Auto-5 Mag Tube Removal?

[Mossyrock]

Gentlemen;

I am in the middle of rebuilding a thrashed Browning Auto-5 in 12ga. The magazine tube is bent, and I need to unscrew it from the receiver to replace it. HA! I have removed the set screw at the magazine cut off, and I am trying to unscrew this thing counter-clockwise, but it WILL NOT BUDGE. Now, I've removed the mag tubes from two different Remington model 11s with no issues at all, but this beast is frustrating the snot out of me!! My next step is to apply a little bit of heat and see if that will help. The tube is beyond repair, so a pipe wrench is not out of the question; I just need to make sure I don't tweak the receiver. Any suggestions that don't involve Det Cord or C-4?

 

[PA4476]

I have looked at mine and I beleive it is sweated or silver soldered into the receiver. It may also screw in, but I do think it is soldered in as well. Some heat should do the trick.

Place the receiver between two pieces of soft wood, maybe 1'' X 2'' pine and clamp in a vise. Put some heat to it and use the pipe wrench "gently".

Please let us know if this works.

 

[Mossyrock]

Well, I added some heat to the equation with no success. Admittedly, I didn't add much out of fear of over-heating the receiver. Frustration abounds.....

 

[PA4476]

I looked up the A5 in all my gun books where it shows a break down of them.

And in every single pic, it shows the receiver with mag tube attached.

BUT, gun parts corp does offer a replacement mag tube. So it HAS to come off somehow. I just don't know how.

I don't think it will hurt the receiver to get the mag tube pretty darn hot, remember the receiver is thick heat treated steel, and the mag tube is pretty thin. So you could have the tube red hot and the receiver would be a little cooler. Try putting the heat inside the tube from the back side, heat it up from the inside out.

 

[Gordon]

Try heating the reciever in an oven to 300 degrees and drop some pre choppedpieces of dry ice down the mag tube. That should enablea bigpipewrenchwith acheaterbar withereciever heldin avisetobreakitloose.Workquickly!

 

[Virginian]

If that puppy is silver soldered you are probably going to have to get things hot, not warm. Have you got a replacement tube? Does that have threads on it? If so, I'd say put the pipe wrench on the tube with the receiver in the vice, and apply heat below the wrench until it breaks loose.
Good luck.

 

[PA4476]

any luck ?

 

[Mossyrock]

Not yet. I must say I am a bit reluctant to heat things up THAT much....

 

[Virginian]

You need to find out if it is threaded. If it is, I doubt it is silver soldered, and vice versa. If it is Loctited threads, then as soon as they get good and warm it will start moving. I don't have any metallurgy books handy, but below 900 degrees F for relatively short duration the receiver shouldn't care. If you get the receiver glowing cherry red, you overdid it a little.

 

[Gordon]

I think it's screwed in with course threads. Prolly seized up good. Prolly NO solder. Mild under 400 degree oven heat will NOT change any temper. Idea being to heat the reciever to expand the hole. The dry ice inside the thin tube will chill it and contract it away from expanded (heated) reciever. When you pipe wrench the tube rock the wrench both ways incase it is resverse threaded and that tends to loosen seized threads. As it comes out spray it with Kroil or other penetrateing oil.

 

[Mossyrock]

OK, I wimped out. Not wanting to be the one to put heat the the receiver of my Auto-5, I took it to the local gun emporium and let their gun-plumber have a go at it. He took it in the back, and I heard the torch fire up. Then I heard absolutely HELLACIOUS banging with a VERY large hammer...and a HORRENDOUS screeching like the loosening of a long-rusted crypt door being opened....then....DEAD SILENCE. A few minutes later, he came strolling out from the back with a magazine tube in one hand and an Auto-5 receiver in the other. "Eh, no problem at all. It turned right out. Looks like it was secured with red Loc-Tite." WHAT WAS ALL THAT RACKET?!? "Oh, that? I just made all that noise so you would think I was earning the $30 I'm going to charge you for three minutes of work." JACKASS!!!! :banghead:

 

[KevinAbbeyTech]

OK, I wimped out. Not wanting to be the one to put heat the the receiver of my Auto-5, I took it to the local gun emporium and let their gun-plumber have a go at it. He took it in the back, and I heard the torch fire up. Then I heard absolutely HELLACIOUS banging with a VERY large hammer...and a HORRENDOUS screeching like the loosening of a long-rusted crypt door being opened....then....DEAD SILENCE. A few minutes later, he came strolling out from the back with a magazine tube in one hand and an Auto-5 receiver in the other. "Eh, no problem at all. It turned right out. Looks like it was secured with red Loc-Tite." WHAT WAS ALL THAT RACKET?!? "Oh, that? I just made all that noise so you would think I was earning the $30 I'm going to charge you for three minutes of work." JACKASS!!!!

Sounds like you just needed a bigger hammer.