AR Sponsor
Posted: 5/8/2007 6:03:14 PM EDT
|
Does anyone have any advice for installing a low profile gas block? I'm in the process of taking the standard front sight post off my Colt AR15 to put on a Larue 10in rail, and I was going to replace it with either a Larue or Noveske low profile gas block...but I wanted to ask if anyone had any pointers or advice before I got started? And yes, I did see the tutorial in the Built It Yourself forum (which was helpful).  Thanks in advance! |
If you get one with the set screws like the vltor or noveske just make sure you don't over tighten them. The ones that came with my vltor were aluminum and I stripped one. I had to drill it out. I went to the hardware store and bought steel set screws. They worked great. I would just go and buy the steel screws cause the aluminum is very soft and will strip at like 5 ft-lbs
|
I sincerely doubt the gas block set screws were made of aluminum. |
|
Jjack, I'm going to piggyback your thread. I just bought a Vltor "clamp" low pro block. It will fit under a LaRue and it's beautifully machined. I bought it instead of a set screw type because I like the idea of distributing the pressure more evenly around the barrel, not drilling dimples in the barrel, and being able to access the screws without removing the handguard. The set screw style of low pro gas block is much more popular than the clamp type but I really don't see why. As far as I know, Vltor is the only company to offer a clamp type low profile block. Anyway, I've got a related question for those more experienced than I. Is it normal to have to bend a gas tube slightly to get it to allign properly with the carrier key so that the tube is fairly centered so it doesn't rub one side of the carrier key tube hole more than another? Or is quite a bit of friction between the tube and the carrier key inevitable? I'm asking because I've never seen two gas tubes bent in the exact same way, and a low profile gas block just amplifies this situation because it's so close to the barrel. I'm having a hard time getting the tube and key to line up without a lot of friction and it has nothing to do with barrel nut allignment. The tube doesn't need to move more to one side or the other, it needs to be slightly higher (towards the rail side). I figure there has got to be some extra custom bending of the gas tube to get everything to allign properly. Smells |
Yes. I check gas tube alignment and adjust accordingly on almost every upper I build. If the gas tube and barrel nut are not aligned to the receiver properly, you eventually end up with this: 
|
|
AR Sponsor