Alternative's to shimming

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axxxel

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Hello,

My rifle is currently shimmed to make the gas lock tighten at the right angle. The shims are flimsy and I'm afraid they won'last many years. Are there any good alternatives to shimming? A nat'l match gas assembly would still need the shimming, right?
 
Remove flash hider and castle nut, remove gas plug. remove the gas lock and try it on both ways to see which way it is closer to clocking correctly, now you have to remove metal from the side that touches the gas sustem until it clocks properly. use a nice flat sharpening stone or a piece of glass or flat steel with 220 sand paper on it. remove a little ,try it on repeat. I think this is better than useing shims but make sure you keep it flat.
 
bobc said:
Remove flash hider and castle nut, remove gas plug. remove the gas lock and try it on both ways to see which way it is closer to clocking correctly, now you have to remove metal from the side that touches the gas sustem until it clocks properly. use a nice flat sharpening stone or a piece of glass or flat steel with 220 sand paper on it. remove a little ,try it on repeat. I think this is better than useing shims but make sure you keep it flat.
Click to expand...

What? You remove material from your gas lock?

Yes I agree to trying the gas lock on either way, hopefully that it starts tightening around 4 o'clock and proper tight by 6.

However, if he is shimming, it is probably because either side leads to it only tightening past the 6 o'clock. :confused:
 
I took mine into work and took .001 off at a time on the surface grinder till it was perfect. Of course I had to re park it after, but I was doing some parts anyway.
 
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Removing material from the gas lock is not a recognized method. In doing so you are changing the behavior of the gas piston , causing it to strike the plug during firing. Not good.
1 thou? Prolly not a big deal.

The alternative to shims is to peen the gas band shoulder to push a bit of metal forward. Negating the need for shims. Not really a layman's job but it is the alternative to shims.
Brownells shim packs provide very durable stainless shims in varying thickness and are about 15 bucks for a pack of several shims.
 
Now about that process of removing the flash suppressor...

I keep a whack (about half a dozen) of the gas cylinder locks handy. I buy the from Brownells and have them because I have some "friends" with USGI threaded barrels (Hart, Krieger, Douglas, USGI, Smith, Fulton) who need said tightening up done.

What I do is trial and error fitting; one way, then flip it around and do the other way to discover a snug fit... contact around 4 o'clock and rubber hammer to the bottom dead center at 6 o'clock. I do this until I find the right fit at 4 or 5 o'clock. Then I ask them for a 6 pack of Stella! :D

One can do this if you are experienced and have all the tools and parts like M14doctor. ;) And you have a shztload of Norinco threaded gas locks; I don't so I just decide to work on American threaded barrels ONLY! :eek: Because I can order parts from Brownells, or Treeline. ;)

No shims needed. But for those of you who want shims... I have them for $ 5 mailed to ya! Stainless steel construction! :D

Cheers and I hope you find all these posts helpful.

Barney
 
I used dental floss before, tightened that sucker right up. Once I discovered that you can take your flash hider off with a hammer, I was able to flip the gas band and tighten it up properly. Now my assembly is double thumb tight at 6 o'clock and I can't even get it to 6:30 or 7.
 
Or take the easiest route and cut your shim so that it can be slipped on over the barrel without taking off the flash hider.
 
I did that using a shim cut from a Coke can, I found dental floss to be more effective. If you were really determined you could probably get an o-ring in there haha
 
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