Greetings. I posted this to a Saiga forum as well but theres not much traffic so I thought I'd try this out.

So I'm attempting my first barrel threading. I don't have a real vice and have instead rigged something up on a table, so the rifle is laying horizontal instead of vertical. I start twisting and the die doesn't catch, so I apply more pressure. Still nothing. I do this for a little while until eventually I'm putting all my body weight into it while turning. Two things have now happened: I have what appears to be the beginning of a thread on my barrel. 2) It looks as though the first tooth on my die is gone on two of the sides.

So I stop and verify that the TAT is still able to screw all the way in/ out of the die. All good there.

So I guess my question is -- is it normal to need to apply this much pressure when starting the threading process? I've never done anything like this before so I don't know what to expect, and this is just really surprising.

Thanks!