Bent My Upper?!

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StainlessFan

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Hi guys,

I have to install a new gas tube on my Norinco CQ, as I my old one was bent.

When going to install the new gas tube, I noticed that my upper seems to be bent near the ejection port. I have never clamped my receiver in a vise, so I have no clue how this could of happened...

There doesn't seem to be any resistance to the BCG, it slides in and out of the receiver without too much friction, is this something I should be worrying about? Does anyone have a Norinco CQ with an upper that looks like this, or did I somehow F*#% mine up? Here are some pictures highlighting the area in question...

WP_20131216_003_zps388cb67b.jpg


Thanks!
 
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When torquing on a new flash hider, you always want to clamp on to the barrel. This may require you remove the handguard and use a special jig (I made one to hold the barrel in a table vise when I swapped out the flash hider on my LMT).
 
How tight were you making it? Were you using a fresh crush washer or a shim kit?
Lucky it was just a Norc. Hate to see a quality upper ruined from another case of impropper tools and technique.
Lesson learned, go buy a new one.
 
If it was mine & the action did not bind just leave it other wise I would lay it down flat use a piece wood & hammer to flatten it back but be carefully its cast and can crack but that's me and what I would do. These guns were ment to be abused & banged around my norinco been dropped thrown & she's still firing mint! Good luck
 
I know it was incorrect to tighten the flash hider that way, however as I stated I did NOT clamp the upper at all.

My question is, if the BCG is sliding in and out of my upper freely, do you guys think my upper is still fit to be shot? I don't care about the gun from an aesthetic perspective, it is just a Norc.
 
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Canserb said:
If it was mine & the action did not bind just leave it other wise I would lay it down flat use a piece wood & hammer to flatten it back but be carefully its cast and can crack but that's me and what I would do. These guns were ment to be abused & banged around my norinco been dropped thrown & she's still firing mint! Good luck
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Thanks for the advice, but I think if I did that I might just make it worse... I've heard that aluminum is not easy to bend back when warped/bent, and I'm still not sure if my rifle might of come this way.
 
I'm not posting this to add insult or anything but it's reasoned like this that I spent the 60$ and bought a vice block kit from brownells it comes with one for the lower one the hold the complete upper to install barrels etc and even a piece to go inside the upper where the BCG
Would be so you are sure not to tweak anything.
I hope it still works good people will chime in its okay it's just a norcinco there cheap to buy but hey 5-700$ is still a bi**h to waste
 
I'm just wondering if this kind of bend in the upper is something to be concerned about, or merely aesthetic. Does anyone else have a Norc with this kind of bend in the upper?
 
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I dont think any one will say its safe shoot it,in case it blows up so all I can say is if it was my nor & it moves freely I would try it out. You gotta remember the ar is a military rifle that was made pretty sloppy for war purposes there for they were built to get banged up & still used. If u feel safer take it into a gun smith but I'm sure he'll cover his butt & say oooo noooo replace it. Does ur upper show any cracks or stretch marks in the area of the bend?
 
Canserb said:
I dont think any one will say its safe shoot it,in case it blows up so all I can say is if it was my nor & it moves freely I would try it out. You gotta remember the ar is a military rifle that was made pretty sloppy for war purposes there for they were built to get banged up & still used. If u feel safer take it into a gun smith but I'm sure he'll cover his butt & say oooo noooo replace it. Does ur upper show any cracks or stretch marks in the area of the bend?
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No it looks fine, no cracks or signs of stress that I can see. I just wanted to see if anyone else has an upper that has a slight bend in it like this, not sure if it's in spec for a Norc or not.
 
The upper and lower receivers are cases - nothing more and nothing less.
If you had the floating rail attached in a vice, that rail is attached to the upper receiver. If you are applying torque to the barrel, that torque is wanting to transfer to the upper receiver which is in the vice via the railed hand guard. The part that is stopping this from happening in your case was the gas tube (which you bent), but obviously some of that torque bypassed the tube into the receiver as you bent that too.

Personally, I'd pin it back to the lower and would test to see if it fed dummy ammo reliably. If it does, try some mild ammo and go from there.
 
Man my wife little upset but I just busted out my 2 norincos & got them apart in garage mine are both strait. Are you sure u didn't bend it another time & justed noticed it now? Also that piece that is bent is to hold things together and allow ur bolt to slide & eject the empties out. I wouldn't sweet too much and hopefully other will answer ur qustion instead of telling u how u should of done it lol, & see if other would just leave it or not.
 
You can tweek it back in place... Use 2 screew driver. Put the where the gas tube sticks out and torque them appart, you will wqnt to protect the finish of you firearm,,, they hâve better détail, online.
 
beltfed said:
The upper and lower receivers are cases - nothing more and nothing less.
If you had the floating rail attached in a vice, that rail is attached to the upper receiver. If you are applying torque to the barrel, that torque is wanting to transfer to the upper receiver which is in the vice via the railed hand guard. The part that is stopping this from happening in your case was the gas tube (which you bent), but obviously some of that torque bypassed the tube into the receiver as you bent that too.

Personally, I'd pin it back to the lower and would test to see if it fed dummy ammo reliably. If it does, try some mild ammo and go from there.
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It was a two piece rail...
 
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Canserb said:
Man my wife little upset but I just busted out my 2 norincos & got them apart in garage mine are both strait. Are you sure u didn't bend it another time & justed noticed it now? Also that piece that is bent is to hold things together and allow ur bolt to slide & eject the empties out. I wouldn't sweet too much and hopefully other will answer ur qustion instead of telling u how u should of done it lol, & see if other would just leave it or not.
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Thanks for checking man!
 
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if there are no cracks and if the bolt moves freely with the gas tube in place, I wouldn't worry about the bend in the upper. you may do more damage trying to true it up, it may also have been bent right from the factory.
 
If it functions leave it be! Aluminum castings will most likely crack if bent back, if not cracked already. I've made the mistake before...
 
I bet you it's absolutely fine. Like really, what? A little bend like that gonna make it blow up? I wouldn't so figure.

Have a nice day! If you put 50 round thru her hard and she's fine, frickn give 'er
 
wbaad said:
If it functions leave it be! Aluminum castings will most likely crack if bent back, if not cracked already. I've made the mistake before...
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barsik said:
if there are no cracks and if the bolt moves freely with the gas tube in place, I wouldn't worry about the bend in the upper. you may do more damage trying to true it up, it may also have been bent right from the factory.
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The only two people with any sense in this thread.

DO NOT try to fix anything. Just leave it alone and go shoot your rifle. There is zero chance the rifle could blow up or be further damaged by the bend in the upper. As long as the bolt and barrel extension lock together properly then the rifle will be safe to shoot. There are features that prevent the rifle from shooting if the bolt does not lock into the barrel extension properly.

FWIW I have seen uppers crack in the same area you are looking at due to being improperly torqued or held during torquing.
 
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