Zeroed my new Colt SOCOM barreled upper...

[sig1473]

I have 5x Noveske uppers(4x Gen1,1x VLTOR) and I've never had a single problem with any of them. I also sold a Chainsaw Gen 1 and it was in spec as well. This sounds like more or less an assembly problem. Was the FSB removed and then re-installed?

[C4IGrant]

My money is on the Upper being wonky. I don't put much faith in Noveske's current offerings... And even when they were good, they weren't worth their high price in my opinion. The torque values are nothing. I've broken colt nuts loose that had to have been above that.

Agree.


C4

[Hammer_Man]

I have 5x Noveske uppers(4x Gen1,1x VLTOR) and I've never had a single problem with any of them. I also sold a Chainsaw Gen 1 and it was in spec as well. This sounds like more or less an assembly problem. Was the FSB removed and then re-installed?

I never touched the FSB. This build is your basic M4 carbine style build. The barrel as it came shipped, already had the barrel nut installed. All I had to do before mating it to my receiver was install a delta ring, weld spring, and circlip.

[Wolfpack45]

My money is also on the receiver, unless the FSB is canted.... I have had both of these things cause that issue. A canted FSB though is normally pretty obvious when you take a close look at everything. So if it looks straight I'd go to noveske with the receiver.

[T2C]

I would be tempted to remove, then reinstall the barrel. A few degrees of cant on the FSB will yield a considerable number of clicks windage on the rear sight.

[Stickman]

I recently put together a new rifle using a Noveske N4 receiver set, Colt SOCOM barrel, Colt barrel nut, Colt Delta ring assembly, Knights RAS II hand guard, Matech rear sight, and Surefire SF3P flash hider. When I zeroed my new toy this evening, I found I had to adjust my windage almost all the way to the right to bring my groups into the middle of my target. All my other ARs seem to be just a few clicks away from center.
When I asembled the upper, I had to torque the barrel nut to appx. 70 ft. lbs to get it to time properly, and torque the flash hider to 30 ft lbs to get it to time properly. Both of those torque values are a bit higher than I'm comfortable with, could these high torque values be causing a noticable windage shift in comparison to my other ARs? Could I have gotten a barrel that is on the edge of allowed tolerances? I know it should all be well and good, because at the end of the day I was able to get my groups in the middle of my target. I just can't help but wonder if I did something wrong during assembly, or if my barrel or receiver could be out of spec somehow. Should I just shoot the crap out of it and stop worrying? Any insight would be appreciated.

Having to crank the barrel nut can certainly create issues. Either that or the upper is a bit gonky.

Either way, I'm going to doubt it is the barrel, though obviously odd things happen sometimes. Keep us updated please.

[Stickman]

I would be tempted to remove, then reinstall the barrel. A few degrees of cant on the FSB will yield a considerable number of clicks windage on the rear sight.

Personally, I would regrease the barrel nut and reinstall it while making sure the index pin was a tight fit. It is wasn't, I would be peening or coming up with something to alleviate the issue.

[Hammer_Man]

It's too late to try anything, as I shipped my upper receiver off to Colt this morning. According to the Fed Ex guy it should arrive there Friday next week... Till then I'm going to assemble another rifle from spare parts. Hopefully this one doesn't give me too many problems. I will update this thread as soon as I hear back from Colt.

[T2C]

Hopefully Colt moves quickly on this. Please keep us updated.

[MSW]

I know it may take awhile, but please post follow up. My bet is the FSB wasn’t properly indexed.