Loose Barrel Jacket

[Wildgoose]

I have been looking around on the lists for any detailed information on how to properly fix a loose barrel jacket. I haven't had much luck really. Found some good pictures of silver soldered and brazed fixes but these seem some what extreame to me. Am I correct in thinking that taking the barrel assembly apart, removing the old pin and replacing it with an oversized one may be a proper fix? Are the soldered/brazed fixes just a quik/cheap way to get by? If not then I wonder if anyone has ever considered maybe tack welding the barrel to the jacket head using Tig. One could put three or four small tack welds in, tig process welds are very stong and the heat can be controled much better than mig or stick welds. Any way if any one has any information please chime in.

[imfuncity]

I have not had this problem but from those that have it seems that removing the pin, replacing with an oversize has been successful and is the recommended fix; it also leaves the rifle in its "more-original" configuration.

[81police]

I would agree with IMFUNCITY. Here's one pictured that my friend Pete did, the jacket and head are rock solid.

[DWalt]

If you have a lathe so that you can turn your own slightly oversized pin, that's the way to go. I've not done that on an 8/81 jacket, but have done it many times on other guns with sloppy pin holes. I usually used Grade 8 screw/bolt shanks as a starting material for making oversized pins. A set of number drill bits will prove helpful in drilling out a sloppy hole slightly, to achieve a uniform round hole diameter first. If you can get appropriate sized roll pins, they work best, as they squeeze down when going into the hole and stay in place well.

[Wildgoose]

If you have a lathe so that you can turn your own slightly oversized pin, that's the way to go. I've not done that on an 8/81 jacket, but have done it many times on other guns with sloppy pin holes. I usually used Grade 8 screw/bolt shanks as a starting material for making oversized pins. A set of number drill bits will prove helpful in drilling out a sloppy hole slightly, to achieve a uniform round hole diameter first. If you can get appropriate sized roll pins, they work best, as they squeeze down when going into the hole and stay in place well.

Thanks Guys. Just what I needed to know. I will do a pin replacement for sure. It seemed that the brazing/soldering fix was not the way to go. I now need to either fabracate or buy the needed tools to do a barrel assemby takedown. I have three of these rifles and now its time to do an ispection on the interal condition of the jackets and springs as well as the one that needs a fix.

[DWalt]

Having tools is best, but maybe not necessary. I have only one experience in taking down a barrel, but it turned out OK. First, I set the barrel and tube, muzzle down, into a container of penetrating oil for a day. That soaking may not have been needed, but I did it anyway. I also had no spanner wrench, so I wrapped several turns of duct tape around the barrel nut to avoid metal damage, and used water pump pliers to unscrew it - the nut came off very easily, releasing the barrel. A piece of leather would probably work as well as duct tape. After nut removal, i used a flat piece of thin metal I had laying around (actually a loudspeaker mounting bracket) as a sort of screwdriver to remove the spring retainer bushing. Again, it unscrewed very easily with no problems. Yours may not be so easy.

I did something else for reassembly that helped. I reinstalled the barrel and springs, and screwed on the nut. I then pulled back the barrel as far as possible, and held it back with a metal hose clamp around the rear of the barrel, then screwed in the spring bushing, tightening it with the flat metal piece. That worked fine also, and reassembly was a snap.

There is a video on this site that shows the process, but I didn't do mine exactly the same way.

[jack1653]

Hey Guys,

I found an old posting I made about making a tool for removing the barrel nut. This was before the tools were being offered. It works very well and was easy to make. Clicl the link to see the old posting. viewtopic.php?f=10&t=293&p=1170&sid=a09 ... 1c10#p1170

I also made a tool for re-assembly, but haven't found where I posted it. As soon as I find it, I'll edit this posting and provide the link for it also. I finally found it. This was also easy to make. viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1256

Regards,

Jack1653

[DWalt]

I was aware of the modified socket and the reassembly tool. I just didn't make them up as I had no problems in doing what I did. I don't think there will be a next time very soon, but if there is, I would probably use a strip of leather between the plier jaws and the barrel nut instead of duct tape. It worked OK with the tape, but the leather would probably be more protective of the nut surface. Of course, that assumes the nut threads are not frozen to the barrel threads. The hose clamp works very well to hold back the barrel muzzle below the mouth of the tube so the bushing can be easily screwed back in and tightened. It helps if you have a third hand (my wife tightened and loosened the hose clamp around the barrel while I held the barrel back with the tube in my other hand), or you could use a vise to clamp onto the rear of the barrel if you are careful to protect the metal with duct tape, etc., so it doesn't get damaged. Obviously, you would not want to squeeze down tightly.

I did apply a little anti-seize compound onto all threads before reassembly, but that's optional.

[81police]

Obviously, you would not want to squeeze down tightly.

Hence the reason you sometimes find 8/81's with chewed up barrel nuts or cracked barrel nuts. A lot of guys in the past didn't take the care & precaution like Dwalt did to protect the nut and that's a good part to inspect before buying one of these.

Winchester's Winchoke wrench is $13 and will take care of most non-stubborn barrel nuts. If you get into doing this more than once and have a love for the rifles, I'd suggest Circle B Bob's repro-spanner wrench or his Pro-Tools; worth the investment to have the right tools for the right job. Just my two cents, okay I'll shut up