Savage Barrel nut

Savage barrel nut torque

What is the recommended torque on a savage barrel nut ?

This will get a few people going :) There was a thread on this before and recommendations ran from 30 -70 ft. lbs. The instructions with the Wheeler Enginneering wrench say 30-40 and supposedly the CEO of Savage was on a video saying 70 ft. lbs. - nhk
 
Savage Torque

A friend brought a Savage over the other day to take the nut loose, he had the wrench, but no barrel vice.

It was not tight at all. That wrench only has about a 10 inch radius. Could not have been more than 35 ft punds or so.........jackie
 
Jackie,

When we went to the factory last fall, the station where they install the barrels was one of many that we visited. They brush on some thread sealer (because of later finishing stages), spin on the receiver and tighten the nut to 87 ft-lbs with a calibrated torque wrench. Generally my experience has been that it usually takes significantly *more* than that to get one off of there - I don't know if their thread sealer (and it was 'sealer', not locking compound) is stronger than advertised, or if some of the finishing chemicals are getting in there anyway... but normally the nuts are on there to stay - a few folks have had to split the nut with a cold-chisel and replace it, just to get the barrel off. The stainless steel target actions have been somewhat less difficult to get apart, but if one came off at less than 35 ft-lbs... I'd guess someone before him had messed with it.

Monte
 
Jackie,

When we went to the factory last fall, the station where they install the barrels was one of many that we visited. They brush on some thread sealer (because of later finishing stages), spin on the receiver and tighten the nut to 87 ft-lbs with a calibrated torque wrench. Generally my experience has been that it usually takes significantly *more* than that to get one off of there - I don't know if their thread sealer (and it was 'sealer', not locking compound) is stronger than advertised, or if some of the finishing chemicals are getting in there anyway... but normally the nuts are on there to stay - a few folks have had to split the nut with a cold-chisel and replace it, just to get the barrel off. The stainless steel target actions have been somewhat less difficult to get apart, but if one came off at less than 35 ft-lbs... I'd guess someone before him had messed with it.

Monte

If this information is accurate then my little Fred Moreo wrench had better be able to handle a cheater bar! At ten or so inches long and just a blade of steel I wouldn't want to try exerting 100lb of force on it with my bare hands.

I've never gone much tighter than 50 ft/lb for fear of busting a nut.

al
 
Fred's wrench is pretty stout, all things considered. I've beat the snot out of it (technical term) busting some factory barrel nuts loose. Torch, Kroil, and a cheater pipe squished to fit over the wrench. And my large hind-end yanking on said cheater for all I'm worth. Usually though I just need a few healthy smacks with a deadblow - size LARGE to knock 'em loose. Trust me, you can put more grunt on that wrench than is probably healthy and not damage it :D
 
Fred's wrench is pretty stout, all things considered. I've beat the snot out of it (technical term) busting some factory barrel nuts loose. Torch, Kroil, and a cheater pipe squished to fit over the wrench. And my large hind-end yanking on said cheater for all I'm worth. Usually though I just need a few healthy smacks with a deadblow - size LARGE to knock 'em loose. Trust me, you can put more grunt on that wrench than is probably healthy and not damage it :D

Good info to know. (Altho you're scaring me a liddle! :D )

al
 
Thats interesting, a savage came in the other day and the owner
said it was in question. No longer shooting well. The crown showed
some wear . Removing the barrel, was a snap as the barrel was free
maybe 2 lbs torque.The owner said they just give the wrench a clunk
with a 2 x 4. Thinking about that for a moment, it didn't take long to
add a square 1/2 hole to each end of my savage nut wrench so a torque
wrench could be used. The location of the square holes changes the
foot lbs equasion , however that can be calculated easily. I wonder
why torque wrench holes are not added when the wrench is made.
 
Usually the running joke on the SavageShooters.com forum is that they have someone with a last name of 'Kong', first name 'King', working at that station in the factory :D Given my experience with removing the factory barrel nuts, I wondered if maybe the torque wrench had been set to 87 and then the extension added on (it adds about 10-12") but I asked the engineer giving us the tour at the time (Chris Bezzina) and he said the torque value had been calculated taking into account the entire length of the handle.

I've been guilty in the past of tightening/loosening mine 'diesel mechanic' style... a few years back there was a guy (diesel mechanic by trade) who had his rifle set up so he could switch barrels in the field while shooting prairie dogs... unscrew one barrel and put it to soak (and cool) in a cradle while he shot with another one (or more). He used a large flat blade screw driver inserted in the barrel nut slot and a few discreet taps with a hammer to tighten or loosen the nut. Some engineer types had a veritable hissy fit over the process, but as with many things... the proof is in the puddin' - it works, and you don't have to fiddle about removing the barreled action from the stock, nor the scope from the action, to get to the barrel nut. Just open up the barrel channel forward of the nut a little to clear the barrel nut during installation.

It works pretty well for most uses... though the discussion last year centered on the fellow in Precision Shooting magazine who changed barrels by just 'snapping' them in as he screwed them on made me think that for my 'match' guns I might want to actually torque 'em on proper-like...
 
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I tighten my Savage Barrel Nuts like a german virgin,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,goodntight,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

the wind is my friend,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

DD
 
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