06-27-2020, 10:44 AM
I would go easy on gluing the gas block, and maybe even the barrel unless it is a loose fit. If you build AR's then at some stage you will be thinking of pulling them apart. Once glued, joins are not impossible to break but it becomes a pain and might dissuade you from tinkering.
You only need to add glue to the gas block to seal it from leaking gas. The design accommodates the joins in the gas system leaking like a sieve. You only need to keep this from happening if you don't have enough gas to cycle the action reliably. I recommend building the gun and then taking to to the Range to check with the mildest loads you are likely to use. Open the AGB right up and if you still need more gas you can pull that section apart and reassemble using glue. Otherwise you don't need to seal it. That said, you are very unlikely to need it.
Making the cycling system lighter in the hope of mitigating felt recoil does not make sense to me. I would think the opposite will do this. The heaviest full-mass carrier you can find to absorb as much of the rearward momentum that would otherwise be transferred to the shoulder.
If however your goal is to save weight in the gun, with an adjustable gas block you decide how much gas pushes that combined system of BCG /spring/buffer. Why not go a light MILSPEC buffer, normal spring and light BCG and just dial down the gas so this combined mass only travels rearward as far as is reliable.
There are two competing scenarios here so what you want to achieve?
You only need to add glue to the gas block to seal it from leaking gas. The design accommodates the joins in the gas system leaking like a sieve. You only need to keep this from happening if you don't have enough gas to cycle the action reliably. I recommend building the gun and then taking to to the Range to check with the mildest loads you are likely to use. Open the AGB right up and if you still need more gas you can pull that section apart and reassemble using glue. Otherwise you don't need to seal it. That said, you are very unlikely to need it.
Making the cycling system lighter in the hope of mitigating felt recoil does not make sense to me. I would think the opposite will do this. The heaviest full-mass carrier you can find to absorb as much of the rearward momentum that would otherwise be transferred to the shoulder.
If however your goal is to save weight in the gun, with an adjustable gas block you decide how much gas pushes that combined system of BCG /spring/buffer. Why not go a light MILSPEC buffer, normal spring and light BCG and just dial down the gas so this combined mass only travels rearward as far as is reliable.
There are two competing scenarios here so what you want to achieve?