Damn!
I would: 1st be sure I had the locking collar fully unscrewed & EL24 lugs in the correct position, then
remove the rifle from the stock and immerse the pair in a long skinny plastic pan ( like for wall papering) in Kroil (or 50%/-50% atf & acetone) & leave at least two weeks at room temp, longer if cooler before I tried any prying/pulling efforts. After the soak & allowing time for any acetone to evaporate I might try GENTLE heating with a hot air gun, but not full blast. (boiling water would be ideal, but for the danger of flash rusting) 200 F won’t degrade the heat treatment. If it weren’t for the delicate .22 barrel & the precision 8mm bore, I’d use a lot more heat & force, but you can’t in this instance, without killing both siamese twins. I think I might try some kind of slide hammer pulling on the rear of the insert, manufacture a screw type puller or there is a spot where you might pry between the rear bridge & the shoulder of the insert bolt housing (not the bolt itself, but where the fat part sits against the rear bridge). cringe!
“As always, if you are captured or killed, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions.”
Same goes for the above suggestions, if you screw it up, I’ll say you didn’t follow directions! This is the kind of project that I like to think about & visualize the process for a bit before doing anything because there’s probably only 1 good attempt in something like this, more will result in buggering-up something.
(if its really rusted together, Coca-Cola eats rust, but will damage pretty surfaces as well. food for thought)
