Mauser Barrel Tourque?

[Vladymere]

Fellows,

 

On another forum I stated that on Mauser rifles that a multi barrel or take down Mauser sporting rifle need only be hand tight when attaching the barrel. That on a fixed barrel Mauser just a little more than hand tight is enough. The site moderator responded that I was wrong. (This is assuming that your primary and secondary tourque shoulders on an M98 or primary tourque shoulder on a pre 98 and headspace are machined correctly)

 

Am I wrong? If not are there any sources I can site to show that I am correct?

 

Thanks guys,

 

Vlad

[Dr.Hess]

I've read in SGN articles by the gunsmith guys that Mauser barrels don't need to be very tight. There is a series running currently where one author/gunsmith is building a barrel change Mauser. That is, one rifle, two barrels of different calibers. He plans on swapping them with only a strap wrench.

[Clemson]

Hi Vlad,

 

When I fit a barrel to a Mauser action, I lean on the wrench pretty good without a cheater. There is apparently a 950 pound gorilla who worked in the Mauser factory installing barrels on military rifles. A bunch of those babies require the cheater AND the BFH to remove. You are correct, however, that a fairly minimal torque is adequate for a properly fitted barrel. Kuhnhausen says 65 to 75 foot pounds torque when fitting barrels to M98 actions. About 10 foot pounds more is required for small ring actions because they only have one shoulder to fit to.

 

Here is what Jerry Kuhnhausen has to say:

 

There is no set amount that a barrel must be rotated from hand tight to be considered tight enough. Final rotation can be as little as .100" with well fit barrels and receivers to as high as .130 with others...........Average final rotation distance is .125"

 

The rotation distance that he is talking about is on the circumference of the barrel from the hand tight position to the final position. Since the circumference of a 1.2" sporter barrel is 3.77 inches, a 0.1 inch turn would move the barrel into the shoulders about .002 inches, which we usually refer to as "crush". You won't do that by hand, but it does not require bouncing on the wrench handle either.

 

Clemson

[ken98k]

There is apparently a 950 pound gorilla who worked in the Mauser factory installing barrels on military rifles. A bunch of those babies require the cheater AND the BFH to remove.

 

It has been suggested here and on other forums that the Yugoslavs in particular, may have cut the threads and extractor relief on multiple barrels, then cranked them into their respective receiver until things lined up.

 

I have removed yugo barrels that definately required an action wrench to get them timed when re-installing.

 

Kenny

[tinkerfive]

It has been suggested here and on other forums that the Yugoslavs in particular, may have cut the threads and extractor relief on multiple barrels, then cranked them into their respective receiver until things lined up.

 

I have removed yugo barrels that definately required an action wrench to get them timed when re-installing.

 

Kenny

 

Can you say Eddystone Enfield???

[Vladymere]

Gentlemen, Thank you all for your responses. Clemson, I think you gave the best technical explenation.

 

I will say that when setting a barrel I give my wrench a good "umph" once the barrel and receiver make contact. As for removing barrels, Vz24s seem to be the tightest I have come across. Kroil, a four foot cheater bar and a lot of "grunt" to get them apart.

 

Vlad

[z1r]

Fellows,

 

On another forum I stated that on Mauser rifles that a multi barrel or take down Mauser sporting rifle need only be hand tight when attaching the barrel. That on a fixed barrel Mauser just a little more than hand tight is enough. The site moderator responded that I was wrong. (This is assuming that your primary and secondary tourque shoulders on an M98 or primary tourque shoulder on a pre 98 and headspace are machined correctly)

 

Am I wrong? If not are there any sources I can site to show that I am correct?

 

Thanks guys,

 

Vlad

 

The thing to realize is that yes, on Takedown or Switch barrel mausers the barrels are screwed in hand tight such that no tools are required. However, these also rely on some other device to keep the barrel from unscrewing. The Simplest, a screw in the receiver ring to keep the barrel stationary. The more complex being a takedown lever similar to those on nice double barrels