winmagman,
Remington barrels can be some of the most stuburn to break loose. THis is because of the taper on the barrel and the lack of gripping surface unless you use the right tools.
In my shop, I have several sets of aluminum bushings for the different contours of barrels, several for just the Remington barrels.
Here is my proceedure to get a Rem 700 barrel off.
1. Clean the barrel and receiver with a cleaner that will not leave any residue after it dries.
2. I apply two plies of standard masking tape the barrel for a distance that will be enough to protect the barrel from any contact with the metal shims.
3. I then either use a thin lead shim or even an index card between the taped barrel and the metal shim and then clamp the barrel in my four bolt barrel vise.
This is where you could have a problem. Without using shims to grip the taper and allow for a large clamping surface, I would doubt that you will get the barrel of using a standard bench vise, at least not without marking up the barrel.
I would get ahold of a smith in your area, I charge only $20 to take off a barrel if that is the only job to do. If there is other barrel work the customer wants, I will not usually charge for removing the barrel unless its a real stubburn one.
One thing that may help is to spray good quality penetrating oil in the receiver and let it stand muzzle down for a couple days to let the oil work into the threads. Sometimes this helps sometimes it does very little but its worth a try.
Without a good barrel vise some Rem 700 barrels can be flat impossible to break loose without damaging them.
Good Shooting!!!
50
