Just finished mating a new barrel to an upper. Frist time.
14.5" DD barrel w/ Vltor lopro gas block and pinned AAC Brakeout Compensator. This was shipped to me with the barrel nut already installed of course.
The first thing I noticed was that the barrel nut looked like it had been previously installed. Keep in mind that this is my first time mating a barrel to an upper. Really don’t know what a new barrel nut should look like.
Tighting the barrel nut was a tribulation for me. Could not get the scallops on the barrel nut to align with the gas tube opening on the upper to save my life. Did the tighten, loosen thing 30 times at least and after wringing off an ear of the barrel nut. Took the upper out of the vise block and looked inside the barrel nut. There appeared to be what looked like carbon build up inside where the barrel and the nut mate. (Wish I would have taken a pic of this. Was pissed at this point) Scraped this out and was able to get everything aligned.
I know this is alot of fuss for a $8.00 part but if I pay for new, I want NEW. There was no way for me to replace it other than sending it back because of the pinning / welding.
I kinda expected this to be asked. It was a shop that you would not expect this from. I’m hesitant to say since I made a post in the feedback forum (It was good feedback) and it ended up deleted with no explaination at all.
If you post feedback in the feedback forum and they are not a site sponsor or a member of M4C then it gets deleted. We don’t care about feedback for outside sources.
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I’m not an expert on these things, and I can’t tell a whole lot from the picture, but it looks to me that the barrel nut is covered in a lube film (like the inside of an upper receiver). If that isn’t lube film, I would be worried. If it is lube film, I would wonder why it is on the barrel nut.
I’ve changed several barrel nuts and can say that I’ve never had one look like that, even ones that had been previous installed.
If the barrel nut looked like that when you got it, I wouldn’t have even bothered installing it. It would’ve gone back immediately.
Well, when I ordered it I expected to get a new one. This is one of those instances where I don’t know what I don’t know. Even so, it just didnt look new. Yeah it looked painted although there is no pealing or anything to indicate it was painted other than the bare metal spots you see in the pic.
When I rounded off the scallop on the nut I was torquing the nut. No torque wrench. Got it snug and then tried to get it to the next gas tube index. Wouldn’t go. Rounding off the scallop was probably my fault even in light of the crud in the nut. It was then that I took it out of the vise block and inspected it and found the crap inside of it. After removing it I was able to get it real tight and indexed. Shot 150 rds without a problem.
Here’s the deal. The torque value is supposed to be between 30-80 ft./lbs. Now I personally do not use a torque wrench because I have done more than a few and can almost always get the nut tight and lined up. If you haven’t done this alot, then you may want to use one to see where you are at.
In this case the crap on there may have contributed to the problem.
Since I don’t have any experience with this, I wanted to see if my suspicions were founded before I did this. And yes, if it smells like it looks I’ll definitely call them out. Outside of this forum of course.
I don’t know what I don’t know when it comes to this. It’s why Im asking.
looks weird to me… not just the splotchy phosphate, but the whole thing… cant quite put my finger on it, but it doesn’t look right. i’ll have to grab one out of the shop tonight for comparison.
yea… i hope i didnt give the impression that it always looks like that… :o
well i think its just from looking at a barrel nut against a receiver without a delta assembly that made it look funny. the only thing i can point out from the pic is the fucked up parker, which youve obviously noticed. personally, i would not use a bbl nut with bad park, but if its already permed on there, what can you do? you might try cold bluing the spots before final assembly.
Thanks for the offer Grant but the muzzle device is pinned and welded on. If it needs to be replaced because of a potential failure or it’s some chicom hunk of junk, then you’re my man.
That’s what I’d really like to know…is this something I should be concerned about? Are there pieces of junk barrel nuts just like there are poj of anything else?
I’ve got it all together. I did have to file down the ear that I buggered up so I wouldn’t have a problem with the rail. Other than looking like crap, it seems fine. Ran 150 rds through it yesterday after it was done without the first problem.
Should this thing be replaced?
Dave_M
The nut pretty much looked just like you see it there when I got it. Other than the ear I messed up. The receiver is fine. You’re seeing a sloppy job with anti-seize and having to handle this thing 30 plus times.
bkb0000
I’ve thought about the cold blue. I have some if I need it.
