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Posted: 10/21/2011 12:14:36 PM EDT
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Hi all,
I've got a Doublestar carbine kit that I put together that's pretty vanilla plain. I've never been fond of the forged front sight/gas block that came with it and finally decided to replace it with something that's low profile with just a rail. I ordered the new block and after doing a considerable amount of internet "research" figured the local gun smith would probably be best suited for the task. Buying the front sight bench block from Brownell's was $40 alone and it just seems like something I will only use once. The local smith thought it'd be a $30-40 job so I took it in yesterday. Besides, I figure a real professional will be better equipped with both skills and tools to do the job. Unfortunately he likes to talk. He was complaining about his huge back log of guns to work on. I told him it was no rush (being polite, I'd really like to have it sooner than later) and he told me "bring it back in November". He also mentioned how sometimes the pins are hard to get out. He puts the gun in a vice and pounds them out. That seems like a bad plan to me. Most everything I've seen on the internet is using the Brownell's block. I ended up leaving it with him anyway. Now, I'm having second thoughts. If he can't do the work for many weeks, maybe I ought to go get it from him and try to do it myself. I hate to second guess someone who has been doing guns for many man years, but I just wasn't thrilled with his plan for using a vice and banging on the pins. Seems like that would be hard on the barrel. Anybody got any advice? |
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Walk away from that guy.
If that is his level of expertise I would not trust him with anything. You don’t need a bench block. You just need some very very solid support under the sight. A piece of bar stock with a hole for the pin, even a socket may work. I use a cupped punch to get it started, but a lot of people are successful using a large diameter flat punch to get it started. Note: you do not want to mushroom the tip of the pin. |
Shave down your front sight post/gas block. Not that hard to do.
No need to replace something you already have. What you have already has been pinned to your barrel with TWO pins. And if you fuck it up, install a low profile gas block and chaulk it up to experience. |
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Go get your gun back. Since you're going to install a freefloat you have to take the FSB off anyway. Profile it while it is off the barrel. A grinding apparatus and grinding drums to make the FSB a teardrop shape. You do not need to remove the gas tube to take the FSB off.
Muzzle faces left when removing taper pins––-either direction will work when removing straight pins. I don't know what Doublestar uses. And what is this talk of using tools "once"? Once you see how easy the AR goes together you'll start buying stripped receivers... Good luck. |
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I put my barrel in a padded vise and beat the pins out with a BFH.
People have been doing it this way for ages. When was the AR introduced, and when was the Brownell's bench block introduced? See where I went with that. 
Any competent smith should be able to handle this. Whether or not your guy is able, is unknown. And this time of the year is typically busier for gunsmiths because of the upcoming animal killing seasons and guys getting their guns ready for such. |
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I'm sure you must of seen this thread but ill post it anyway. I don't see why you could not do this with the sight on the barrel still
. Quoted:
Make your own cut-down low profile gas block, step by step: First, I started with a FSB that I had to dremel into to get the pins out. It was otherwise ruined, so I figured, why not cut it down??? http://www.kevinholman.com/byor/fsb/fsb1.jpg Get a dremel and a cut-off tool, and start whacking the top off. I didnt even burn up one disc for the whole project! http://www.kevinholman.com/byor/fsb/fsb2.jpg First step complete: http://www.kevinholman.com/byor/fsb/fsb3.jpg Now cut off the sling mount and bayo lug, if desired: http://www.kevinholman.com/byor/fsb/fsb4.jpg Here is what she looks like at this point. Ugly! http://www.kevinholman.com/byor/fsb/fsb6.jpg The rest will be done with a sanding drum.... or you can use a griding stone. I find the drums, while they burn up quick, go a little faster: http://www.kevinholman.com/byor/fsb/fsb7.jpg Most of the rough work is done. At this point, just smooth it up a bit to look better: http://www.kevinholman.com/byor/fsb/fsb8.jpg inst the barrel with hardly any threads, and would strip out. Dont get them too tight or they will trip. Use red-loctite on them so they wont back off. http://www.kevinholman.com/byor/fsb/fsb9.jpg A quick coat with flat black spray paint: http://www.kevinholman.com/byor/fsb/fsb10.jpg Finished product: http://www.kevinholman.com/byor/fsb/fsb11.jpg If you are going to mount your FSB back on the same barrel it came off of.... then re-use your taper pins. If you are going to mount the FSB on a different barrel, you will need to drill and tap for set screws to hold it to the barrel. I then drilled with a #21 drill, and tapped with a 10-32 tap. I also had to taper-grind my set screws.... so they were more "pointy" on the front. Without doing this, they would bottom out aga |
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