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Posted: 8/3/2006 2:07:53 PM EDT
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I have a Bushmaster A2 upper, 20". The barrel nut moves left and right roughly 1/8" in either direction. As a result, the A2 handguards wiggle a little bit as well. Is this normal? Does it need to be tightened? Thanks in advance. |
Yes, the barrel nut is loose and needs to be tightened. Did it come that way from Bushmaster? If so, they should fix it, and quickly, at their expense. |
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I just purchased the rifle from another guy. He said that Bushmaster assembled it, so I'm assuming that's the case. The complete lower left the factory in '93 (pre-ban, I live in a state with the AWB still in place) but I don't know when the upper/lower were assembled together. Is there any adverse affect on the rifle aside from the obvious wiggling? The gas tube doesn't seem to move at all. Its the outer ring that shifts only. Is this something I can do myself with a barrel nut wrench? |
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After looking at the terminology, its the Delta Ring that shifts. The inner part is stationary but the Delta Ring is definitely wiggling left to right about 1/8". I can see where it will rub the gas tube. I'm assuming its the gas tube which is actually stopping it from moving more than 1/8". I also shot an email to Bushmaster explaining the situation. I'd have to buy an armorer's wrench, the ar clamp and other crap to do the fix myself. |
Yes it is normal. The barrel nut should have no wiggle and be torqued to at least.. umm.. check the build faq and no more than 80 pounds. The delta ring assembly will have play and the plastic hand guards will wiggle a bit... Put your rifle back together and go hunt zombies. ... or something. 
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Doh.. that's what I was asking. The barrel nut does not move.. only the Delta ring. The hole where the gas tube is inserted is a little bit bigger than the tube itself so it wiggles about 1/8" in either direction. The handguard wiggle matches the Delta ring. So I'm being told this is totally normal to have that wiggle with your standard Delta ring/A2 handguards? |
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If you remove the HG's and look at the section of the rear of the HG that fits onto the bbl nut you will see little tabs that actually fit into the teeth on the bbl nut [ the same teeth that the wrench fits into ]. On well used rifles these tabs start to wear so that they no longer fit the teeth well and then you have slop. Just a little bit of wear can allow a lot of play. You may find that just by installing some new HG's the slop will be greatly diminished. rj |
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