Barrel Nut Torque

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rlandry6
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Barrel Nut Torque

Post by rlandry6 »

For the AR builders on the forum.. What are the perils of over-torquing a barrel nut? My reason for asking is as follows. I have two new builds on my bench, both unfired, one in 300 Blkout, and the other in .223. I purchased hand guards for them from a LGS and because I did not have a barrel nut wrench at the time that was suitable for use with their proprietary barrel nuts, I had them torque the nuts on both rifles. They did not use a torque wrench, but rather tightened them manually to what , by observation, appeared to be much more than the spec of 30-40 ft lbs .
I have a tool on order from Brownells that should be here this week and am wondering if I should go back and re-torque the barrel nuts. They did use a Geiselle(sp?) reactor rod, instead of clamping the receiver in a jig. I also have a rod that I'm going to use. Both uppers are DPMS heavy wall receivers, so I doubt they warped anything by over tightening, but I don't want to shoot either until I know they are right. The 300 barrel is from Daniel Defense and the .223 barrel is a SS bull barrel from White Oak.

Thoughts?
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golfindia
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Re: Barrel Nut Torque

Post by golfindia »

Never mind proprietary nut.

As long as they greased the threads and bbl extension, I wouldnt screw with it.

Never used a torque wrench on any of mine.
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John A.
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Re: Barrel Nut Torque

Post by John A. »

I've never used a torque wrench either. Some have been rather tight, while others, to align the gas tube seemed rather light though snug.

But once the gas tube is in place, as long as the nut was tightened at all, can't really come loose due to the gas tube would be blocking it from turning.

I always use grease on the inside of the receiver (between the barrel extension and the receiver to prevent galvanization) and some grease on the threads just because.

With that said, I'm not really a fan of dpms extruded receivers. I'm changing one this week that's on my integrally suppressed 9mm build (slickside) due to an out of spec receiver rail. Regardless of what you mount to the receiver, is canted. I'm using a cerro forge upper this time. I knew better than to use the dpms in the first place, I just wanted to use the slickside because the 9mm doesn't normally have a forward assist. And now I'm having to go back and do it over again. :roll:
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Re: Barrel Nut Torque

Post by DutchV »

The torque spec for the barrel nut is between 35 ft-lb, and 80 ft-lb. I prefer to follow that rather than wonder if it's right. There's shims available if you can't get the gas tube to line up with the nut.
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Freedom1973
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Re: Barrel Nut Torque

Post by Freedom1973 »

I've used a torque wrench but discovered what others have posted above. It's a wide range and easy target to hit. I just make sure I get it over the minimum and line things up. I wouldn't go messing with it.
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Flatliner
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Re: Barrel Nut Torque

Post by Flatliner »

Personally, I would take it apart and properly torque it to spec but it appears I am in the minority.
rlandry6
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Re: Barrel Nut Torque

Post by rlandry6 »

Flatliner wrote:Personally, I would take it apart and properly torque it to spec but it appears I am in the minority.
Two of us are in the minority. That's what I'm going to do when my tool gets here.
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Dolomite_Supafly
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Re: Barrel Nut Torque

Post by Dolomite_Supafly »

I hand tighten then line up the nut for the gas tube. I have had some that I thought were not tight enough but never had a problem. I have also had some that took A LOT of effort to line up and were definitely over max torque but had not problems,

If the barrel is tight I would not worry about redoing it.
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rlandry6
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Re: Barrel Nut Torque

Post by rlandry6 »

The barrel nuts are proprietary to the handguards and thin enough that the gas tube does not go through them so alignment is not an issue, just wanting to get the torque correct.
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Re: Barrel Nut Torque

Post by Dolomite_Supafly »

I would not redo it. Over spec is not going to be an issue as long as it functions and shoots fine.
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