Hillbilly
"Why did the smith need to take the barrel off just to put a brake on it? No need for that if he knows what he is doing and has a properly equipped shop.
I suppose you or the super smith have also never heard of the concept of a relief cut if the barrel is on super tight?"
This gunsmith runs the barrel through the headstock of the lathe and indicates in both the inside of the chamber and the muzzle to make sure that there is perfect alignment so the bullet will go through the muzzle break straight. He would also recut the factory crown at this point. If he left the action on the barrel, he would have to indicate on the outside of the barrel. The bore in factory barrels are rarely in the center of the barrel. He indicates both ends in to the 0.0001 if it is possible. On factory barrels, you often have to split some hairs on alignment.
Relief cuts on tight barrels are done on to remove a barrel that will not be used again. Relief cuts are never done on barrels that will still be in service. Also, with the threads stripped out and cross threaded, what good would have a relief cut have done?
Picture is worth a thousand words:
http://s1160.photobucket.com/user/ackleyman/media/Ruger012.jpg.html?sort=3&o=34http://s1160.photobucket.com/user/ackleyman/media/Ruger2009.jpg.html?sort=3&o=23http://s1160.photobucket.com/user/ackleyman/media/Ruger2003.jpg.htmlhttp://s1160.photobucket.com/user/ackleyman/media/Ruger2004.jpg.html?sort=3&o=27This picture shows where the first thread tried to cross thread and the thread tore instead. The large hunk of metal then tried to re-thread the action threads.
http://s1160.photobucket.com/user/ackleyman/media/Ruger2004.jpg.html?sort=3&o=27More torn Barrel threads
http://s1160.photobucket.com/user/ackleyman/media/Ruger016.jpg.html?sort=3&o=31BayouRover
You have confused what has happened. When they were screwing the action and the barrel together, the threads started stripping, and it took a lot of hydraulic pressure to seat the barrel against the shoulder.
Custom gunsmiths may use a max of 100 INCH pounds to assemble a gun, and I have personally changed barrels in a benchrest match by spinning a barrel on by hand. A product called NEVER SEIZE is used in the industry to apply to stainless to keep from galling..it is a much better product than grease.
I never said that they were torqued to hundreds if not thousands of pounds, what I said was that they use a machine that had that amount of hydraulic pressure to screw them on with...big difference.
