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Cleaning out the flooded basement, I found this against a back wall. It came out of a Canadian Territorial Unit's Armoury near Toronto. The vice is mounted flat on a bench with the barrel pointed down. The receiver is hand screwed in and the wrench fitted for final torquing.
I wish something like that would turn up in UK: out of the thousands of military breeching up sets and the hundreds sold commercially by Parkers, few seem to have survived - I guess they were all sold as scrap. I've been trying to find a set for years!
Great post. I would love someone to draw up CAD drawings for these original items.
Myles
Wouldn't be hard. Might start tomorrow.
By the way guys, we haven't called them territorial for about a hundred years. They're reserve units.
I have the same type vice which came from the Long Branch auction in the 1970's. I also have one that came via Canada that originated at Charnwood Ordnance in England. The word is that it was from Enfield. They are pretty much identical. I have a new manufacture laser cut wrench and new manufacture vice blocks. I like that original wrench Paul.
Jeeeeeees........... the body wrench part isn't something I'd be happy with. Some of the rifles I have had to unbreech to re-barrel in the past would take one look at that wrench and laugh! They'd have the handle bent double of sheared off in no time. The best ones we had were made in the Base Workshopos machine shops and had two handles and even then, there were a couple a xxxxing great big pipe-like tommy bars to give extra leverage.
We had un breeching and breeching up down to a fine art. But be warned that if you overtighten, you WILL get a (an almost invisible) chamber bulge
I've got a 4' piece of 2" steel conduit for extra leverage. Don't forget the slave bolt too. Without it you might get a twist and leave the extractor out, right Peter?
What's the necessity to have a bolt in the rifle(less extractor) when installing/removing barrels? I've read it here before, but can't see why?
Just force of habit TBone. But make sure you remove the extractor............. I've left one in in a couple of No4's and 5's in the past and it's meant a scrap rifle within 2 minutes
Sounds like a lot of force would be applied by this tool. Would the bulge from overtightening by any chance be in the form of a ring at about the point where the threads meet the reinforce, the weakest point, as observed and not fully explained on a two or three No4's?.Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Laidler
If not, is it possible to recognise this "bulge" or other signs of overtightening that could stretch and fracture the chamber at the weakest point, and possibly go un-noticed?. What usually gives when you over-tighten?.
Without wanting to argumentative or nit picking, but rather to establish in my own mind how tight we're talking, would factory set up Savage or Longbranch rifles ever develop this bulge? or is too tight even tighter than these typically "frightfully tight" factory jobs?
I don't know how LB or S tightened the barrels but there is a finger tight underturn figure and a final torque figure. I breeched up a really tight No4T once and far exceeded the torque and within a week, it was back with hard extraction problems and the spent cases showed the little bulge at the point where the chamber aligned with the breeching up point. I knew what I'd done immediately - but didn't admit it of course......... The next barrel was also tight but by skimming a gnats knacker off the face of the body (on the basis that two barrels wouldn't be wrong ?..............) to get the correct 17 degree (? from memory....) underturn it went on perfectly. Chs was easily corrected
On the other hand, some barrels would almost unscrew by hand with the merest tweak of the barrel clamp. But get a tight basxxxx and it's hard work
Were the factory barrel clamps designed to clamp on the knox form part of the barrel or the tube, like sons.
Definately NOT the tube...... They utilised the knox form as the medium for breeching up
The bolt keeps the receiver rigid to keep it from "springing" if excessive force is needed to remove a barrel. Most are no problem but every once in a while..... I had a Savage defeat me once. I couldn't get the barrel out without cutting the shoulder on a lathe and the customer wanted the spare barrel so it just didn't happen.
Once saw a No1 actually twist the barrel before it broke free. 1920s rifle and barrel.