Should I have torqued the the castle nut down a bit more?

AR/M4 AR Technical Discussion
1

After deciding that my lower was put togehter correctly via some much needed range time, I decided to stake my castle nut. I snugged the castle nut a bit more before staking the castle nut, but didn’t over do it.

A little while ago, I took off the CTR stock and grabbed the receiver extension in order to see if the castle nut, as tightened, would allow any play of the extension. I was able to detect a some rotation by just trying to rotate the extension by hand. I used what I would say moderate pressure/torque in twising the extension.

Should the castle nut have been torqued down a bit more in order to prevent zero rotation? Or will this slight rotation be okay? The castle nut ain’t going anywhere, so there is no danger of the receiver extension “working loose.”

What say you?

ETA: If need be, i can just break the staking and get a new end plate.

2

Here are my thoughts and I just did (4) lower receiver extensions last night.

  1. I have noticed that if you use crappy end plates the notch will not always fit properly in the recess portion of the LRE and thereby causing it to move slightly.

  2. I use a small amount of anti-seize applied to the LRE and then screw it in. I honestly do not use a torque wrench because I can do it by feel with no issues.

  3. Once I have checked everything to include any play or wobble I stake it in two places.

We are using Bushamsters and even with these I have had no problems with them as long as all the parts are correct. One thing that I have noticed and it was mentioned here is that all end plates are not created equal. Some look like cheap as pot metal and do not like to be staked.

Just my 120 Dinar.

3

Thanks for the reply, greatly appreciated.

Oh, and by the way, the end I have is the one that came with my MagPul CTR stock. And I totally agree with you regarding the quality of some endplates, as I have seen what the cheaper looking end plates look like.

4

What’s the point of the anti-seize? I obviously realize what it does, but what purpose does it serve here?

My only thought is that you may want to make it easily removable in the future if necessary.

5

Yes, the point of the anti-seize is to allow for easier removal of the lower receiver extension in the future. It seems that over time it can be especially difficult because of the steel castle nut and the aluminum lower.