Ok so I tried a search and came up with nothing. I have a 16" bushy A2 upper and I was cleaning it tonite after shooting and noticed that my barrel appears to be loose in my upper. I have never noticed the play before and I am curious about it. If I hold the upper and twist the barrel it moves back and forth slightly. I do not notice any movement up or down, side to side,or in and out. It has about 1500 rnd through it and I bought it new. The only thing I have had done to it is having the barrel threaded and a flash suppressor installed (done by ADCO at about 500 rnds). Should I be worried or is this normal. Thanks

HOLY SH#T  !  

Yes ... be worried ... Your barrel is in need of tightening .


EDITED TO ADD:
Remove the handguard and see if the barrel nut is broken. You may have cracked it while shooting. Should take about half hour for a gunsmith to fix or you can do it yourself if you have the tools.

Quoted: HOLY SH#T  !   Yes ... be worried ... Your barrel is in need of tightening .

SON OF A B#TCH, I was hoping I would be able to put off buying tools untill I was ready to do my first build (silly me). Well I guess the coyotes are safe this weekend. Thanks for your input.


ETA: I had the handguards off and checked the barrel nut and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, But I will do so again. thanks

What did you find, loose nut? or was it broken?

Quoted: What did you find, loose nut? or was it broken?

Well I just went back down to my "office" and pulled the gas tube out and spun the barrel nut off by hand. From what I can see it appears to have just loosened up. Ok I would rather sound like an idiot and ask ignorant questions than look like an idiot and screw somthing up soo... What would happen to allow this to come loose? Would normal break in and wear cause this or should I be looking for somthing else that has failed? This is my first and only AR and this is my first major issue so I am kinda worried. Will I be able to clean everything up and get the right tools and just put it back together or do I need to do some serious measuring?
  Then again I guess I could go head of to the EE and find that 20" barrel and free float set up I want.

Sounds like it was never tightened properly to start with.  I mean, the barrel nut can't spin loose if the gas tube is in place.

Quoted: Quoted: What did you find, loose nut? or was it broken? Well I just went back down to my "office" and pulled the gas tube out and spun the barrel nut off by hand. From what I can see it appears to have just loosened up. Ok I would rather sound like an idiot and ask ignorant questions than look like an idiot and screw somthing up soo... What would happen to allow this to come loose? Would normal break in and wear cause this or should I be looking for somthing else that has failed? This is my first and only AR and this is my first major issue so I am kinda worried. Will I be able to clean everything up and get the right tools and just put it back together or do I need to do some serious measuring?   Then again I guess I could go head of to the EE and find that 20" barrel and free float set up I want.

I've been on this board for a few years and have read about this before. It happens .... Not to everyone but it happens. If your gas tube was still in place it could not have "spun" loose. Look "very carefully" for a hairline crack in that nut. If you are sure it is not cracked it was a mistake at the manufacturers lever, IMHO. I would go to the AR-15 "do it yourself" section and read up on barrel replacement.

 Jake

Quoted: Quoted: What did you find, loose nut? or was it broken?  Will I be able to clean everything up and get the right tools and just put it back together or do I need to do some serious measuring?   Then again I guess I could go head of to the EE and find that 20" barrel and free float set up I want.

No, there should not be any measuring involved. Just re-tighten the barrel nut (Exsisting or new) using the correct tools and you should be good to go. There is a little more to it than that so please do the research on the "do it yourself" section before attempting it yourself.

Thank you all for your input. I have looked at the build it yourself thread time and time again while day dreaming about my first build(unfourtantly I didnt know my first build was going to be a rebuild on my existing weapon), so a am somewhat familar with it. I just wasnt ready to be thrown into having to do it. I think I will start shopping for the tools though, that way I will be one step closer to being able to start my own build. Once again, thank you all and enjoy your holidays.
                                                                 Larry

It shouldn't take you more than a couple of minutes, after acquiring a barrel wrench and action block. Put some moly lube on the barrel nut, tighten it to 30#, If the gas tube won't clear a notch in the barrel nut at 30#, tighten it until it does. Just do NOT loosen the nut from 30# to get a notch -- always tighten more.

Quoted: Thank you all for your input. I have looked at the build it yourself thread time and time again while day dreaming about my first build(unfourtantly I didnt know my first build was going to be a rebuild on my existing weapon), so a am somewhat familar with it. I just wasnt ready to be thrown into having to do it. I think I will start shopping for the tools though, that way I will be one step closer to being able to start my own build. Once again, thank you all and enjoy your holidays.                                                                  Larry

See how everything works out!                                                                                                          Check Bravo Co. For tools ,Good stuff.