Shooters Forum banner

Rebarreling a Browning A-bolt?

40K views 24 replies 10 participants last post by  unclenick 
#1 ·
One of my brothers has shot out a barrel on his 223 Browning A-bolt medallion. He has inquired about getting it rebarreled, and one 'smith told him that Browning uses a 'loctite'-type thread compound and that removing the barrel can actually damage the action. My brother called Browning asking about getting it rebarreled, and he said the service rep said that if they rebarrel, they also replace the action.:confused: Sounds like almost a new rifle.... First I've heard of this about Browning...anybody else have experience with this?

So, if it really is true, he then thought about getting it rebored to 243 bore (on the 223 case still), but he (and I) don't know how the reboring process takes place. Does the barrel have to be removed from the action to accomplish the reboring? If so, nothing gained.

Any experience gained from the members would be appreciated.
 
#2 ·
I learned the hard way over 20 years ago that Browning DOES in fact "red loc-tite" their barrels to their receivers. When I went to unscrew a barrel from a Browning for rechambering, the receiver threads came out of the receiver and as such it was completely and totally ruined. When I called Browning and told them what had happened, they said " our rifles are not meant to be rebarreled or rechambered and that it was my loss"!!!

Well, I have since learned how to break down the "locking compound" without damaging either the barrel or receiver and now, rebarreling or rechambering is as easy as any other bolt action rifle...

If you stay with the 223 case, you could have it rebored to the 257 T/CU, 6.5 T/CU, 7mm T/CU or 30 T/CU....

A
 
#3 ·
Interesting, Assassin! Seems that would be a 'no buy' piece of information for some potential buyers, if it were known, especially for varmint chamberings.

Don't suppose you'd be willing to dispense the 'how-to' information to get a barrel off? Application of heat? Soaking the action in some solution? I'd understand if you're a gunsmith unwilling to reveal that info. Thx for what you have provided.
 
#5 ·
Ruger does the same thing with the Super Redhawk, at least in some of the chamberings. Jack Huntington told me he had a process for getting them off. Whether it's the same type of thread sealer as Browning I don't know.
 
#6 ·
Yep, Ruger DOES red loc-tite their 454 Casull and 480 but none of the other models that I am aware of...

"Heat" is the safest way I have found to remove these barrels and for this, I use a heat gun so it does not discolor the metal or get it hot enough to change the tempering....

A
 
#7 ·
Wow. I didn't know this about Browning's barrels (not that it will matter to me). The heat/Loc-tite thing is interesting. IME, the classic 'red' Loc-tite requires enough heat to get the metal glowing red to orange. That'll certainly screw up the heat treatment. However, I also know there are many Loc-tite numbers out there, and more than one in each color. If you can get this red stuff off with a heat gun and no glow, it must not be the stuff I'd use ni an automotive or machinery context in the past. Thanks for the tip!
 
#8 ·
Part of the trick with heating is patience. It's easy to fail to let the metal "soak" long enough for the heat to get to the core. In heat treating in an oven, you usually figure an hour per inch of steel thickness. With a forced air external heat source you can reduce that time, but only maybe by half. I would figure that if you have around half an inch of steel to heat, you're going to be applying the heat gun for about 15 minutes before you are sure of getting the softening you want.
 
#9 ·
It largely depends on the heat gun. If I left my heat gun on the receiver for 15 minutes, it would change the temper of the metal. Five to seven minutes is about all it takes before the loc-tite starts smoking and breaking down enough so that I don't have to worry about the threads galling when unscrewing the barrel from the receiver....

A
 
#11 ·
Assassin,

I guess I didn't make my point very well. I should explain that thermal conductivity and the thermal mass of the action (its heat capacity) will determine how long it takes a higher surface temperature to drive the core temperature up a given number of degrees. The hotter you make the outside, the faster the core temperature will come up. So, if you are getting the Loctite hot enough in just five minutes, you are probably raising the exterior temperature a little higher than you need to. If you backed the hot air gun off just enough so that it took more like 15 minutes to soften the Loctite, then you would have raised the surface temperature less in order to get there. On the other hand, I doubt a modern receiver is likely to have any loss of temper or strength until you approach 500° embrittlement, so it may be a moot point? I suppose you could stand there with a hot air gun and an infra red thermometer and keep things pretty well under control.

The two permanent red Loctites I am aware of are 262 and 271. The former is a little bit stronger but takes twice as long to cure. I expect it is a case of six of one and a half dozen of the other as to which is used on barrels? I've attached the .PDF data files for those interested in what these products can do and how to apply or remove them.
 

Attachments

#14 ·
Thx all for your replies, and once again I learned valuable info here on shooters forum.

I'm not a mechanic of any sorts, so the 'heat gun' concept is a bit blurry to me. Is it like a hair dryer blowing hot air, or is it an electrical resistive 'wrap' that you place around the object you're trying to heat? I'm not going to 'try this at home', just want to know!
 
#16 · (Edited)
Mike,

Yes. I did some more looking and there's a red 277, too. All the reds and some of the greens are permanent. They have a standard test of loosening a 3/8" class 2 bolt from a class 5 nut and giving the required torque. The different Loctites have different consistencies and different cure times and different ultimate yield torques, but very broadly speaking the permanent types have ultimate yield torques in the hundreds of inch-pounds while the temporary types have ultimate yield torques in the tens of inch-pounds on that same bolt and nut. About 10:1 on strength, all else being equal.
 

Attachments

#17 ·
Browning A bolt barrel

I just pulled a A bolt barrel to thread for a muzzle break. I have never seen a barrel this far off center. Spinning between centers, the OD was measured .130 off the center line. While not detrimental to the function, I was amazed that a Browning would show such radical lack of quality control. Most manufactured barres show some "wobble" while spinning, but this was a shock.
 
#21 ·
…I have never seen a barrel this far off center. Spinning between centers, the OD was measured .130 off the center line…
That's the result of the maker straightening the bore after contouring the barrel. If they straightened the blank before contouring, that difference would be smaller but they'd probably have to straighten it a little more afterward because relief of the original straightening stress would bend the barrel back a little.

I, too, am curious about the the need for heat. If, as Jack said, the threads are just an interference fit, heating the receiver preferentially should loosen it, provided the barrel is kept chilled. I would like to know if you spotted any kind thread locker present, as I'd been told, or not?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Darkker
#18 ·
"LocTite" is not the issue. Interference threads are. A-Bolts are not to be rebarreled and you'll have a hard time getting somebody to rebore it without removal of the barrel. They are near disposable guns, but you can cut the barrel off at the end of the receiver and bore it out. ;(
 
#19 ·
.130 doesn't sound like a lot, compared to some other Browning and Remington actions that I've pulled the barrels from...

I pulled the barrel off of a Winchester M70 yesterday, so I could put a muzzle brake on, and I'll be doggone if those barrel and action threads weren't full of "blue" loc-tite! Those were also some of the prettiest factory threads I believe I have ever seen on a factory rifle!
 
#22 · (Edited)
Nick--
Many, many years ago a customer ruined an A-Bolt trying to pull the barrel. He called Browning and they replaced the gun(!!). He brought both to my shop to see if I could pull the barrel on the new one. Both were SS guns.
The original barrel was pulled with a pipe wrench and the action held in a vice. (The essential Bubba) The threads were 'welded' in places and galled to the point of ripping the threads out of the receiver. I saw no sign of thread locker or lubrication on either part. I parted off the new barrel and bored until I could see the lands of the threads and then single pointed until all the barrel came out.

Remingtons have that stinky goo in them that is well served by heat enough to make it stink.
 
#23 ·
With the barrel locked in a barrel vise, and an action wrench installed, the action broke loose and turned 1/2 of a turn and locked up tighter than all get out! I could see "blue" between the barrel and action, so I knew exactly what it was. I removed the action wrench and applied heat to the action, until the loc-tite started to smoke. I put the action wrench back on and reheated the area between the barrel and action. Once I started to smell the loc-tite again, I started going back and fourth with the wrench a half dozen times or so, and the action then just screwed right off the barrel...

I cleaned up the threads on the barrel and Luke I said before, those were some of the best looking threads that I have seen on a factory barrel. The action screwed back onto the barrel easily, with no slop or play between the threads, which was a welcome relief, compared many of the others that I see...
 
#25 · (Edited)
Interesting stuff. Galling of tight stainless threads is famous. I spoke with a tool maker once who told me they used tight threads on stainless (probably lead-lined) nuclear submarine fuel chambers. He said he'd learned that when his shop got a contract to make a drill tree for removing the screw-in plug on one for a nuclear sub that needed refueling. The original threads had been specified so tight that they would screw in, but could not be unscrewed because of the galling bias introduced by the snuggly rubbing metal surfaces when the threads were screwed in originally. Then he said, once the old plug was cut out and they were ready to refuel, his shop got the contract to make the replacement plug to exactly the same specification as the original. So, in seven years, or whatever it was at the time that it took the fuel to run out, they were going to go through the same thing all over again.


Assasin,

Where the ones you worked on chrome-moly? I'm wonder if they treat them differently?
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top