I'm in my father-in-laws shed and I see what appears to be a press....buried amongst the farm scrap and so I drag it out in the daylight and here is what I found.



I know it is strong enough cause it weights 150 lbs.   Now a question for those who might know....Will the screw action work with pushing the barrel pin and barrel?? The reason I ask is because all the hydraulic units just push straight down....this will too, but it will be twisting also. What say you???

I know ...I know...."Just go try it you knuck head"  got it.

I dont see why it would not work, I think I would make sure and really watch what I was doing though...

Usually the head on those spin freely, so it won't actually tuen while the screw does.  I'd say give it a try.  If you go very slowly, and keep a real close watch on everything, you should be able to stop without damaging anything if things go amiss.  

Nope ....just tryed pushing the barrel pin and it's no good....the head does not have a bearing on it....it spins as it presses and the 1/4 " Grade 8 bolt just spins right off also.  Guess I'll have to retro fit it with a 12 ton hydraulic jack.

I think i'd just try to put some type of bearing head , free spinning head on it and use it as is then.
but that's me .......shouldn't be that hard

you can fit a jack in there fairly easy
you will need to make couple parts but shouldnt take long
even the free spinning heads turn when they get alot of pressure on them

I just started taking the screw apart today...I cut out the top gussett and will get two springs, a heavy piece of channel w/ ram welded on and a low profile 12 jack from Tractor Supply.

Be sure to post pics when you are done!  

I'll have it assembled after the parts get back from my welder tomorrow.   ....In the mean time, 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.

That press lookx VERY old, I wouldn't be surprised if it's Civil War era.

It might be worth quite a bit to a collector. You might want to look into that before dismantling it.