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Posted: 12/19/2015 6:42:31 AM EDT
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I'm wanting to get some tools to assemble a upper receiver. And I have a few questions.
The options that I see are. Geissele or Brownell reaction rods. Plastic clam shell receiver block. Barrel blocks. Just need pro and cons on the 3 using to install barrels and muzzle devises Out of the 3 types what is better. I like the idea of the reaction rods. What do you use?? |
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NO-MAR Upper receiver vice block set, and barrel vice block set. As a bonus, they are cheap! CLICKY
I lost count how many I have done now. Forget the reaction rod. |
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Super reaction rod should be a option. Eliminates the issues of the force being on the index pin. Though it's pricey. Any of these options will work well, each has been used successfully and each has been used unsuccessfully. I believe the critical factor is setting up and making sure the tool is being used right and not over torquing the barrel nut. The reaction rods have a plus that they can be used for muzzle devices installs. |
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This is just my opinion, and it's free so you get what you pay for it. Muzzle devices - use barrel blocks as close to the muzzle as possible. Adding in a lead shim, hell even newspaper/grocery bag paper works, will keep you from marring the barrel surface. re-barreling - I normally use a clamshell, but I bought one of these to try out since it was cheap and I needed a block for a 308AR build (well technically I got this kit because it wasn't that much more and I can't find my clamshell.) Don't see much need for the new hotness stuff. |
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Since I've never had the $100 when I thought I should buy a Reaction Rod, I don't have one. Instead, I have a quality clamshell block, and I have aluminum barrel vise blocks. Whenever possible, I use the barrel vise blocks to do both barrel nuts and muzzle devices. That doesn't work sometimes due to various barrel profiles not quite matching the vise blocks, so then I use the clamshell for the barrel nut. I ALWAYS use a barrel vise for muzzle devices - even when I had to make a narrow one with wooden blocks to install a muzzle device on an 8" barrel.
OP, you'll get a lot of information in this thread and elsewhere here. In this particular subject, it's CRITICAL to understand that disassembly torque (the torque needed to loosen a part) is almost NEVER anywhere similar to the torque applied to assemble the part. You'll find discussion after argument after debate here about this guy being certain Manufacturer A used some sort of glue on their barrel nuts because it was hard to take it off, and LOTS of noise about how a Geissele Reaction Rod is "da debil" because somebody (yet again) sheared an index pin using it to remove a muzzle device. The Reaction Rod should be fine for INSTALLING a muzzle device, and there is no reason to "glue" a barrel nut on a rack-grade AR. It's all about the fact that removal torque WILL BE a whole lot more than the torque applied to assemble the part. Bottom line? When you DISassemble anything, secure it as solidly as possible, preferably by the BARREL. Keep that in mind when you buy your tools. A pair of aluminum vise blocks should cost around $20 or so. Money well spent. |
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you can get them on ebay for that much.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Aluminum-Barrel-Vise-Jaw-Pads-for-Rifle-Pistol-Shafts-and-Round-Stock-/321319862572?hash=item4ad028012c:g:GlsAAMXQUmFSoAZR or this type for less. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Soft-Jaw-Barrel-Pads-Block-fits-4-inch-Vise-Black-wrench-/221406177473?hash=item338cd628c1:g:my0AAMXQkK1R5L7h i have the aluminum ones and for the money they work fine. |
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Quoted:
Were are barrel blocks selling for $20??? Quoted:
Quoted:
A pair of aluminum vise blocks should cost around $20 or so. Money well spent. Were are barrel blocks selling for $20??? Here it's less than $10.. But the kind I was thinking of is here for $19.99 Brownell's sells essentially the same thing as the one at Midway, but for $10 more, and they charge an extra $50 for the ones with the rubber linings - which I don't think are necessary. |
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