Today I received my DD CHF 14.5" middy back from being pinned and welded. I also had the gas block pinned. The top and bottom of the gas block is now marred/distorted. Where the gas tube would slide in normally before pinning, it is now an interference fit, which would require a good bit of hammering to seat properly. If I drive the tube in, it’ll probably never come back out. If I have it mis-aligned any, there’s no friggen way I’ll be able to turn it.
I attempted to call the manufacturer today and their offices are closed until tuesday. The answering message said NOT to leave a message as it is never checked.
Determine what is causing the interference. If it’s just a bur or a nick you might use a drill bit and your fingers to remove it. Put a little cold blue on that weld/grind mark on the FH. It won’t take on the crush washer though, it’s stainless.
I’m betting whoever pinned that gas block had it slip a little while they were setting up and in clamping it more securely, slightly distorted the hole making the fit tighter. You should really be taking this up with whoever did the work. Sorry.
Thanks for the replies so far. I do have an email in to the shop and I’m sure I’ll have to wait until tuesday to hear anything back.
I’ll let you know what I eventually hear back. I was posting initially to see if this was something that could be worked around. I really don’t want the hassle of waiting for it to be fixed. I really don’t want a barrel that had to have the flash hider ground off and a new one re-drilled and welded. Not to mention drilling again to pin a new gas block. I selected quality components and used a well-respected shop for the services. I should have received a quality piece of work.
I’m not worried about the appearance of the weld. I actually prefer to have it obviously welded rather than silver soldered. I could have done silver solder in my own shop. At first glance I was worried that they ground the weld right off. Upon closer inspection, there is about 90 degrees of the material still fused.
The marring of the flash hider will mostly be covered by a 10" rail, but it just plain shouldn’t be there. The stopper here is that the hole for the gas tube appears to be distorted so that the gas tube is no longer slip fit. It makes installation an unnecessary pain in the ass. It makes future maintenance a no-go.
If they are a reputable shop they should make it good IMO if it cannot be repaired without grinding and rewelding they would be replacing the barrel and FH and GB.
If you want a slick, but obvious weld, set your slave pin a hair below flush and tig weld it using no filler rod. This will leave it slightly concave but neat and smooth.
