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Posted: 4/12/2016 6:00:45 PM EDT
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Hey guys, need your thoughts on something. I searched the site for this but didn't find anything concrete with my exact scenario.
I ran into something with the last lower I put together that hadn't happened before. As I was tightening the castle nut, I was going to give it one final bit of torque before calling it good, and as I did I heard a metallic sound. At first I was like, did something just crack? But then I noticed that as the castle nut had travelled that last little bit, the tube had rotated a fraction of an inch. The sound I head was presumably the sound of the end plate digging into the buffer tube threads. I'd say the tube moved about 2 degrees, not much at all, but it is something you can pretty easily see if you're looking (see pics below). After this happened I went ahead and staked the castle nut. Now cosmetically this is something I can live with (I'm not thrilled with it, but it's a budget build beater rifle), but I do at least want it to be solid. On one hand I'm thinking that the end plate being stuck in the threads, in conjunction with the castle nut being staked pretty well, should hold the tube in place until I at some point decide to take it off myself. On the other hand, I wonder if after a few hundred rounds, the jarring will cause the tube to work back around to the natural position and create some play, and in turn that play would lead to the nut coming loose. I know I can just run with it and see what happens, and could also just buy another buffer tube and castle nut. I just wanted to see if anyone has done this/seen this and get your thoughts on if you think it will hold like it is. Thanks. 
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Turn it into a rifle, problem solved.  You know I'd actually considered doing that. But if I'm going to replace it I figured it'd be cheaper to just replace the tube and castle nut/end plate since I already have the spring, buffer, and stock. Still haven't ruled out going the A2 route though. |
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Why don't you take it back apart and look? Sure cosmetically you can live with it but aren't you the least bit curious about what actually happened and not just an assumption? It really puzzles me that someone could break something and call it good enough.
Take it apart, it could just be the tab on your end plate. Maybe you dug into the threads of the buffer tube. Either way it's not going to be a exspensive fix to do it right. From the sounds of it I would say there should be no reason to have to replace the castle nut either. Let us know.. I'm curious now |
| Just curious...did you use a "cheap" buffer tube? I have customers bring in tubes they got off of Amazon and these seem to be more problematic. I think some of them are made from 6061 instead of 7075. I personally use the Anderson tubes as I think they are a great value. |
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Had this happen to me with a PSA buffer tube, I added a 2nd end plate to it and all is good. It does look a little weird, but works fine and adds a little bit more strength. What...  That's the wrong answer in my opinion. Any fire arm isn't something you should just cobble together and call good enough. Granted its just the buffer tube but come on... For the price of a new tube why wouldn't you do it right
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What... That's the wrong answer in my opinion. Any fire arm isn't something you should just cobble together and call good enough. Granted its just the buffer tube but come on... For the price of a new tube why wouldn't you do it rightQuoted:
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Had this happen to me with a PSA buffer tube, I added a 2nd end plate to it and all is good. It does look a little weird, but works fine and adds a little bit more strength. What... That's the wrong answer in my opinion. Any fire arm isn't something you should just cobble together and call good enough. Granted its just the buffer tube but come on... For the price of a new tube why wouldn't you do it rightWhat...  You obviously dont know much about AR's, nothing wrong at all having two end plates..
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What... You obviously dont know much about AR's, nothing wrong at all having two end plates..Quoted:
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Had this happen to me with a PSA buffer tube, I added a 2nd end plate to it and all is good. It does look a little weird, but works fine and adds a little bit more strength. What... That's the wrong answer in my opinion. Any fire arm isn't something you should just cobble together and call good enough. Granted its just the buffer tube but come on... For the price of a new tube why wouldn't you do it rightWhat... You obviously dont know much about AR's, nothing wrong at all having two end plates..That's fine I suppose (never heard of someone doing that) but I'm saying why patch the problem when you can fix it the right way for little more money. To each his own |
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Thanks for everyone's input. The end plate tab broke a very small piece of a thread off on the tube which allowed the extra movement. I put it back together using the existing parts and, even with the tiny piece missing, the tab still seemed to hold the tube at the correct position.
I don't have a torque wrench so this time I used a drop of blue loctite on the castle nut, snugged it to the point to where I felt if I gave it any more torque it would cause the tube to rotate again, and then restaked it. Also, for the record this was an Anderson kit. Of course I don't believe there was anything wrong with the parts, it was my fault that it happened to begin with. |
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Had this happen to me with a BCM tube, called the company and they were being difficult about it. Ordered a VLTOR tube and no problems what so ever. I though BCM made real quality products but every now and then you get a dud. Yea, I reckon even the best companies will turn out a lemon every so often, it's just going to happen. In this case it was on me, I just overtightened it to begin with. I really should invest in a good torque wrench, I'm pretty notorious for giving it that one extra turn past the point I should've left it alone, lol. 
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Why did you torque the castle nut without something to hold the RE in place? That little tab is there to index the RE not keep it from turning while you torque the nut down. Just looking at it should tell you that it will not hold up to any kind of torquing. Its the same as the indexing pin on the barrel, its just for indexing. |
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Why did you torque the castle nut without something to hold the RE in place? That little tab is there to index the RE not keep it from turning while you torque the nut down. Just looking at it should tell you that it will not hold up to any kind of torquing. Its the same as the indexing pin on the barrel, its just for indexing. Thanks for responding. When I built my first few lowers I used the video by nsz as a guide ( nsz video ), and that is the procedure I've always used. It wasn't apparent in that video that he used anything to hold the re in place, and so I never have. That's not to say that the way he does it in that video is the 'by the book' way to assemble a lower, it just worked well for me so that's the template I've followed. What do you use to hold the re in place while tightening the castle nut? |
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Quoted: Thanks for responding. When I built my first few lowers I used the video by nsz as a guide ( nsz video ), and that is the procedure I've always used. It wasn't apparent in that video that he used anything to hold the re in place, and so I never have. That's not to say that the way he does it in that video is the 'by the book' way to assemble a lower, it just worked well for me so that's the template I've followed. What do you use to hold the re in place while tightening the castle nut? Quoted: Quoted: Why did you torque the castle nut without something to hold the RE in place? That little tab is there to index the RE not keep it from turning while you torque the nut down. Just looking at it should tell you that it will not hold up to any kind of torquing. Its the same as the indexing pin on the barrel, its just for indexing. Thanks for responding. When I built my first few lowers I used the video by nsz as a guide ( nsz video ), and that is the procedure I've always used. It wasn't apparent in that video that he used anything to hold the re in place, and so I never have. That's not to say that the way he does it in that video is the 'by the book' way to assemble a lower, it just worked well for me so that's the template I've followed. What do you use to hold the re in place while tightening the castle nut? |
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