Quote History Quoted:
First question I have is: Is it normal for the gas block to be tight when trying to position it up to the gas hole? When trying to slide it up to the gas hole it starts to get tight about 1" inch before its even in place.
Second question: The BCG has a coating of oil on it, is this sufficient enough for lubrication?
Third question: Do I need to use loctite on the screws that secure the free float Aero quad rail to the Seekins barrel nut ?
There were no instructions provided with the handguard, barrel, gasblock and BCG, I'm a little disappointed as I was thinking Aero Precision was a great company with solid product that supply everything needed.
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1. It's normal for the GB to be tight at the gas block. It's not normal to have to beat it on with a hammer. Light taps, or putting the barrel in the freezer to contract the metal, would be all that's needed. Make sure the set screws are loose and not inhibiting further movement. In addition make sure you don't put the GB all the way back to the shoulder on the barrel. You're running a free float rail so you don't have an handguard cap but you still need to provide the 1/32" of spacing as if there were a handguard cap. If the barrel is properly dimpled it should ensure the GB is lined up right when you tighten the set screw.
2. No that packaging oil is not sufficient. Use some 5w-20, or 5w-30, motor oil and coat the BCG, you shouldn't need more than a teaspoon.
3. You should, but not right now. Make sure the rifle runs properly before you makes things harder to come apart.
Here is an overview of the HG install process, just showing a different outer barrel nut. For your barrel nut the index cuts face toward the muzzle. The shims come into play if the the outer barrel nut gas tube hole won't line up with the receiver after tightening the inner nut. There should be one thin shim and two thick shims.
I can't exactly recall from memory how much each shim moves the barrel nut. I want to say the thin shim will move the barrel nut from being mis-aligned at the outside edge to being aligned. I think one thick shim will move you from the outside edge of the hole to the inside edge. You also have to take into account the tightening process. IIRC the tightening process is intended to take one hole/index mark.
So, if your hand tight and barrel nut lines up at the outside edge of the middle hole you will need the thin shim to get you perfectly aligned before tightening. When you finish tightening you'll be aligned at the left hole of the three. If you're hand tight and line up perfectly with either of the two leading holes, or the leading index mark, you won't need any shims.
Kind of shitty explanation but it's the best I've got. Play around with putting the barrel nut on hand tight while you pay attention to the index marks and holes. Then try applying different shims to understand how much they move the alignment. From there figure the tightening process requires you to go to the next point over from where you're at when hand tight.
The barrel doesn't need instructions, the barrel extension pin faces up and mates into the cut out in the upper receiver. Some barrels fit into the receiver with some slop others take some light taps while taking care not to damage the crown on the barrel. You can search youtube for BCG dis-assembly .