does the acetylene tip. Keep the receiver just hot enough so the color does not change, until the barrel is
cool to the touch. Quickly place the wrench on the receiver and give it a sudden, heavy pull-which will
usually break it loose.
If this method fails to loosen a stubborn barrel, the only thing left to do is cut a groove at the front of the
receiver. A cut off tool can be used to cut a recess in front of the receiver, this being done while the
barrel is clamped in the late, and running at slow speed. Nearly all rifle barrels are fitted to the receiver
with a right-hand thread; hut there is always the exception, as I once found out when removing the barrel
from a 6.5 MM Norwegian Krag rifle. As it happened, I was able to move this barrel slightly in a left-hand
direction and then it tightened up and would move no farther so, in spite of disbelief, I reversed
operations and the barrel unscrewed to the right. The old, hammer model, Marlin shotgun is also a left
hand thread.
Setting new barrels in bolt-action receivers is simply the reverse of removing the old one, naturally, and
as a rule is much easier, the principal problem is keeping the barrel clear of marks from the blocks.
Hardwood blocks are almost the only type, which will not mar a finished barrel. The ideal fit is to have
the barrel thread into the receiver so that it can barely be started by hand but turned easily by the