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Posted: 2/4/2026 4:27:31 AM EDT
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I keep hearing that an adjustable gas block does not belong on a serious rifle, and can understand why, however, I was under the impression that the Rifle Speed design doesn't fall into this category and is designed well enough that it breaks that mold. Has anyone seen a Rifle Speed fail? TIA. |
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Originally Posted By ELittlefield: I'm pretty impressed by the Riflespeed. If you're going to have adjustable gas, a big mechanical piece to get leverage on the throttle seems like a good idea. That. |
Point shooting will give you monkeypox. - John_Wayne777
The Emu War could have been won if the Australians used red dots on their handguns.
The Emu War could have been won if the Australians used red dots on their handguns.
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Originally Posted By RD20: I keep hearing that an adjustable gas block does not belong on a serious rifle, and can understand why, however, I was under the impression that the Rifle Speed design doesn't fall into this category and is designed well enough that it breaks that mold. Has anyone seen a Rifle Speed fail? TIA. The people who say adjustable gas blocks don't belong on serious rifles are the same types of people who said red dots don't belong on pistols or earlier than that, optics or red dots don't belong on AR15s. Also people who say flashlights dont belong on guns. You have to have a specific set of features and build quality on an adjustable gas block for serious use and a maintenance routine if you dont want to set once and forget for an unsuppressed tune... but for me, as head firearms instructor of my police department and someone who relies on my firearm for "serious" use, I own both Riflespeed and Superlative Arms gas blocks and reccomend them without hesitation. I have a couple of SLR gas blocks and they are fine but not on my duty rifle. I have a Superlative on my 300 BLK duty rifle. There is especially no downside to the Superlative and setting and forgetting in restrictive mode. Carbon locking is just a feature at that point. And those guys who say adjustable blocks are not for "serious"guns should definitely tell all the SF guys with adjustable gas blocks on their 416s, M7s, etc. they are not up to arfcom armchair standards.  All that said... Brassfacts has a nice video about how his Riflespeed keeps locking up on YouTube. Probably an ammo issue if I had to guess. Mine has been good and I am considering swapping more of my SLR and Superlative gas blocks over to Riflespeed where appropriate. |
| I have always heard that adjustable gas blocks don't belong on serious rifles and I have stuck to that. Having said that, my 3 gun rifle has an adjustable gas block and a lightweight carrier with 20,000ish rounds through it without any issues. |
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I have not personally used rfielspeed or seen a riflespeed fail. I've only ever read of and watched videos of others complaining of it seizing up. Seems to me that it needs to be lubed at the weld spring and worked (like just twist it through it's adjustment range both directions and then back to your preferred setting) every so many rounds to prevent seizing? |
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Originally Posted By DevL: The people who say adjustable gas blocks don't belong on serious rifles are the same types of people who said red dots don't belong on pistols or earlier than that, optics or red dots don't belong on AR15s. Also people who say flashlights dont belong on guns. You have to have a specific set of features and build quality on an adjustable gas block for serious use and a maintenance routine if you dont want to set once and forget for an unsuppressed tune... but for me, as head firearms instructor of my police department and someone who relies on my firearm for "serious" use, I own both Riflespeed and Superlative Arms gas blocks and reccomend them without hesitation. I have a couple of SLR gas blocks and they are fine but not on my duty rifle. I have a Superlative on my 300 BLK duty rifle. There is especially no downside to the Superlative and setting and forgetting in restrictive mode. Carbon locking is just a feature at that point. And those guys who say adjustable blocks are not for "serious"guns should definitely tell all the SF guys with adjustable gas blocks on their 416s, M7s, etc. they are not up to arfcom armchair standards.
All that said... Brassfacts has a nice video about how his Riflespeed keeps locking up on YouTube. Probably an ammo issue if I had to guess. Mine has been good and I am considering swapping more of my SLR and Superlative gas blocks over to Riflespeed where appropriate. - Goes on to say he doesn't recommend certain types of AGB's on service rifles. - Recommends RifleSpeed gas blocks. - Then uses an example of a failing RifleSpeed gas block, but attributes it to an ammunition failure without any specifics. OK. |
Point shooting will give you monkeypox. - John_Wayne777
The Emu War could have been won if the Australians used red dots on their handguns.
The Emu War could have been won if the Australians used red dots on their handguns.
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I’n my opinion it comes down to heat. If you are dumping rounds at a high rate, it’s easy to see the small parts in the adjustable gas block failing under extreme heat soak. So, for Special forces or small squirmishes close to home and/or with a supressor, and AGB seems ok in my eyes. If you are shipping me off the Middle East for extended periods of time with expected long firefights I’d take a non adjustable, solid gas block. |
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Originally Posted By KD_KA_Drinker: I’n my opinion it comes down to heat. If you are dumping rounds at a high rate, it’s easy to see the small parts in the adjustable gas block failing under extreme heat soak. So, for Special forces or small squirmishes close to home and/or with a supressor, and AGB seems ok in my eyes. If you are shipping me off the Middle East for extended periods of time with expected long firefights I’d take a non adjustable, solid gas block. The rifle speed adjustable is holding up fine on my lima six, the gas tube fails before the gas block does. |
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I'm up to three of them now. They work as advertised. They need preventive maintenance (lubrication) to keep the plunger from sticking in the channel. I have had one get pretty stuck. I just spun the collar off and then took a flat blade and pried the plunger out using the tab on the top of the plunger retainer ring (almost seems designed for that purpose). Wiped it down and lubed it and reassembled it and it was fine. Understand they do that if not kept relatively clean/lubed. Still my favorite AGB but they are not "maintenance free" like some claim. |
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