Does the lower fail? Has there been any reports of any lowers breaking during this process? If not then there isn't an effective difference between magwell holders and blocks which uses pins. What is the total quantity of people who have had receivers fail from using pin based blocks? I'm not saying it can't happen I am saying the percentage is small enough that it doesn't really matter.

It's not a strawman to say I think the chance of a receiver breaking is lower than my chance of dying from Covid and my acceptance of risk defines my choices. In the event I have a receiver break I will buy another one it's not really a substantial loss to me. Forged AR-15 parts are cheap and plentiful(or were).  

I'm all for improvisation, but the risks of damage to both the lower and upper receivers are very high by using that method. Here's a picture, stolen from another member, of a set-up that is cheap and would be a much better method:

LOL,

I you're putting an enormous amount of torque, and faith on nothing more but the take down tabs made of soft aluminum... yeah what could possibly go wrong?

You won't find examples because just about 99% of people are smart enough not to do this, and the other 1% are probably either lucky or ashamed they broke something.

I wouldnt even use one if those for a castle nut

Yeah, it causes so many problems the products which use it have 100% positive reviews.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/102135462

But...but......Covid.


WTF. Another example of Tech being shit up GD style.

How is that in any way/shape/form like stuffing a board in the magwell?

The blocks with the pins are commonly used incorrectly. Doing so will stress the lugs, either deforming or breaking them. The upper is sandwiched between the vise jaws with the rail protected by another block. The pins are there to hold the block in place while placing the assembly into the vise. Hopefully the set-up on the left of this picture helps:

You do you Bro, fuck your shit up if you want.

But why bother with something inferior when you can get this.

https://www.joeboboutfitters.com/New-Frontier-Armory-AR-15-Universal-Upper-Receiver-p/nfa-tl-vb-uvb.htm

If you were to skim through those reviews you would see that most used it only to hold the upper while doing maintenence and of the few that used it to install a barrel nut most sandwiched the receiver between it and the vice jaws with a soft jaw on the other side as is the proper way.  Also, there is a large difference in the amount of torque needed to break a factory nut loose and the amount of stress involved in tightening a barrel nut.  I am the member who improvised the method in the picture above using wood clamps and a bench and while I am 100% confident in it for installing a barrel nut, I might be a bit leery of using it to break a PSA nut loose.  Those guys are gorillas, or use something other than Aeroshell on the threads.  I consider you extremely lucky to not have damaged something by just holding the entire receiver assembly with a wooden magwell block.  Must not have been a PSA nut

Seriously true... I mean, I almost can't believe what I'm reading from MLbro. I feel like he's just got to be trolling us or something, because surly he can't be serious.