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I've got a lead on a barely used, recent production 336 in 35 Rem. If I get it, I'd like to cut the barrel and tube down and make a trapper type rifle. Question is, can I screw the barrel out and back in without any problems.
Is there a shoulder in the receiver that the barrel screws down to and stops, or does the barrel float in the receiver. If I unscrew the barrel, will that mess up the headspace when I put it back in?
I think I could do the trapper conversion, but unscrewing the barrel is something I've never done.
Any thoughts?
"If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men
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They make special clamps that you use with a shop press to aid removal. I strongly suggest investing in one. Or, you may save yourself a lot of trouble and $$ by just paying a gunsmith to remove and replace the barrel - shouldn't cost that much - probably a lot less than the barrel clamp gizmo.
It screws in and out and you re-index it based on where the extractor notch is - and it should headspace just fine if you screw it in the same number of times as you did to remove it - make a little witness mark on the bottom of the barrel and receiver if there's not one already to aid in this.
On another note - I'd think you could do the barrel and tube work without removing the barrel - just cut it to length and recrown, then remount the front sight base or cut the dovetail slot if you're going that route.
You don't need to remove the barrel to cut and recrown it. Otherwise what O.S.O.K. is pretty much all their is to setting it back to the correct headspace.
Like the other boys said, you don't have to remove the barrel but if you insist...............get a block of good hardwood, (about 4"x4") preferably oak-----------drill a hole through the center -------make that hole just a little smaller than the barrel diameter...(near the breech) -----then split it in half using a bandsaw---------coat it with rosin----------put the wood around the barrel and clamp the whole mess in a big vise----------use an action wrench or a monkey wrench (cringe!!), wooden pic handle ------well, you get the idea, pad it up real good and turn the receiver.-------------Sixgun
I`d not remove the barrel to cut and crown either. I have a lathe with a 40" center to center bed so I would make a spud to fit in the bolt raceway and hold the end with the steady rest to crown.
You can do a fine job by hand with just hand tools and a little time.
Have fun!!
Go to Midway USA web site and look at their free gunsmithing videos.
If you do decide to remove the barrel, be sure to mark an index mark on barrel and receiver (under the forearm) prior to removal. You can get it off ever so slightly, and it will work fine, but the sights will be canted.
Anybody who tries to crown a rifle with a file and an electric drill is either easily satisfied or not worried about accuracy. At the very least you should use a pilooted muzzle reamer to square the muzzle. A good crown should be concentric to the bore to less than .001. It needs to be dead smooth where the rifling touches the crown. The MIDWAY video's are the best thing that ever happened to the business of gunsmithing. A 22 with iron sights that may be shot at 25 yards is one thing but a high power rifle that pushes a bullet with 40,000 pounds of pressure is another all together!
If you don't want problems with your rifle you will NEED a barrel vise, an action wrench a support block and a set of headspace guages to do a GOOD job of swapping barrels. A 336 barrel will unscrew just fine 9 out of 10 times wiht just an action wrench, but hit a tough one and warp an unsuppported action and you willl know why the pros use a action wrench and suppport block. As to headspace, you might get lucky and have a barrel just drop in fine, but more than likely you willl need to set the headspace. I had 3 336's apart one day and 1 came out perfect with the replacment barrel, one had to have the chamber deepened and one needed to have the barrel set back one turn and rechambered. The bad news is that 35 remington is rimless and you will need a go and a no go gauge at $60 each, Unless you have a lathe and can turn your own. Do it right or have it done right and you will have a gun to be proud of for the rest of your life, cheap out and take your chances.
I've never heard of a barrel's headspace changing from removing it, and then reinstalliong it back on the same frame? Could you explain how this could happen?
