243]

I put 40 foot pounds on mine. Never had one come loose. All my gunsmith friends use the same. Matt

 

[Terry]

I don't torque mine any longer. At the last match we tested 4 barrels on 2 guns. When changing barrels with an action wrench and a 2ft. breaker bar I taped the bar firmly with the side of my hand. Today I changed them again and was surprised how much force it took to get them off. I'll use less force from now on. The threads are lightly coated with grease.

 

[Grimstod]

Do you guys think turning a barrel 1/8 - 1/4 turn past stop is stressing the threads and receiver?

 

[Preacher]

Do you guys think turning a barrel 1/8 - 1/4 turn past stop is stressing the threads and receiver?

Probably not doing it any good that tight, and no good reason to do it...

 

[JRS]

I asked Al Warner the same question about the barrel on my Panda action. His answer: "snug it up with the action wrench".

 

[Larryh128]

You will do neither the barrel or action any good using more than about 40# of torque. Will it ruin them? Probably not but it certainly isn't necessary or needed. A situation came to my attention recently when an AR "expert" tightened the barrel nut to 125# & shearing the locating pin off of the top of the barrel extension. Guess whose fault it was? The barrel manufacturer gave him a faulty barrel according to him. You risk twisting the reciever in my opinion.

 

[Grimstod]

In this case my friend gun smith is using 200#

 

[JRS]

That's why you shouldn't let amateurs play with your guns ;D

 

[shortgrass]

That's why you shouldn't let amateurs play with your guns ;D

+1

 

[Macropod]

Now I have a friend who is a self taught gun smith. He turns on the barrel till it stops then puts a 8ft extension on the handle of his barrel wrench and turns it another 1/8 of a turn. Is this destroying the receiver? It's got to be more then 500 lbs he is turning it to.

An 8ft extension? That's crazy! Shouldn't ever need more than 80ft/lbs

 

[Bob3700]

We wet torque all our bbls to 60 ft./lbs. Never had a problem.

Bob

 

[X Ring Accuracy]

I asked Al Warner the same question about the barrel on my Panda action. His answer: "snug it up with the action wrench".

Bingo!

 

[butchlambert]

If it is on the internet, it is true.

 

[Erik Cortina]

Now I have a friend who is a self taught gun smith.

The problem is that your friend had a fool for a teacher.

 

[BigDMT]

Just talked to my gunsmith about this recently. He said 30-40 lbs. Is plenty for anyone wanting to change their own barrels. Said he sometimes does about 60 lbs on hunting rifles for folks that would never think about pulling their own barrel.

200# is insane though. I guarantee that amateur smith mentioned in an earlier post has ruined a lot of barrel and receiver threads.

 

[DeltaBravo]

Bob3700,

What do you mean by "wet" Is it oil, grease, or anti-seize? I use copper anti-seize but am always looking for a better way!

Dennis

 

[shortgrass]

Don't even call someone who'd do that a "gunsmith"! Erics' right, "he had a fool for a teacher". So is Butch, except I'd change his quote to; "if it's on the internet, it must be true!". Run away as fast as you can!

 

[Grimstod]

I have only had him do one barrel and after he did that I switched to another smith. The new smith had to cut the barrel to get it to come off. Here is a photo. Pretty bad looking isn't it.

Since he is a friend of mine and has been asking me to let him do another barrel how do you guys think I could correct him?

 

[BigDMT]

Show him this thread... Then if he sees his error, let him do another barrel. Otherwise don't risk the damage. I'm sure he screwed up your receiver threads too.