daily over-reaction or lesson learned. Muzzle break over-tightening?

[Greg Bell]

Hey guys,

So I was torquing up my Surefire muzzle break and it too 30-35 foot pounds to get it aligned correctly. The manual says 20-30. There is a video where a surefire dude says 30 pounds is the outside because of barrel constriction issues. So, I am now worried I have bunged up my barrel. I am guessing, from years of experience, that I am over-worrying this thing and that it won't make a difference. I have seen where AAC recommends 40 or so pounds so I guess that Surefire is just being extra cautious.


What say you? Quietly reassemble my stock rifle and trade it in on another 700 or forget about it and find another pointless thing to worry about?

[MBtech]

I doubt that you hurt anything, that isn't a huge difference. As long as you don't go Hee Man on it I would think it should be fine. Surefire may recommend a slightly lower torque spec due to construction and materials due to expanding and contracting from hot/cold ??

[Failure2Stop]

I wouldn't sweat it, but if you used Rocksett, it won't be fun to remove.

[Ned Christiansen]

I've seen an AR barrel constricted by .004. It was probably more but the guy I believe had shot it back out to "only" .004 undersized. But to get it in that condition he had tightened the FH so much that it stripped the threads.

[Greg Bell]

I was able to avg .75 moa at 200 yards with 168gr Win Match. This was my first time shooting the rifle suppressed and I was pleasantly surprised. I presume I was over worrying it. I will keep an eye out for copper build up, etc.

[Eurodriver]

When I had disastrous groups from over tightening a FH (much more than 10 ft lb over the spec) my zero returned to right back where it was and groups shrank as well when the MUzzle device was removed.

[LRRPF52]

I saw a recent case for 0 torque and Rocksett, from the former AMU Commander, who is a big gun guy and precision shooter. Makes sense when you look at it, steel behaving like a fluid under any kind of stress, to include even minimal torque.

I have really dialed down the amount of torque I use over the years, and find any device that requires timing to pose the most challenge, with a lot of back and forth shimming.

[Eurodriver]

I saw a recent case for 0 torque and Rocksett, from the former AMU Commander, who is a big gun guy and precision shooter. Makes sense when you look at it, steel behaving like a fluid under any kind of stress, to include even minimal torque.

I have really dialed down the amount of torque I use over the years, and find any device that requires timing to pose the most challenge, with a lot of back and forth shimming.

Was he running a suppressor on his rifle? I have degreased threads, properly applied a good amount of rocksett, and torqued to 20ft lbs and still had my muzzle device break free when removing the suppressor.

I always do 25+ now and am extremely delicate when removing the can. I can't imagine 0 torque ever holding up to a stuck can.

[Failure2Stop]

Was he running a suppressor on his rifle? I have degreased threads, properly applied a good amount of rocksett, and torqued to 20ft lbs and still had my muzzle device break free when removing the suppressor.

I always do 25+ now and am extremely delicate when removing the can. I can't imagine 0 torque ever holding up to a stuck can.

I'm with Euro on this.
No torque might be fine for a precision guy, but not for a device that has to bear strain.

[JohnnyC]

Shims man!!!! They make precision ground shim kits to time stuff like this. You SHOULD be fine, and it sounds like you should be ok if it's still shooting decent groups, but in the future, a shim kit and the patience to properly time is will remove any doubt. And they're cheap too, much cheaper than replacing a barrel that's been jacked up.

And yes, there's a pretty substantial difference between a precision guy screwing on a brake and a silencer mount. There is a reason torque specs exist.