Zastava M70 .375 Barrel Stuck

SwampTrooper

SwampTrooper

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My dad is a lefty and I’m hoping to gussy up a zastava m70 in left hand .375 H&H for him to be proper DG/do it all rifle. Its contour is hideous while also being too short for his taste at 22 inches. That doesn’t matter as it’s the action, a real Mauser 98 clone in .375 left hand, that matters most of all. I’ve pulled barrels off mausers three times before and never have I been thwarted. I have a two foot ol’ reliable breaker bar that has handled the most stubborn of them yet. All the same, I could not make a dent in this one. The vise and wrench are locked to kingdom come with rosin, and some brass shims to protect the finish (not that it matters as I plan to reblue the sucker) and there is not a millimeter of slip when I put torque to this thing. I am pushing the wrench in the correct direction as confirmed by actions and barrels in pieces around me. It refused to move and I don’t want to break it. It was expensive! Any advice or should I escalate this to a professional? I simply cannot live with this barrel and am annoyed it’s stubborn.

IMG_6526.jpeg
 
Heat is your friend here. Heat the receiver till just too warm to hold, and then put a bit of penetrating oil on the inside of the receiver to wick into the threads, not much or it just runs off, let it cool and do it again. Then warm it again and put it into the barrel vice and try to undo it. If it still won’t undo you may need to repeat the heating cycle again, it should be tight against the "C" ring of the receiver and not the barrel shoulder but sometimes it is both.
Gumpy
 
I had one stuck like this. Wrapped the barrel shank in emery cloth, then clamped barrel shank into a Remington 700 action wrench and tightened the piss out of it. My normal barrel vices slipped is why I resorted to this. I think I used a 4 foot cheater on the action wrench.

It did leave marks on the barrel but it didn’t slip, so was basically sand paper imprints.
 
I’m going to escalate this in steps as I can’t afford to break this thing. First I’ll do the heat cycles with penetrating oil then go up to a 36 inch breaker bar. What is the danger zone here? When is the receiver in danger? My wrench is designed for mausers and is right on the front ring. I read somewhere to put in a stripped bolt as a mandrel but that scares me as it introduces forces to theory head for which it wasn’t designed, but also maybe not as the bolt would turn with the action. No clue…
 
Freedom!!! Heat, penetrating oil, and a 36 inch breaker bar did it. It still was a battle with a lot of muscling and cursing, with one slip on the trash barrel, and a reblue job now of the receiver. Even once it released, it felt gritty, tight and gross. The Zastava factory torqued it to hell but whatever thread grease the used long turned gritty. I suspect it was well oxidized before application. However. The threads are undamaged and the project moves forward! Thank you all for you advice and courage especially Grumpy Gumpy.

IMG_6536.jpeg
 
Do you have a lathe? If so chuck up the barreled action and use a cutoff tool and take a small amount off the barrel up by the receiver down to the thread area and it will break the force of the torque of the barrel and action and the barrel will come off easy. Know this will make a tomato stake out of the barrel you take off.

If you are sending it out to be rebarreled just have the gunsmith deal with it.
 
SwampTrooper said:
My dad is a lefty and I’m hoping to gussy up a zastava m70 in left hand .375 H&H for him to be proper DG/do it all rifle. Its contour is hideous while also being too short for his taste at 22 inches. That doesn’t matter as it’s the action, a real Mauser 98 clone in .375 left hand, that matters most of all. I’ve pulled barrels off mausers three times before and never have I been thwarted. I have a two foot ol’ reliable breaker bar that has handled the most stubborn of them yet. All the same, I could not make a dent in this one. The vise and wrench are locked to kingdom come with rosin, and some brass shims to protect the finish (not that it matters as I plan to reblue the sucker) and there is not a millimeter of slip when I put torque to this thing. I am pushing the wrench in the correct direction as confirmed by actions and barrels in pieces around me. It refused to move and I don’t want to break it. It was expensive! Any advice or should I escalate this to a professional? I simply cannot live with this barrel and am annoyed it’s stubborn.

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@SwampTrooper
When my gunsmith is faced with the same issue on Enfield M17/P14 rifles that have had the barrel put in with a hydraulic wrench you can't budge them for love or money

What he does is get a fine tooth hacksaw and puts a relief cut around the barrel between the action and where it joins the barrel. The cut is as close as you can get to the action and only goes to the start of the barrel shank.
This allows the pressure to be released and needs very little effort to unscrew the barrel.
Bob
 
A 4' breaker bar is better than one 2' long.
 
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