Hey guys, quetion for the AR gurus. I recently rebuilt a pre-ban Oly with a brand new A-2 upper. The front pin goes in nice and easy and I polished the upper down a bit to fit it to the lower. Question is, how tight is too tight in regards to the fit? If I take both pins out the pin holes the lugs match the holes in the lower perfectly. When I push the front pin in and lower the rear upper rec. into the lower receiver, I have to apply a little bit of pressure and lightly tap the rear pin home. keep in mind, there is no pounding or forcing here and the rifle functions and fires flawless. When fitting the upper and lower I left it tight thinking it they may marry themselves together a bit and thinking this may enhance accuracy. I ran this rifle out of oil at the range with no failures until it went dry. Field stripped it, cleaned it, lubed it and shot another 300 rounds with no problems. Polish more or leave it be? Thanks guys.

Sounds like you have a nice tight fit and should leave it that way.  I recently built a RRA lower and tried to mate it to one of my two Bushy uppers.  The rear takedown pin holes would not line up; there a little more than a 1/16” gap between the upper and lower at that point.  Lots of CLP and a good bit of pressure got the lower and upper together.  

Lots of people have had this issue with RRA lowers and Bushy uppers.  Sounds like your fit is tight, but not this tight (which to me still seems like a problem).

The title of the thread got me thinking of BOTDs! [}:D]  Seriously, your fit is fine.

Sounds darn near perfect to me.

The tighter the better at first if you ask me. Seems that they "wear in" after a bit of shooting and loosen up.

when your other head is turning purple.  [BD]

Okay, sorry, I just can't help it.

I have my SPR pretty tight, I would just leave tht gun since it is working just fine.  

Could be worse, the title of this thread could've been "bushy 16-incher is too tight: problems with the holes"

I think the bad-pun quota for the entire year of 2003 has been filled by this one thread.

I think he specifically mentioned the bushy's rear hole didn't he?

patriot73, It don't sound broke-quit fixing it!

I would want to make sure that the upper isn't putting a strain on the lower's front pivot area when it closes against the lower. If it is, I can see that leading to a premature failure of one part or the other.

The pivot holes aren't the strongest part of the gun, and there have been cases of them cracking from this.

From a durability standpoint, given the choice, I would rather have an AR upper and lower fit just a little bit loose. Not "wobbly" loose, but not tight either, if you know what I'm trying to say. AR uppers and lowers that fit tightly do not shoot any better than loose ones--it's just that they feel better and we think they do.  

Bookhound, I'm with you. I think yours sounds entirely too tight.

Thanks guys. For the advice and the inneuendos!!! I think I will leave it tight for now. Anybody else had an upper/lower that fit this tight?

I had a pretty tight fit at the rear pin (but no misalignment) initially with my RRA lower and Bushy upper.  After putting a couple hundred rounds through it and separating the halves a few times, it loosened up to where they pin together with ease.

I wouldn't worry about it.

The answer is if you can put it in the hole it's not to tight.Often there are problems getting the pin in the rear...hole .The best way to fix this is to lube the pin and the hole and then work it in slowly.Don't try to just ram it in as that will cause the hole to waller out and may even refuse to ever accept your pin.

The trick is to be slow and smooth spend sometime working it together you will be pleased with the results.

Be careful the gun is unloaded as trying to work the pin in with a loaded gun may cause a discharge of the load .

For fellas of small stature, such as myself. They don't make 'em too tight.

To 2-GUN,if i didnt no any better I almost thought I was raeding porn and on the wrong site.[:I]

To 2-GUN,if i didnt no any better I almost thought I was reading porn and on the wrong site.[:I]