Joined
·
241 Posts
When I purchased my second Dan Wesson revolver, a 1977 15-2V4 in what appears to be unfired condition, I was very excited about the find and the price, but what I didn't know was that Dan Wesson's often have frozen barrel nuts & the notches for the wrench will often strip when attempting to loosen the nut, especially when using the older, original two-piece barrel nut wrench. Since the original barrel nut only has two notches, once it's stripped it's a big challenge to remove the barrel nut without risk of damage to the barrel & shroud. Of course, I learned all of this the hard way, by attempting to remove the barrel nut with the original barrel nut tool & partially stripping the notches. Thankfully, with a lot of research, primarily on the Dan Wesson forum, I learned what I believe is the best technique to remove the barrel nut without damage. I've posted my steps with descriptions and pictures below so that if any other wheel gun fans on 1911addicts run into this problem, they'll have a resource that may help.
Picture of partially stripped barrel nut:
![Circle Silver Aluminium Still life photography Household hardware]()
Step 1: remove the front sight, soak the barrel nut with your favorite brand of penetrating oil for at least 24 hours. I used Liquid Wrench because it's what I had on hand but many recommend PB, Kroil or FreeAll. I used a padded vice to hold the barrel facing up in order to achieve maximum penetration and I ended up soaking it for 4 days. Every evening I used a cotton swab to dab a little more Liquid Wrench onto the barrel nut.
![Gas Still life photography Cameras & optics Circle Camera lens]()
Step 2: Order a better wrench from EWKarms.com. Eric specializes in making parts for Dan Wesson revolvers and his barrel nut wrenches seem to fit tighter in the notches and are easier to push into the barrel nut to avoid stripping the notches. He has two different wrenches for the small frame (.357) and I ordered the EWK Hex Barrel Nut wrench so that I could attached a box or crescent wrench for more leverage.
![Shadow Flashlight Silver]()
Step 3: After at least 24 hours of soaking, using the newer style barrel nut wrench, take a bar clamp and clamp the barrel not wrench tightly into the notches of the stripped barrel nut. An 8" crescent wrench works great on the hex head of the barrel nut wrench and gives you much more leverage than the little 2" handle on the standard wrench. The key here is to make sure the clamp is tightly pushing the wrench into the notches on the barrel nut and to have patience. If it doesn't come loose at first, soak it for another 24 hours and try again. From what I've been told, it will eventually come loose if you give it time. Mine came loose with very little effort after 4 days of soaking, but wouldn't loosen at all without using the clamp.
![Carbon Bicycle accessory Tool Cutting tool]()
![Trigger Air gun Gun accessory Gun barrel Tool]()
Step 4: Buy a replacement barrel nut that has 4 notches instead of 2, put a light coating of synthetic grease on the threads (I used Super Lube) and don't over tighten the new barrel nut when re-assembling the barrel & shroud. I used the barrel nut wrench to gently tighten the barrel nut until it was hand tight, then I gave it a 1/4 hard turn to snug it up without over tightening. You can buy the replacement barrel nuts on EWKarms.com or on the CZ-USA online store.
![Khaki Metal Circle Gun accessory Gunshot]()
Picture of partially stripped barrel nut:
Step 1: remove the front sight, soak the barrel nut with your favorite brand of penetrating oil for at least 24 hours. I used Liquid Wrench because it's what I had on hand but many recommend PB, Kroil or FreeAll. I used a padded vice to hold the barrel facing up in order to achieve maximum penetration and I ended up soaking it for 4 days. Every evening I used a cotton swab to dab a little more Liquid Wrench onto the barrel nut.
Step 2: Order a better wrench from EWKarms.com. Eric specializes in making parts for Dan Wesson revolvers and his barrel nut wrenches seem to fit tighter in the notches and are easier to push into the barrel nut to avoid stripping the notches. He has two different wrenches for the small frame (.357) and I ordered the EWK Hex Barrel Nut wrench so that I could attached a box or crescent wrench for more leverage.
Step 3: After at least 24 hours of soaking, using the newer style barrel nut wrench, take a bar clamp and clamp the barrel not wrench tightly into the notches of the stripped barrel nut. An 8" crescent wrench works great on the hex head of the barrel nut wrench and gives you much more leverage than the little 2" handle on the standard wrench. The key here is to make sure the clamp is tightly pushing the wrench into the notches on the barrel nut and to have patience. If it doesn't come loose at first, soak it for another 24 hours and try again. From what I've been told, it will eventually come loose if you give it time. Mine came loose with very little effort after 4 days of soaking, but wouldn't loosen at all without using the clamp.
Step 4: Buy a replacement barrel nut that has 4 notches instead of 2, put a light coating of synthetic grease on the threads (I used Super Lube) and don't over tighten the new barrel nut when re-assembling the barrel & shroud. I used the barrel nut wrench to gently tighten the barrel nut until it was hand tight, then I gave it a 1/4 hard turn to snug it up without over tightening. You can buy the replacement barrel nuts on EWKarms.com or on the CZ-USA online store.
