I found this stuff to be awesome on several levels.
Goof off superglue remover, found at any lowes.
#1 it works
#2 it's extremely common
#3 it creates an exothermic reaction and that is cool as hell
#4 it makes cleanup easy
I start dripping on the stuff at the pin, the reaction is enough to weaken the joint and break the seal from aluminum expansion. Just pulls right off after a few seconds of drenching. Cleanup the residue with the same stuff, reapply loctite after whatever the hell it was you were doing pulling the barrel off (or don't, its clean)
If it's being super difficult a propane torch (same method to thermofit) works and the goof off for cleanup before refitting.
I have only used this on locktite, haven't tried rickset so can't attest to its effectiveness, but for locktite, it eats the stuff fast. The receiver and barrel extension will get warm, chemistry is happening :-)
And a threaded in bolt action barrel wouldnt need loctite either.
So I took the title to mean removing a locktited in ar15 barrel.
Peice of mop handle squared off and a rubber mallet, couple of sacks and the barrel will pop right out.
Many a fools out there. Red loctite is stubborn stuff, some manufacturers have used it on their assemblies as well as well meaning but misguided previous owners. An an easier way than heating the barrel with a torch for a half hour is most welcome.
A5BLASTER Wrote:Why? Piece of mop handle squared off and a rubber mallet, couple of sacks and the barrel will pop right out.
^^^
What I've done.
I had an old, broken, ash baseball bat turned down to fit in my uppers. One good whack with a dead-blow mallet will almost shoot a loctited (green 620) barrel right out of an upper.
I was watching one of those gunsmithing videos from Midway USA. When installing a rifle buffer tube on a lower receiver they put blue Loctite on the tube threads. I've never done that on a buffer tube. Should I be doing that? I've never had one come loose. :confused:
I refuse to be victimized by notions of virtuous behavior.
I never put loctite on any threads except the gas block grub scews and only blue. Doesn't the carbine tube have a little notch that is captured by the spring top hat nipplemajig anyways? If anything, I'd use antiseize on the tube.
I meant those who used loctite 620 to bed the barrel to upper receiver. I would shatter my teeth gritting them so hard smacking things with some wood and a mallet. I know the table of hardness and stuff and how it's just fine but man, I probably wouldn't be able to shi!t for a week after.
04-12-2021, 09:45 AM (This post was last modified: 04-12-2021, 09:59 AM by 41bear.)
A5BLASTER Wrote:Peice of mop handle and a rubber mallet. Couple of taps and the barrel comes right out.
What he said!!
Personally I use Green to bed my barrels, It's also used in the Auto Industry as a gasket type material in Trans., for it's high heat properties and as it helps to square the upper to the barrel, I hope/think. Except when I luck out and the receiver has to be heated to join the two parts, BCM and Anderson's Slick side are the two I've had good luck with.
"Wild flower, growin' thru the cracks in the street" - Problem Child by Little Big Town
I had an old, broken, ash baseball bat turned down to fit in my uppers. One good whack with a dead-blow mallet will almost shoot a loctited (green 620) barrel right out of an upper.
I was watching one of those gunsmithing videos from Midway USA. When installing a rifle buffer tube on a lower receiver they put blue Loctite on the tube threads. I've never done that on a buffer tube. Should I be doing that? I've never had one come loose. :confused:
Not no but hell no!
"Wild flower, growin' thru the cracks in the street" - Problem Child by Little Big Town
Bill Alexander used blue loctite on his barrel nut thread assemblies for ease of manufacture, to offset individual rifles that couldn't meet the 60 ft lb min barrel nut torque he recommended for the 6.5 Grendel. I use blue loctite on the threaded spring detent retaining screw, "for the rear take down pin behind the back plate" I install on every receiver I build. I use blue loctite on, trigger guard screws, receiver tension screws, barrel bedding, hand guard screws, etc. I have used red loctite on gas block mounting screws, but have switched to Rocksett. I use green loctite"620" between the barrel and gas block block journal for proper seal, barrel bedding, between the gas key and bolt carrier instead of Permatex aviation gasket compound and to seal gas tubes to gas blocks. Using loctite on the lower receiver extension "buffer tube" is not necessary if the threads are manufactured properly on the receiver and buffer tube, castle nut torqued to 38 ft lbs and staked properly. This is why I use Vltor buffer tubes exclusively. If the threads are sub standard, I use Vibra-tite VC-3 on the buffer tube threads before torquing the castle nut and staking. Using a torch to break down any loctite thread lock adhesive is a very simple process, if it becomes necessary..It could be quite possible to find AR builds, "where loctite has been used" if the AR was built by another person or manufacturer.. No need to panic..
montana Wrote:Bill Alexander used blue loctite on his barrel nut thread assemblies for ease of manufacture, to offset individual rifles that couldn't meet the 60 ft lb min barrel nut torque he recommended for the 6.5 Grendel. I use blue loctite on the threaded spring detent retaining screw, "for the rear take down pin behind the back plate" I install on every receiver I build. I use blue loctite on, trigger guard screws, receiver tension screws, barrel bedding, hand guard screws, etc. I have used red loctite on gas block mounting screws, but have switched to Rocksett. I use green loctite"620" between the barrel and gas block block journal for proper seal, barrel bedding, between the gas key and bolt carrier instead of Permatex aviation gasket compound and to seal gas tubes to gas blocks.
If I had known this I would have bought stock in Loctite.
PVBoom Wrote:If I had known this I would have bought stock in Loctite.
Considering 3 small tubes, "are more than is needed to build more AR rifles than most will ever build in a life time" it is hard to follow your logic. None the less, I won't stand in your way if that is how you wish to make your fortune..
05-10-2021, 08:42 PM (This post was last modified: 05-10-2021, 10:59 PM by SDW.)
A5BLASTER Wrote:Peice of mop handle and a rubber mallet. Couple of taps and the barrel comes right out.
Or just use a piece of dowel, available at any HW store in 36" sticks Rather than cut up a mop handle. I keep a couple pieces of 1" dowel for just this sort of job.
montana Wrote:I use green loctite"620" between the barrel and gas block block journal for proper seal.... Using a torch to break down any loctite thread lock adhesive is a very simple process...
Not so simple sometimes. I once used a green "penetrating" version of LT (labeled as a Permatex product) under a gas block. This type of green LT is designed for post-installation thread treatments, etc. Flows like water, wicks into any void. Anyway, I applied it under a Troy low-pro gas block, a set screw type, on a GMR stainless barrel. I figured it'd be good for "good measure" for holding the GB in place and to help with sealing.
About a year later I decided to change the handguard, and that required changing the barrel nut. You would not believe the hassle I had removing that GB. Long story a little shorter, it took a couple minutes of heating with my MAP gas torch and active pounding on the GB before it even started moving. I don't know how hot I got the GB but I could see heat ripples in the air from it. Wrecked my GB, BTW. You can see how scorched it got in the pic below And how mashed it got at the top. And even after the GB came off completely and I applied the a heat gun to the remaining residue, the hardened LT was was extremely difficult to scrape off.
Can't recall if I tried getting the residue off with Goof Off though, darn it. And it was in the cabinet right below where I was working. Probably won't dissolve it once LT's baked on. Although, according to some people, that's impossible. LT can only melt! I discovered different though. Never again will I use that stuff for this kind of application.
SDW Wrote:Or just use a piece of dowel, available at any HW store in 36" sticks Rather than cut up a mop handle. I keep a couple pieces of 1" dowel for just this sort of job.
Not so simple sometimes. I once used a green "penetrating" version of LT (labeled as a Permatex product) under a gas block. This type of green LT is designed for post-installation thread treatments, etc. Flows like water, wicks into any void. Anyway, I applied it under a Troy low-pro gas block, a set screw type, on a GMR stainless barrel. I figured it'd be good for "good measure" for holding the GB in place and to help with sealing.
About a year later I decided to change the handguard, and that required changing the barrel nut. You would not believe the hassle I had removing that GB. Long story a little shorter, it took a couple minutes of heating with my MAP gas torch and active pounding on the GB before it even started moving. I don't know how hot I got the GB but I could see heat ripples in the air from it. Wrecked my GB, BTW. You can see how scorched it got in the pic below And how mashed it got at the top. And even after the GB came off completely and I applied the a heat gun to the remaining residue, the hardened LT was was extremely difficult to scrape off.
Can't recall if I tried getting the residue off with Goof Off though, darn it. And it was in the cabinet right below where I was working. Probably won't dissolve it once LT's baked on. Although, according to some people, that's impossible. LT can only melt! I discovered different though. Never again will I use that stuff for this kind of application.
Sorry you had such a hard time with your gas block. The limit for green loctite is 450 degrees. It looks like you got your gas block way hotter than that. I have removed many gas blocks and gas tubes using heat and acetone soak. I go slow and can feel when the loctite begins to release by slowly twisting, never pounding with anything. I have never needed to use a dowel, punch or anything to hit any barrel or gas block, "I have bedded with blue or green loctite" to remove it. I would not have recommended using a claw hammer and small punch for removing the gas block. A rubber mallet or wide brass or aluminum punch and heavier ball peen hammer would have worked better.. I only apply a little loctite around the gas port opening to seal the gas, not around the entire gas block. Knowing how much and where to use is it, is important...
Thanks montana. Yeah, clearly you do it right. I did it wrong. LOL It was my first build, my first time installing a gas block. I way over-did it with the LT. Bonded the entire inner surface of the GB to the barrel. I think I actually tried twisting on the GB to get it to rotate but with no good result. I didn't want to throw a pipe wrench on it, and the upper was at that point clamped into my vice with one of those clamshell holders. I didn't want to over-torque the barrel and receiver.
BTW, just for the record since I didn't make it clear. I've never glued/LT'd a barrel into a receiver. My dowel comment was in reference to me just knocking out a tight barrel, like out of a BCM upper. Or one I had installed via shimming. That was mostly from before I discovered I can heat the receiver end with my torch.
SDW Wrote:Thanks montana. Yeah, clearly you do it right. I did it wrong. LOL It was my first build, my first time installing a gas block. I way over-did it with the LT. Bonded the entire inner surface of the GB to the barrel. I think I actually tried twisting on the GB to get it to rotate but with no good result. I didn't want to throw a pipe wrench on it, and the upper was at that point clamped into my vice with one of those clamshell holders. I didn't want to over-torque the barrel and receiver.
BTW, just for the record since I didn't make it clear. I've never glued/LT'd a barrel into a receiver. My dowel comment was in reference to me just knocking out a tight barrel, like out of a BCM upper. Or one I had installed via shimming. That was mostly from before I discovered I can heat the receiver end with my torch.
I have been working on the AR platform since the late 70's. I look at mistakes as tuition cost for learning, needless to say I have had plenty of expense along the way. That said, I learn something new all the time. There is a lot of differing opinions and methods when working on the AR platform and it is only through trial and error we sort out the best methods that work the best.. That said, there is always another way to skin a cat.. Even renowned armorers and manufacturers will have conflicting information. The only caution is trying not to upset people who have differing opinions. People take pride in their knowledge and methods and it can become a sensitive subject when others disagree. Having a thick skin along the way helps
I wonder whether an induction coil heater would work in getting off that block.
It was mentioned here recently in a thread on brass annealing and I have bit the bullet and bought one - it hasn't arrived yet.
You could adjust the coils to go around the gas block and heat the whole block evenly and at the same time. With a torch you'd have to go around it by bit and I wonder if parts of the block would cool as you were heating other parts. I know it is a lot of money but if you already had the device surely it would work. I also see cheaper induction coils which are just exposed circuit boards on Youtube.
Rather than cut up a mop handle. I keep a couple pieces of 1" dowel for just this sort of job. 
