should an ar barrel be this loose?

[FlyinBryan]

just got my vice blocks and tools for free floating my ar barrel and noticed when i was taking my flash hider off that my barrel will rotate slightly in the receiver. the flash hider was incredibly tight and took a pretty good grunt to get it to break free.

it does not rotate far at all, just a dergree or two, and it takes considerable force to move it. im pretty sure im feeling the indexing pin bumping back and forth in the notch in the upper, like i said, it takes considerable force to make it move. far more than i could generate by twisting on the sight tower. only when i really cranked on the flash hider did i feel it.

ive never had the barrel nut off or loose and was wondering if this is normal, like maybe the problem will be corrected when i torque the barrel back down at the end of my free floating procedure?

 

[FlyinBryan]

maybe im just super hero strong

 

[Javelin]

AR barrel should never be loose. I had an old M16 that was working loose at the range once and it shot awful and when I realized what was wrong with it I 02 deadlined it and sent it back to the armorer to be refitted.

Of course some of my NCO's had to pick at me after the range session because my score was awful... until I borrowed one of theirs and qualified 38/40 on the next go-around (The 1SG still had 39/40 but what can you do as I did not get a chance to zero it before going to the pop up range).

Live and learn. Haha.

 

[FlyinBryan]

i think its just moving far enough to bump back and forth against the indexing slot in the upper.

i figure when i put the float tube on it and re torque the barrel nut it will take care of it.

i sure hope so because its a great barrel. it shoots 3/4 moa every once in a while, 1" consistently.

 

[FlyinBryan]

bump, help

 

[LTB15J]

you will probably need to re torque it. remove your gas tube, and with an armorers wrench, tighten down the barrel nut. making sure that the indexing slot lines up with the gas tube hole of course. if you dont tighten it, its not going to kill your rifle. but you will be paying for it later

for one thing, your rifle wont be accurate. sure it might move only 1mm in each direction but that 1mm at 100 yards will make a bigger difference than at 50 yd. and if the barrel is moving, so is the gas tube. that means the tube isnt lined up with the bolt properly, and probably wearing faster. (the tip of the gas tube is mushroomed and acts like an O ring) if it doesnt line up properly with the bolt, it can shear the tip of the tube, reducing the seal and effectively causing the gun malfunction upon cycling.

just do yourself the favor and fix the problem now. either way you go, i reccomend you get a new gas tube since they are so easy to install and cheap to buy. everyone should have some in their tool box anyways

 

[FlyinBryan]

thx ltb, i actually fixed it last night while installing a free float tube and we were sure to align the gas tube perfectly.

i appreciate your reply and think i will take your advice and get a spare gas tube. such a cheap part, yet so hard to get on short notice, its a no brainer.

thx again, bryan.