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Posted: 12/19/2008 4:17:10 AM EDT
| I installed my barrel yesterday. No torque wrench, just by hand. I tightened it till it was tight, but one of the teeth on the nut was a little past center of the gas tube hole, but was already prety tight. I decided to tighten it a bit futher. It lined up after that, but I put a decent amount of pressure to get there. Not mighty, just tighter than any barrel I've removed. Any harm in that? |
| There is a proper torque spec. You should tighten up some, not super tight, and then untighten it and then tighten it again. You shouldnt have to go crazy with tightening up for the final torque. If I cant get the teet lined up without OVER tightening, Ill back it off til it lines up. NEver had any issues yet. |
It's much better to actually use a torque wrench on this step. The spec is at least 30, but no more than 80 ft/lbs of torque. Yes, that's a wide range, but it is important to prevent over or under torquing, which impacts longevity of the upper and your ability to replace the barrel in the future. Without using industrial equipment and 6' breaker bars, that is. 
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Quoted:
I installed my barrel yesterday. No torque wrench, just by hand. I tightened it till it was tight, but one of the teeth on the nut was a little past center of the gas tube hole, but was already prety tight. I decided to tighten it a bit futher. It lined up after that, but I put a decent amount of pressure to get there. Not mighty, just tighter than any barrel I've removed. Any harm in that? The trick to barrel installations and barrel nut alignment is in the "3X" torque procedure called out in the -23 Mtx Manual. It might take more than three "tightening-loosening" sequences but each subsequent tightening of the barrel nut should get you closer to alignment. It is not recommended to loosen the barrel to obtain barrel nut alignment. |
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It doesn't sound like you did anything that would cause that kind of result. It sounds like your fine. You should be fine. The first barrel that I installed was done with out a torque wrench.
80 ft lbs is a lot! Especially if your not using any kind of extenstion of the barrel wrench. |
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The 30 - 80 ft lbs of torque are recommended to achieve greater accuracy, although you can go outside of that range. I've had barrels that were torqued to over 115 ft lbs. I always remove the barrels and torque to specs (which may take several tries). Although I've had to leave some barrels around 90 ft lbs. before. Having said this, I would definitely recommend buying a torque wrench. There are plenty of descent ones for under $30. |
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Quoted:
There is a proper torque spec. You should tighten up some, not super tight, and then untighten it and then tighten it again. You shouldnt have to go crazy with tightening up for the final torque. If I cant get the teet lined up without OVER tightening, Ill back it off til it lines up. NEver had any issues yet. No, there's not. There's a minimum torque value, 31 ft-lb. That is the minimum to be "tight". Then advance to alignment no matter what that higher value is. It does not matter. The next notch will align. And as die-tryin says, back off, go again. Do this several times, and you will achieve alignment on that next notch. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
There is a proper torque spec. You should tighten up some, not super tight, and then untighten it and then tighten it again. You shouldnt have to go crazy with tightening up for the final torque. If I cant get the teet lined up without OVER tightening, Ill back it off til it lines up. NEver had any issues yet. No, there's not. There's a minimum torque value, 31 ft-lb. That is the minimum to be "tight". Then advance to alignment no matter what that higher value is. It does not matter. The next notch will align. And as die-tryin says, back off, go again. Do this several times, and you will achieve alignment on that next notch. Hmm 
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