05-11-2021, 12:12 AM
SDW Wrote:Or just use a piece of dowel, available at any HW store in 36" sticksRather 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.
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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...