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Posted: 9/10/2008 4:05:27 PM EDT
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So what kind of damage can happen to the barrel if you over torque the FH? im aware the upper receiver can get screwed up if you use an upper block but what about with the clamped barrel? I ask this because when i was at my gunsmith not too long ago i had to have him install my rail system as i did not have an upper block throughout our conversation he was working on my rifle and he went to wrenching on my vortex and i swear to god he had to put atleast 150-200 lbs of torque on it.....USING A DPMS BLOCK  . I didnt complain as my upper was intact and not damaged at all. When i got home and i was testing to see if i could even get the FH off because i plan on using it on a future 14.5" build and pinning and welding it. I clamped the barrel using 2 peices of wood i usually use and i could not wrench it off for the life of me. The barrel would spin every time i tried. I tightened the vice tighter and tighter on the barrel and the barrel kept spinning! I tightened it even more till the wood completely cracked itself into peices. WTF?!?! is it permenantly attached via over torquing? hell im suprised my receiver is intact after he wrenched it on with such force! What the hell am i supposed to do here? is this in any way bad for my barrel? i mean i'd like to be able to get it off some how...
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I don’t think you’ll be able to collapse a barrel on it self by tightening it in a vice using barrel vice blocks. There are vice blocks out there that are rubber lined. I imagine that type would hold the barrel tighter than a plain aluminum vice block could. I’ve removed and installed FH’s by placing a ¼” piece of rubber around my barrel, then clamping it in the pipe holding portion of my vice jaws. |
Could something like that effect accuracy? Did he use a washer? Ok some looking around tells me a washer isn't necessary for a vortex. So what the hell was he using all that force for? The TM says 15-20 ft-lbs I would imagine that still applies to a Vortex. |
I was in the shop with him the whole time, but we were just talking and shit so i wasn't really paying too much attention to what he was doing because he was pretty knowledgable. We were talking about how my homemade low profile gas block may or may not cause problems then i look up and he was putting ALL of his weight and strength onto the flash hider, and he is a big strong guy...  When i noticed this i asked him if by doing that wouldent it ruin the upper receiver (he was using the dpms white action block) and he said no then assured me it should be fine and took my upper and put it on a lower he had in the shop and fired about 6 rounds into one of those bullet catcher things to make sure everything was fine.
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Well, hopefully you can remove it with out destroying something(especially yourself), and hopefully it isn't damaged or starts shooting erratically. I only read about accuracy loss with an over torqued flash hider so I have no idea if it can really be effected. |
| My boss decided to go to a tactical rifle match with a few of us from the shop and installed a brake on his rifle and applied far to much torque to clock the brake. We found out that you can indeed degrade the accuracy by applying to much torque to a brake as the gun shot all over at 50 yards that way. |
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What can happen is overtorquing can twist the barrel right at the barrel/muzzle thread joint. I have one of those Guatemalan M16 barrels where the lands/grooves are twisted out of line by several degrees where someone torqued the puddin' out of the flash suppressor. No, it does not shoot for beans. I will turn this barrel into a 7.5" lightweight one of these days. |
I dont have a front sight block on this rifle, i ground it down to be a low profile setup and fit under my rail system, im probably just going to get barrel vice jaws and go from there. |
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Quoted:
Try heating the outside of the FH with a propane torch. That should expand the metal and make it easier to remove. Um.... Actually, when you heat it, you expand the metal in all directions - so the inner diameter of the FH expends inwardly and the OD of the barrel expands outwardly, making things tighter....... Don't heat it, freeze it. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Try heating the outside of the FH with a propane torch. That should expand the metal and make it easier to remove. Um.... Actually, when you heat it, you expand the metal in all directions - so the inner diameter of the FH expends inwardly and the OD of the barrel expands outwardly, making things tighter....... Don't heat it, freeze it. No, the FH will heat faster, expanding more. |
| Putting that much torque on a flash hider is plain stupid! Just torquing it using a reasonable amount of force can result in restricting the bore at that point usually resulting in degradation of accuracy. That is why accuracy gunsmiths only put it on hand tight with a bit of loctite on the threads. |
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