Tikka T1X Barrel Swap

[Deodand]

A work in progress.
I've read so many times how difficult it is to break the threads on the set screws holding in the T1X barrel.
I bought an impact driver in anticipation of the difficulty involved.
I gave it a go, by hand, and broke one thread free with what seemed like inordinate force. In the next set screw the tip of the bit broke off. I then mixed up that old standby, 50-50 ATF and acetone. Gave a few liberal dollops on all the set screws. I gave it ten minutes and then the remaining two popped off with less force than the first.
I haven't pulled the barrel yet but thought I'd report the process so far.
Updates to follow.

 

[AZ Dan]

Boy...they really don't want anyone removing that barrel, do they?

 

[BuckeyePrecision]

I heated up the the action a little bit then hit it with some penetrating oil. Let it sit for a while and mine came out pretty easy. Getting the barrel out of the action on mine was difficult, it was a pretty tight fit. I used a wood dowel through the action to give it some taps why my friend pulled on the barrel. After mine was done we pulled his and it slid right out of the action.

What barrel did you go with?

 

[Deodand]

I have a Lothar Walther I'm going to try.

 

[Deodand]

Have lubed up the barrel with the same formula as above. Gave a few gentle taps against an aluminum bar. I don't think it's moved at all. Will try again later today.

 

[BuckeyePrecision]

That sounds about like what I went through. I forgot to mention in the pervious post, I wrapped a cold wet towel around the barrel right at the action then heated the action up a little bit. The cold towel drew heat out of the barrel while the action heated up. A few taps and it came out.

I actually had a Lothar on order but they were 6-10 weeks out when a friend of mine hooked me up with a Lilija blank from a project that he abandoned. The specs were about perfect so we ended up sending the blank and the action to a benchrest smith and he fitted everything up and chambered it for me. The thing is an absolute hammer now. I'm interested to see your results, good luck getting the barrel off.

 

[Deodand]

It remains an adventure.
Tapping it out has not worked.
I'll try increasing efforts next week. I work tonight and Easter is Sunday.

 

[Alienta]

It remains an adventure.
Tapping it out has not worked.
I'll try increasing efforts next week. I work tonight and Easter is Sunday.

Did you see the 8541 Tactical video from June 26? A nightmare swap

 

[Deodand]

I didn't see that video but I'll look it up.

I did get the barrel swapped. I used the acetone and ATF. Made a stout solid aluminum support for the action.
Tapped against the barrel with an 8" long (IIRC) piece of 1/2" cold rolled. I tapped GENTLY with an eight pound sledge. No apparent damage to the take off barrel.

Glue was evident in the barrel channel after removal. Also, interestingly, the hole the barrel goes into is not round. It has a relief bored towards the upper part of the action. The effect is that, when the barrel retention screws are tight, there are two linear contacts where the round barrel channel intersects the bored relief.

 

[chiroz]

I did not find it difficult to do the barrel swap. Heat it up to soften the adhesive, hit the torx screws with an impact. Drill a hole in a piece of thick oak that is the exact diameter of the barrel and lock it in a vice. I put the barreled action in the oak piece and used a pice of wood dowel to tap out the barrel. 10-15 minutes and I was done. The Lothar walther barrel I used needed a little chamber beveling as it is tight and gave me a few feeding problems.

 

[Deodand]

The screws came out with no real problem just firm effort. I must not have used enough heat, I couldn't get the barrel to budge with an oak wooden dowel.

I second the chamber relief needed to improve feeding in the Lothar Walther barrel.

 

[Deodand]

Did you see the 8541 Tactical video from June 26? A nightmare swap

I just watched it. I didn't have that much trouble with that penetrating oil.

Interesting that Lothar Walther also noticed that the bore in the action was out of round. It doesn't sound as if they realized it was out of round on purpose. A closer look would show that the out of round portion is a separate machining/boring operation.