Lately I’ve seen a couple threads where a gunsmith removed a barrel extension to change a permed barrel nut or had posters asking about the feasability of this. I’d like the opinion of the more educated on this question.
I’ve never removed a barrel extension. I helped a friend (gunsmith) put a few in while he was building custom match guns while I was hanging around the shop. When he did this he if I remember he torqued them and in some cases drilled the gas port later, some barrel already had the gas port drilled.
My question is what are the chances of getting the barrel extension to line up and torque properly in the exact same spot after removing it? It seems a crap shoot at best which is why I’ve never delved into it as it seems counterproductive to me to remove and replace them. It really seems pointless at the armorer level that I am at.
IME the alignment pin in the extension will tighten past the gas port when you reinstall the barrel extension. It’s possible to trim enough off the breech end so that the barrel extension will screw on one more rotation. Doing that changes the headspace among other things.
Having had to do this a few hundred times it was faster to have a box of extensions at hand and just try fit several of them until one that timed up was found.
Interesting concept, but I can’t imagine this being easier or more successful than removing and replacing the muzzle device.
It seems like you’d be taking the long way 'round.