Luger tools
 

Does anyone know where I can acquire the proper tools, barrel vise and action wrench for rebarreling Lugers? I have successfully rebarreled two Lugers using my home made tools, but I am not fully satisfied whith them, and would like to find the proper set.

You can get a serviceable barrel vice from any gunsmith supply house like Brownells... but the receiver wrench can only be obtained from someone who already owns one (that is homemade... or you will have to make it yourself.

Do a search on "wrench" and see if you can come up with a picture or graphic of one... make sure you search the old forum board too.

If you can't find anything that helps let me know and I can probably find a decent photo of a serviceable design in my Luger photo archive.

Thank you John, I have done a web search and came up empty. I assumed that there was an action wrench specifically made for the Luger. A picture of home made one that works well will suffice. Mine works ok, but Im sure there are gunsmiths out there who have much better designs. As for the barrel vise, I have one, but havent seen a tapered bushing for the Luger barrel.

the left side of this photo shows a wrench design I saw auctioned on eBay... while functional, I think it needs improvement to prevent slippage during the installation of barrels... remember that these barrels in most cases have been in place for 60 to 100 years and will require considerable torque to remove... we don't want to mar the receiver now do we?

http://boards.rennlist.com/lfupload/favoritewrench.jpg

The design on the right would be my modification to allow tighter capture of the receiver before using the wrench. I would cut the wrenchhead where the red line indicates and then drill two holes for use with socket head screws where the yellow images are shown... this would allow a maximum grip on the receiver before the handle is moved. NEVER use anything in between the 'forks' of the receiver... because if you do you will likely ruin the trueness of the breechblock races...

make sure the inside surfaces of the wrench are polished smooth.

The wrench handle should be at least 16 inches long... break initial torque with a 2 lb mallet on the handle until you see movement at the draw lines or witness mark...

To see other wrench designs that I have collected, use this URL to download a 350K zip file containing those graphics...

http://www.lugerforum.com/wrenches.zip

make your barrel vise blocks out of acraglass on a real barrel that has been generously lubricated with release agent... use powdeered resin in the barrel blocks after cleaning out the lube and clamp it HARD.

this should remove your barrel without marring it or the receiver if you are careful...

Let me repeat my original caveat... Changing Luger barrels is not a job for the amateur... I recommend that a pro do it... but if you have the equipment and can afford to live with results... then good luck to you.

John, you are the man! Thank you so much for a wealth of information. I like you idea for the modification, tighter clamping and easier to make.

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Packet,

I have a wrench like John pictured above, excellent condition, without his modification. Price is $100 postpaid. If interested, email me @ hhclark@academicplanet.com

For the bbl vise, buy a set of the blanks from Brownells, drill out oversize, use an old bbl and Acraglas and form to fit. Use their lead shims dusted with rosin between the bbl and vise when removing or installing a bbl.

Hugh

Now thats what I call service! Thank you John and Hugh.

Note: The current 9/10 issue of SGN has an interesting article on changing rifle barrels and the same principles apply to the luger. The 2 piece luger wrenchs that I had made up over 20 years ago, are of John's improved design. They occassional do show up on ebay or LF for sale. TH