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Thread: Stubborn barrel nut

  1. #11
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    Re: Stubborn barrel nut

    I've been thinking about this all night and a couple of folks are obviously curious about how the upper was secured. I've come to the conclusion that the nut was torqued so tightly that either method I tried would have yielded the same result. I could be wrong, but the nut was essentially frozen to the upper receiver due to friction.

    I've got an old upper receiver that I may try some destructive testing on. Does anyone have a shot out, junk barrel laying around that they could donate to the cause?
    Last edited by mtdawg169; 07-02-13 at 13:09.

  2. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Eric D. View Post
    Gunz, can you give us some detail on how you cut a barrel nut off without cutting into the upper?
    I would be interested in hearing that as well. In similar situations in the past, we would use a hack saw, dremel or cut-off wheel to score the nut down the entire length. Being very careful to not actually cut through to the threads. Sometimes that's enough to break it free. If not, we would use a chisel or flat screw driver inserted in the groove we just cut and twisted to widen the cut a little.. Ron
    Ain't no pockets on a shroud..

  3. #13
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    Essentially I cut the slip ring and the made a cut along the barrel nut. Then I made 2 more cuts along the barrel nut and peeled it away from the barrel and upper.



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  4. #14
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    I have encountered a couple of very tight/stubborn barrel nuts in my past. Heat/cold, kroil, all was used to no avail with a typical armorer wrench.

    In this case, the factory barrel nut was being replaced with a new handguard barrel nut - so I tried using a pipe wrench with great success.

    If you don't care about hurting the old barrel nut - try a pipe wrench.

  5. #15
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    I've always had good luck with placing the upper in the fridge for 30-60 minutes before removing the barrel nut.

  6. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by NSR500 View Post
    I've always had good luck with placing the upper in the fridge for 30-60 minutes before removing the barrel nut.
    That's a good idea. We use to put cylinder sleeves in the freezer while heating up the cylinder to make resleeving a dirt bike cylinder easier.
    Train 2 Win

  7. #17
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    When I was assigned to the AF Gunsmith shop at Lackland many years ago we did this contract where we converted a lot of M16s and A1s to A2s. Procedures at the time was to remove the old barrel from the upper before we took them to the metal shop for cutting since it was two different types of metal. We had one that ended up using the polymer clamshell clamped in a huge vice on the upper and the torque wrench inserted into the chamber end of a 50 cal barrel with a guy hanging off of it to finally get the barrel nut to budge loose. Surprisingly the upper didn't seem to take any damage.

  8. #18
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    I have used a large pipe wrench with 100% success on silverback gorilla tight barrel nuts... you will need to replace the nut and use a a tool that engages the barrel extension to prevent damage to the receiver.

  9. #19
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    Re: Stubborn barrel nut

    Quote Originally Posted by T2C View Post
    That's a good idea. We use to put cylinder sleeves in the freezer while heating up the cylinder to make resleeving a dirt bike cylinder easier.
    We actually tried this, with zero luck.





    Quote Originally Posted by E-man930 View Post
    I have used a large pipe wrench with 100% success on silverback gorilla tight barrel nuts... you will need to replace the nut and use a a tool that engages the barrel extension to prevent damage to the receiver.
    Unfortunately, the receiver still ended up damaged while using the Reaction Rod. The receiver and nut were frozen together and turned simultaneously on the barrel extension, causing the alignment notch to become wallowed out. It was actually damaged on both sides of the notch, indicating that it was damaged once when the nut was originally tightened and then again when it was loosened in the opposite direction. This thing was a BEAST!

  10. #20
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    I had a 20" brand new upper I pulled apart and it was impossible not to damage the receiver, the nut was on what felt like over 200ft/lbs of force. Sometimes you end up loosing the battle when someone ahead of you screwed the pooch during assembly.

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