I have a CMMG Banshee and I’m having one hell of a time removing the flash hider. Yes, I know how they go on and are taken off, I’m turning it in the correct direction, but there’s something about this one that doesn’t add up. I believe that the accepted torque on one of these is around 40 pd/Ft, but I’m pulling over 60 pd/Ft and it’s not budging, not even hinting at moving.

Does CMMG use Loctite, Rocksett, or anything else to hold these things on?

I don't recall cmmg using rocksett on their muzzle devices. If it's not coming off with a wrench, I suggest heating the muzzle end up with either a heat gun or a flame. That usually works for me. If that doesn't work, then you can soak the muzzle end in some hot water for a while and then try again in the event they used rocksett.

We never heard back from you. Where you able to remove it?

Sorry, I’m in the middle of building a house and getting ready to move at the same time that I’m working on projects like this. But no, it’s still on the gun. I contacted CMMG and they swear that they don’t use anything on their parts. I had a problem removing another part as well due to it being beyond torque spec and I have to wonder if each gun is assembled there by a single individual and whoever put this one together was part ape and just yanked on the wrench all the way through. I’ll have some time Friday and over the weekend to go over it and get it off though. I want to get my cherry bomb on it so that I can put the Trash Panda to use.

The barrel has to be nice and secured in blocks in a vice, like really tight so it doesn’t turn. You probably know this, just checking. I’ve never messed with those, but LMT uses king kong or something to install flash hiders and this has worked for me. Once it’s secured and tight enough I can pop off anything unless it has rocksett or something.

Good news and bad news.

First the good news, I finally got the flash hider off of the Mk.47 Banshee. Somewhere between 60 & 70 pound/feet it broke loose. So I’m all ready to put on the Q Cherry Bomb so that I can fit a new Trash Panda to it.

Now the bad news, the Cherry Bomb that came with the Trash Panda, a suppressor intended for .308” bores, is the version that’s threaded for 1/2x28, in other words, intended for a .224” bore, generally speaking.

I contacted Q and all that I got from them was, “sorry, we don’t have any that are threaded 5/8x24.”  No, “we’ll put you on a list and as soon as we make the next batch we’ll get one to you” or anything.

It’s so nice to have a suppressor that I can’t use as intended after waiting almost a year to take it home. Q lost a customer today, not counting the proper Cherry Bomb that I’ll buy. I’ve bought several of their products from a Honey Badger to a couple of suppressors and was looking forward to a Mini Fix in 8.6 Blackout. Not now, I’ll just build my own, it’s basically a .338 Whisper so getting the reamer won’t be hard at all.

Glad to hear that you got it off. The guy that put that upper together must have really gone nuts with the torque wrench when he assembled it.

Thats weird about that cherry bomb. Usually 30 cal is threaded 5/8x24. Weird that one bored for .308 would have a 1/2x28 threading on it.  I did the cherry bomb thing for awhile, but eventually dumped them all and went Xeno. Pretty happy with that solution so far.

I can understand a small manufacturer like Q running short, or not being interested in an exchange as they have no idea what I did, if anything, to it before sending it to them. But if they had just said something like “hey we’re sorry that you got the wrong muzzle device with your suppressor, we don’t have any right now but we’ll put you on a list” or we have some but we can’t accept exchanges, however we’ll sell you one” I would have been okay with that. But they just gave me the middle finger and went on with their day. So no more Q anything for me, no matter how cool any of their new stuff might be in the future.

But I did find a couple of Cherry Bombs on GB, so I bought on that’s supposed to be here Monday. You live and you learn, and by the time that you have it all figured it time is up.

The torque required to break free something tight is always much higher than the torque used to install it. Also, removing something tight shouldn’t be done with a torque wrench, but a regular wrench, breaker bar, etc.

I know you got it already but so long as you know it isn't pinned, if you soak it in hot water for 30 minutes, then hit it with a torch, and twist with a breaker bar, you cover all your bases and it will come off.

You used a torque wrench to remove a stuck muzzle device?  Ayee!  Do you not have a breaker bar?

I have a breaker bar, but after trying to loosen it initially with a wrench and then adding a 1/2” ratchet in the attempt to get it off I was curious as to just how tight they had put this thing on. Loosening something with a torque wrench doesn’t cause any damage, it’s just unusual.

My auto shop teacher would disagree.  A torque wrench is not designed to work in that manner.

I’m going by what the Snap On rep told me and what I learned as a mechanic a few decades ago. I have no desire to argue the point, just letting you know where I got my information. If it’s wrong then it’s wrong, but I do have my torque wrenches checked for calibration every few years and have never had to have one re-calibrated.

I'm sure tools have improved over the years and perhaps it isn't a big of a deal now, but Bob Hoffman would have a k'niption if he saw you using a torque wrench to break a nut, ha.  Not wanting to argue either, just relaying what I was taught way back in the day

I’m curious. Who’s Bob Hoffman?  That’s not an insult towards the man, I’ve honestly never heard of him and when I did a search just now the No.1 result was a basketball coach.

Bob was my auto shop teacher

One thing that I do want to point out as a clarification on the discussion that has started on the proper way to use a torque wrench.

I am not, and never would, just yank on a torque wrench to loosen any form of fastener. That’s the job of a breaker bar as has been pointed out by others in this thread. When I use a torque wrench to loosen any fastener I use it to check torque as I do so, I’m very careful to not damage the torque wrench just as I do when tightening a fastener. For example, if the proper torque for fastener X is supposed to be 40 pound/feet I’ll set the torque wrench to 40 pound/feet and as soon as it reaches that limit, if it does reach that limit, I stop. Then I increase the setting to 50 pound/feet and try again, and if it reaches that limit I stop. And on and on until it loosens fastener X or I reach the limit of said torque wrench, which on this one I believe that it’s 150 pound/feet; I’m not at my shop at the moment to check that.  I am also not in the habit of loosening fasteners with a torque wrench, I’ve done this maybe 10 or 15 times in the last few decades.

So to be perfectly clear, I am not, and never will advocate anyone using a torque wrench as a breaker bar and just pulling on it until whatever fastener is being worked on comes loose. I do normally use a breaker bar and would have done so on this muzzle device, but in this instance I was curious as to the torque with which this device was tightened when the rifle was made.

Cool, thanks.