12-02-2011, 04:05 PM
texasgrunt Wrote:Does anyone know which of the billet upper manufacturers actually do this?
The billet receivers I've used (Sundevil) are more dimensionally accurate than forgings. So I would expect the need to do this as a separate step to be redundant. And very difficult for a manual machinist step (lathe/mill) to beat the CNC tolerances.
Most of the people which "true the face" are using a specialized tool which has a pilot that goes in the receiver.
There are debates on how much this actually helps if the receiver is not grossly out of spec. (Which billets will not be) With the observation that the aluminum face deforms some under the torque with the steel barrel flange/nut. Enough to handle small variances.
The other potential issue is that "facing" the receiver removes hardcoating. Maybe not an issue if you are doing some sealing or bedding, but will put AL against Steel.
Some people swear by it. Others view it as a "secret sauce" positioned as a differentiator which does not have much impact in the real world if you use a decent receiver to start with.
My rule of thumb would be that if you are not using a super premium barrel, that a quality, in spec receiver will not benefit much from truing. If you want to remove any possible variance on a high end build, it may make sense.
This is just my opinion, others may have different