How not to .....................

[Enfieldlock]

Savage No4s have had the reputation of having the tightest barrels, ones difficult to get off the receiver. So when a customer gave us a nice Faz to re-barrel, we though, "Piece of cake".

The barrel vice is a no-nonsense bit of kit, it is nailed to a railway sleeper buried three foot into the gound and weighs in at over 150pounds.

Vice jaws in, two foot wrench on receiver, jaws tightend with a club hammer. Three foot length of scaffold pole over wrench handle.

Bit of gentle pressure to take up the slack, now for the good bit. Urggggggggh, arms creeping out of their respective sockets, not a thou of movement. "Mmmmmm, obstinate ******, more muscle required. I call in the other half of the business, who was busy removing the crud from an ancient piece of Enfield wood.

A bit of moderate heat on the receiver ring followed by penetrating fluid was applied, the fluid was sucked into the threads by the cooling metal.

Re-set the beast in the vice, two pairs of hands gripped the scaffold pole, with feet pushing on the sleeper, deep breaths taken, ancient muscles poised.

"Errrrrrgh", the eye-popping effort must have been heard in the local pub.

Then, suddenly......................

"CRACK"

The receiver lets go of the barrel, not gently as predicted, zero fiction in the threads allows the monstrous lever to accelerate like a roman trebouchet lauching a one ton rock.

Two surprised souls are propelled backwards, base over tip, onto the grass. Expletives rend the air, more in humiliation than distress.

Retreat to pub to lick wounds.

Information

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[Brit plumber]

Did it hurt? I don't mean the pride!

[Claven2]

Did the receiver end up damaged as a result?

Sounds like what tends to happen when someone puts locktite on barrel threads!

[smellie]

You REALLY need to KNOW that a Lee-Enfield barrel is clamped in nice and tight and you MUST have an action wrench that is slip-proof.

A friend and I did one as a favour for a friend, late one night in his shop, and the results were pretty much as you detail. I estimate that the pull on the 2-foot shaft was well over 150 pounds when the critter let go with a big BANG: over 300 ft/lbs of force. Removing the barrel after that was just a twist-off by hand. We made up a new lead washer for the new barrel to butt against, screwed it almost all the way in by hand, wrenched it up just the last 1/8 of a turn to get the Knox-form on top and the extractor cut lined up and this squished most of our nice lead washer out, of course. Just to be on the safe side, we fired it once with a Proof round (NOT oiled, mind you!). When it got to the range, it started making itty-bitty little groups, so we must have done something right.

These things are miserable to rebarrel, but it sure pays off.

[JBS]

Been there, done that. Glad you two were not injured. A spot of spirits will accelerate the healing of all parts injured.

[Edward Horton]

I don't get it, I thought that Isaac Newton guy was British and you were supposed to put apple juice on the threads.



Don't tell me you guys used pears instead?



You British guys should know removing a Enfield barrel isn't rocket science.



Just my American 2 cents worth

[finloq]

You need more of one of these in your diet.
Attachment 15150Attachment 15151

[jmoore]

The last barrel I removed (Long Branch action) was at least as stubborn. Two of us hanging on the cheater bar wouldn't budge it. Big hammers were no better. Finally grooved the barrel just fwd. of the receiver body and off it came,... easy!

[tbonesmith]

If the barrel is stuffed, why not take the relief cut as a matter of course? and save the effort.

[jmoore]

Lining 'em for .22 rf is one use.

Also the barrel I was removing wasn't all that bad, but it was a post-war Fazackerly. I have a post war Fazackerly that currently has an OK WW2 Long Branch barrel. Swapping the two might have been an option.

The first receiver body (the one that had the tight barrel) is awaiting further abuses for a long delayed experiment discussed at some length starting about a year ago...


BTW, our "Death" cheater bar is about 7 feet long! (~2 meters for you sell-out types)