I'm thinking that I've had the barrel pin soaking in Blaster for the last three days and I decided to put the rig in the 'ol vise and see what happens ...(I have read that some guys had luck with this)

Here is what happened...



If the grade 8 bolt will bend with a vise...what good is it gonna do me to put 12 tons to it under the press???

What else can I use to push the pin with???



I made a special backer support that allow metal to metal contact for the entire trunnion surface....there is a hole drilled in the block to allow the pin to come through.

The bolt is too long.. Use a peice just a half the length of the one in the pic.. Even though it is a Grade 8 bolt, harden it again.. Heat to cherry and quench in oil or water 3 times..

Then try that.. The hardend shorter bolt will be alot stiffer.. Give the vise hell, and then try hitting the front jaw with a BFH after you have tightened it down..

Over course you will haveto move to longer bolts, but don't go too long.. Just enough to move the pin a but further..

That's the problem I had, and when I switched to the bolt peice about 1/4" long, I finally got it to move..

Of course I was using a 12Ton press..


Good luck!

+1 on coltshorty14's suggestion of the shorter bolt.  The one I keep on hand to start pins is so short, I don't think there is a way to get it to bend.  Just press until you hear the pop of the pin breaking loose, then switch to a longer bolt.  

I flattened a bolt much shorter than that one on a Romy G kit.

I had great success with a black socket from my Craftsman tool kit. I don't know the proper name for it but the shaft was exactly the right size to fit through the barrel pin hole and it must have been hardened steel cause it was longer than the bolt in your pic but it did the job.

Here's what I used. The box calls it a nut drive bit.

Mine was a bitch to get out too, I took an old 1/4" tap to use as a punch and cut a piece out of the smooth section just long enough, the shorter the better, and heated the trunnion with a torch, just not cherry red. Put it in a press and it finally came out, but it was tight !

it is moving on you also, use a quarter to help keep the screw straight. it isnt even being pushed in straight.

Well....I got the press put together after dinner and started setting up my pin and barrel press out.

Here is what the set up looks like....



I have had the pin soaking in Blaster for 3 days and the press has had an ungodly amount of pressure on it for about an hour.  I am standing on the pimp bar that came with it....do I need a longer pipe to pump with???

Will I explode the pump?  This is really starting to make me nervous.

I grabbed a 1/2" long grade 8 bolt today and am using it now......How do you like my scatter shield?

Well....I decided to take a peek under the scatter shield and here is what I found...



These grade 8 bolts I'm getting at the hardware store are crap...I might as well us silly putty to push the pin out with.

What the heck...I need some serious hard steel thats 1/4" round....what am I gonna do?  Next question...am I gonna crack my trunnion in half?  From shooters view, I'm pushing left to right....is this OK?

I had the same sort of problem with a Tantal kit.  The blasted pin wouldn't move using a punch and a BFG.  So I used a Dremel with a cut-off wheel and sliced off a short section of a 1 /4" drill bit.  Used a socket on the opposite side of the trunnion.  Tightened up the vise and then gave the front of the vice a whack with the hammer.  The pin moved and then I did the same thing until the damn thing came out; tighten and whack, tighten and whack. Out of four pins that I took out, this was the worst.

KROIL my man...KROIL  (Brownells)

I Kroiled the crap out of my pin for 3 days.
Busted 5 bolts.
Drilled it and pressed.  $7.00 for new pin. Compared to 7 Hrs of tourture.  
I wish it would have pushed but it wasn't to be.  12 ton Press and stuff going KAPOW.  

Ya.....I put Kroil on it too along with the super blaster penetrating oil.

I found a hardened Torx bit that my dad had....figured I had her licked now....

Wrong....srappneled the torx bit all over the dang garage, mushroomed the pin and damaged the trunnion....this is really starting to tick me off royal. I have the pressing power...just can't get anything to hold up for pushing....what the heck???

I did a four of them with a grade 5, 1/4" bolt.  Cut off the threaded part square so that there is about 1/2" left.  Tape the cut-off bolt (by itself - no socket) directly to the vise jaw (make a little hole in the center of the tape to hold the bolt) and you will have eliminated a source of wobble.
Make sure that the bolt is completely within the pin and not off center.
I also shim up the back side of the trunion with little pieces of cut up metal washers so that the trunion is perpendicular to the bolt (note the little "L" shaped ridge around the pin hole).
Probably the key to it all is to snug the vise up tight and hit the vise with a hammer.  Do this repeatedly and you'll get it.  IMHO, the vibrations are what does the job.
I use a small cheater bar on the vise, but never have to turn it all that hard.
Each pin comes out differently -- some with one big pop, others with a series of pops.
Finish it off with a longer pin taped up the same way.
Make sure that whatever you are using to receive the pin on the back side (I use tire lug nuts) is also aligned so as not to block the pin.
Good luck
ps  this worked the same with a 12 ton press -- just hit the top of the press frame the same way.

I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED BY THIS POS BARREL PIN



I have a piece of hard chrome bar that I made the ram out of.....I'm gonna grind it down and make a starter pin out of it.....tapppered sides and the ram will only be 1/4" long.....just to start it going....I'm gonna heat the trunnion till the POS melts if I have to.

And if that doesn't work....I'm taking it the the mill and putting it under the 300 ton press and see what that does to it.  Then I'll take the whole dang squashed up mess and toss it all in the Mon river.

What I really don't understand if the fact that this kit looks to be unfired....not a mark on it....there's no way the pin could have been heated from firing and gawlded in there like this.

Use the shank of a 1/4" drill bit. Cut it to 1/4" long. It has to be FLAT on the ends.  Make sure it is centered in the pin. Make sure the trunion is square to the pressure you apply.  

I have done three barrel pins now with an air-chisle.  the first one I did was on a "g" kit that just wouldn't come out even after kroil, heat, pressing, viceing,and hammering with a bfh.  I did two more today one was an older non"g" romainian kit and the other was an amd-65.  I was working for less than 5 minutes to have both pins out, the same goes for the "g" kit's pin.  If the pins don't move with a hammer and punch after about 4 or 5 good whacks, I set them aside and go at them with the air-chisle.  Hope it helps you.

I did two pins (1 AMD and 1 Romak) in my bench vice. The Romak didn't start moving till I tapped the vice body with my heavy hammer once. It went POP!! then I'd just tighten and tap and it came out in a few minutes. Kroil sprayed it a few days before too. I love seeing that pin come out all oily, amazing stuff. I think the vibration did make that pin loosen.

Yes, although it is unissued, what ya'll should understand and comprehend is the fact that the Romanians may be adjusting the headspace by pushing the pinned in barrel either way to give the right clearance after the rifle is near completion. It only needs to move by a few thousand of an inch or less. This would slightly bend the barrel pin, and have pressure of one side of the barrel groove against that pin providing resistance against budging that pin. This is where you get the score mark on the one side of the pin as it is forced from a new rifle.

If headspace was spot on when the rifle was built, no need to push on the barrel, the pin stays straight, and it can even be tapped out with hammer and punch. But god help ya if they had to push the barrel .005" to headspace it!

Has anyone received a new Romanian kit with an oversized barrel pin? I bet they don't redrill and use bigger pins on the assembly line when headspace is off.

Quoted: I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED BY THIS POS BARREL PIN What I really don't understand if the fact that this kit looks to be unfired....not a mark on it....there's no way the pin could have been heated from firing and gawlded in there like this.

FireBase I think you have an interesting theory here but what backs it up?

Would it not be true that kits with a very difficult pin would be headspaced improperly when reassembled? Is anyone claiming that?

Quoted: Yes, although it is unissued, what ya'll should understand and comprehend is the fact that the Romanians may be adjusting the headspace by pushing the pinned in barrel either way to give the right clearance after the rifle is near completion. It only needs to move by a few thousand of an inch or less. This would slightly bend the barrel pin, and have pressure of one side of the barrel groove against that pin providing resistance against budging that pin. This is where you get the score mark on the one side of the pin as it is forced from a new rifle. If headspace was spot on when the rifle was built, no need to push on the barrel, the pin stays straight, and it can even be tapped out with hammer and punch. But god help ya if they had to push the barrel .005" to headspace it! Has anyone received a new Romanian kit with an oversized barrel pin? I bet they don't redrill and use bigger pins on the assembly line when headspace is off. What I really don't understand if the fact that this kit looks to be unfired....not a mark on it....there's no way the pin could have been heated from firing and gawlded in there like this.

There is no way the Romanians are pushing the barrel either way after it is pinned.

In order for something to bend the metal has to have somehwere to go. There is simply no room for this to occur.

These tough pins are simply a tight intereference fit with a coulple of sharp edges inside the pin hole from the barrel to trunion transition to help grab onto the pin.

Give it enough pressure with the right tools and setup and it will come right out.

Ya.....I don't know...after what I just went through with this pin...I can't imagine being able to move a barrel .002" or .003"   That pin has got to be .001-.002 oversized to the hole.

Well...anyway, After 4 days, 12 hours, $43.00 and about going insane...the pin defeated me...I drilled it out this afternoon and hit it with the BFH and it came right out.....the pin was as smooth as glass and oily. (That Kroil really works)



Wow..is that what a Trunnion looks like...cool. Is the inside supposed to be that rough?



The barrel looks pretty good....no major scares or anything. Doesn't look like the entire barrel surface had bearing on the trunnion....see the ridges????



Well....that saga is over....now to figure out how to get it back together.

You wussed out...  I wanted to see what the 300 ton press would do...



I bent all sorts of 1/4" grade 8 bolts as short as 1/4" trying to get the damn pins out of the romy's.  

I then discovered the nut driver bits and have never had a problem since with a 12 ton press.

Sorry to disappoint...this kit has turned out to be a real thief of time and money.....much cheaper just to buy one.

thinking about just drilling out mine and buying some new pins.

After listening to all the whorer stories (ah wow man, you mean like jane fonda?)

no way man, not that kind of whore story man, the scary kind!

Ok, how about trying to get them back in.  The Romy that I finished on Sat. gave me fits with the pin.  The pin didn't come out as hard as it was to get it back in.  I pressed the barrel back in and checked how the groove in the barrel lined up with the hole in the trunnion. Everything seemed to line up correctly. No cant at all. I used a paper clip as a gauge to see if it would hit either side of the trunnion hole. No hangups either way. Checked the headspace with a Manson no-go gauge and a cartridge. Headspace was fine. Cartridge chambered with the bolt rotated fully and the bolt wouldn't close on the no-go gauge. I actually compared the position of the Romy bolt with the position of the bolt on my Maadi to see if there was any difference.  Both bolts were in the some position with the no-go gauge installed.
Ok, time to install the pin.   With the last Romy that I built, the pin was driven back in without any problems.  Tried the same method with this latest one.  No way was that pin going to be driven in with a hammer.  I smeared anti-seize on the pin and in the hole and that pin refused to go in.  So I used the hammer and vise method.  That worked but it was squeeze and whack the vice until the damned thing was almost fully seated.  Then I finished it off with a hammer for the last few thousandths. Anybody else have a hard time re-installing the barrel pin?  I hope I never have to take the pin out again.  If I do, I will drill it out.

I measured my pin that I just took out and it shows: .277"

I measured the hole on the trunnion and I'm getting about .275" +/- .0005"

I'm assuming that the pin is +.0015" to +.002" over the hole...right.

Now about the pin replacement>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

So would I be better to get the "J" size rod which is actually .277" like the original pin?

Or go with the 7mm which is actually .27559"....that gives you only .00059" over. Or there abouts.

How critical is it to have the pin that tight...I mean 1 to 2 over on something this small is really alot!

CS

Also....when buying the rod ...air, oil, or water....what do we want for this application?

Quoted: Also....when buying the rod ...air, oil, or water....what do we want for this application?

Hornady One-Shot case lube worked like a charm for me.  I sprayed a bit on the barrel shank and then on the pin.  Then I hammered the barrel home using the pennies-and-ducktape method, and a brass punch on the barrel pin.  Worked like a charm.  YMMV.

Sudboy