Stupid handguard question

[SKelt]

Not really Grendel specific but need some advise and this forum has the best folks on it.

My buddy wanted me to free float his stock S&W M&P Sport II. He found a quad rail from Omega Manufacturing he liked and bought it. After grinding down the A2 sight and installing the barrel nut we have run into a concern. The rail is EXTREMELY tight with the barrel nut, even with the two bolts on the bottom removed. We had to use a screwdriver to open the rail up a bit and a nylon hammer to seat it.

This will be the 4th rail I've installed on an AR platform, the other 3 were tight but not like this.

Since the barrel nut and rail are dissimilar metals, should we put anti-seize on the exterior of the barrel nut? Any downside to doing this? The rail has anti rotation tabs, 2 screws on the bottom to pinch the barrel nut, and 4 locking screws on the sides.

Appreciate peoples help on this

[grayfox]

Not a stupid question at all. If you're wondering then some else is too!

I would say, No. The fit to the barrel nut is a friction fit even with tabs and screws... anti-seize as I understand is more for threaded connections where you don't want galling to occur during install/removal. That's how I use it, threaded connections only. If it's too stiff to get on then try using a heat gun/hot hair dryer to the guard and not to the (usually steel) barrel nut... or put the HG into the oven for 15 minutes at 175*F.

Maybe some others will weigh in, that's my 2 cents'.

[SKelt]

Not a stupid question at all. If you're wondering then some else is too!

I would say, No. The fit to the barrel nut is a friction fit even with tabs and screws... anti-seize as I understand is more for threaded connections where you don't want galling to occur during install/removal. That's how I use it, threaded connections only. If it's too stiff to get on then try using a heat gun/hot hair dryer to the guard and not to the (usually steel) barrel nut... or put the HG into the oven for 15 minutes at 175*F.

Maybe some others will weigh in, that's my 2 cents'.

Thanks, tried the oven trick and it worked perfectly. Modification is now complete, range time this weekend to make sure I didn't screw anything up before returning it to my buddy