So, I have a question for the local guys and would like some suggestions for my course of action

I went into a local shop to have a barrel nut and castle nut tightened. I used to work with the owner and one of the other guys in there, so they said they would help me out for free. I handed my gear to one of their workers, and they told him to go do what I had asked. I got the rifle back, and went home. I set it in the case and waited a while. I did notice that they did not put any grease on the threads for the barrel nut. So I borrowed a combo wrench from another member here, which I am done with and will be returning sometime this week, and wanted to put some quality grease on my threads, just in case I want to swap barrels later on. Well, the barrel was not very tight, in fact, it came loose simply from the weight of the wrench. I read in the faqs on the site here, that torque should be between 30-80lbs. Well, the wrench weighs about 5lbs at the most, didnt actually weigh it, but its not that heavy.

What kind of problems could have been cause by a loose barrel nut?

Also, I PAID them to do a stock swap on my AR10 before I got the wrench. I only paid 25$, but I still paid them to do their job. I had him swap my carbine tube for a rifle tube. Here on this site, it says the rifle extension should be torqued between 35-39lbs. This was a little more than hand tight. I got it off with my hand, but felt nowhere near 35lbs. I dont workout that much, and it felt rather easy, but still needed a little elbow grease. Also, what kind of possible problems could this cause?

Im deciding what I should do, or how I should go about this. I know they did me a favor, I have no qualms with the owner, or the shop, its the fact they have an employee taking shortcuts like this. Should I go ahead and say who did it, or should I keep my mouth shut before I talk to the owner? I just found all this out Saturday when I got my hands on the wrench. So, I havent had the chance to get by their shop yet, but I figured I should ask here. I dont want to ruin business for the guys, but I dont want them to ruin their own name with stupid employees.

Any suggestions?

Speaking in generics since I can't visualize it, talk to the owner. He needs to be made aware of what His guys are doing. They represent him and his business.

The truth is that 30 ft lbs does not take much pressure.

However, a good gunsmith will put some blue loctite on the threads to make sure just heat and recoil should not loosen it.

Some rails/free floats requre a bit more than 30/35 ft. lbs. and then you find youself, as a smith, trying to be sure you line up the gas tube and do not back off the torque( Bad Idea).

It requires patience sometimes to keep loosening the barrel nut and spinning it and try over an over until you get the right torque AND the gas tube alignment.

I love when the gas tube notch is halfway there and I have around 40 ft lbs on a standard handguard/barrel install. You can move the barrell nut and not worry that you have over-torqued (it is aluminum) the barrel to the receiver.

Good Luck

I dont want any kind of damage, and I wasnt sure if I would have a case, since I got no paperwork or anything like that. I figured the bureaucratics wouldve been my downfall if anything bad did happen. Luckily I found this problem before being completed with the build and firing the weapon.

I have since rectified the problem. No specific amount of torque, just know its closer to the 80lb side. Gas tube is lined up perfect, so Im not worried about it now. Still need to have it head spaced when I get my BCG in. Should be here in a couple days. Well, Im gonna call the owner tomorrow, and let him know whats up.

I think I should go ahead and say its Full Armor Firearms. People should know about these type of things. The guy to talk to is Matt McManus, he is a good guy. Knows his stuff, I cant remember the schmuck that screwed with my rifle. I know he carried a Sig 556 pistol, and said he carried one in the Navy. What a douche. The owner is James, I know him as Wheels. He is a good guy, just asks way too much for his AR parts.

Thats what happened with my buddy's rifle. We ended up staying around 40lbs. I know 35lbs is not that tight, but I shouldnt have been able to loosing the rifle tube with my hand, and my barrel nut should not have come loose simply by the weight of the wrench. I put the wrench on, dropped my cigarette, let go of the wrench to grab the smoke, and the wrench swung down like nothing. That cant be right.

No Loctite was used, nor did I put any on there. I just went according to the tacked thread in the build it yourself section. Id say my barrel is tightened to around 70lbs. I only had to back it off twice to get it lined up. My friend's, we tried 15 or 20 times. We ended up settling on the low side around 40lbs or so. Granted, this is all done by feel, so actualy torque may be well of estimate, but I believe its not more than 80lbs. Atleast its not stripped anyway