I am in the market for my first armorer’s wrench.
I do not mind spending money on a good one to start with and not have to buy multiple wrenches if one breaks or is not up to the task.
Been looking at the Magpul wrench, noticed that it has not been out very long and wondered of those whom use one what you thought of it.
Any feedback will be appreciated.
Thanks;
Clarence
I have two of the DPMS ones. If you have to remove a staked castle nut then I would look over the DPMS one. Both of mine have broken the castle nut nipple off trying to remove a staked castle nut. I had the first one for right at two years, and when it broke I contacted DPMS and they replaced it very quickly at no charge with no questions asked which was nice. The first time I tried the replacement one it broke the castle nut nipple. I had previously put together at least ten lowers with it, and had removed one staked castle nut with the first one before it broke so I feel as though I had gotten my money’s worth out of it. I’m not going to contact them about the second one as I don’t want them to think “yeah right, sure you broke another one Mr. Farley…”
I then bit the bullet and bought the Magpul one. It’s heavy duty and does work, but I don’t like how the castle nut teeth stick out to the side. It doesn’t grip the castle nut very good, and you really have to hold it in place with both hands to keep it from sliding off and scratching the heck out of your receiver extension. I also have a cheap castle nut wrench from Brownell’s I just picked up, but I haven’t used it yet. I may end up buying the high dollar Brownell’s wrench down the road, but that depends more than anything how the Magpul one holds up.
The HammerHead Rifle Tool is one of, if not the best, armorer’s wrenches out there.
I have been using the Magpul wrench for about 6 month now. It is the all around best wrench on the market at the moment.
Good stuff. I’m going to be in the market soon. Coming from you, I’ll be sure to pick one up.
I have a Tapco which is fine, but if I were buying a new one and not concerned with price, I’d get the Magpul one.
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Just picked a MagPul one up a couple months ago. Built 3 uppers and 2 lowers assembled with its help. Best one I’ve used so far.
The Smith Industries is the wrench that military armorers use. It won’t break. If I didn’t already have a Smith I would buy the Magpul wrench.
I love to support Magpul as a company, but I have used a Smith for years, and it appears to have many years of service left. I’m not sure how one would damage it?
Looks like all the responses are very positive for the Magpul wrench.
Only issue noted by RazorBurn is when removing a staked castle nut using the external teeth part of the tool because of an ASAP plate installed.
The internal teeth for the castle nut looks like a pretty solid idea when you can use it.
Well, I am sold.
Have one on the way.
Thanks for all the input.
Clarence
Not really sure what you are trying to say, but in addition to my use of the wrench, I know two shops that crank out a lot of stuff and no one has made any mention of the castle nut wrench issue.
Mine did the same thing. Thankfully, I had a couple of KMR wrenches laying around and one of them saved the day.
I have the Magpul wrench. It doesn’t see a lot of use but I had no trouble breaking loose a staked castle nut with it. I thought it was as easy to break with the Magpul wrench as with the Hammerhead.
The best wrench is the Smith Ent. Have used mine for years. I went thru a few before finding it.
link for sale at Brownells: http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/rifle-tools/wrenches/ar-15-m16-armorers-wrench-prod24190.aspx
What criteria did you use to determine it to be the “best” wrench?
Flip the magpul wrench around and use the other side. It captures the castle nut, and keys into all 4 slots.
Don’t use the side where the teeth are sticking out.
Redmist;
Is it not actually 3 teeth ?
The main reason I went with the Magpul was that you could use it for the castle nut with the internal teeth so your torque would be more in-line with the nut and not outboard using the 3 external teeth causing the wrench to slip off at an angle.
Clarence
Thanks for the tip, that makes a lot of sense. Wish I would have figured that one out on my own!
If you can catch them in stock I’d also throw or the gem state armory armorers wrench as another option for anyone looking for a quality wrench. I’ve only built a few uppers so far with it but it seems very well made and will probably outlast me.
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One of the biggest issues I have seen are people not securing the lower receiver properly to install or remove the castle nut. This is a key part of the process. I recently picked up a Geissele Reaction Block and it is pretty damn nice. The lower receiver extension is fully immobilized and you can use to install other lower parts as well.
http://geissele.com/reaction-block-ar15-m4-mil-spec-buffer-tube-only.html