M14 Flas Supressor Removal - Castle Nut Nightmare...

I had a sunnova##### of a time getting a flash suppressor off a few years ago. The welds dulled every drill bit we had available. Finally, I was able to use a large drill diameter bit and chew away the steel around the spot welds. Remove the set screw and advance the castle nut to the front of the cage, then smite the blunt end of the flash suppressor with a punch and a big hammer. The force tore the steel apart. Advance the nut again, and repeat. I ended up filing the remnant welds off.

All that effort to put a couple of thousands worth of washers into the gas system!
 
Dake21 said:
Well you guys were right, it is a nightmare to take off. I tried the heat trick, hammer and punch in a vise, even using the vise itself and all I did was scrubbing off some bluing. I think I'd be better to leave it as it is because it won't be salvageable!
Click to expand...
Use a dermal on the two spot welds on the underside of the flash hider. Carefully grind out these two welds do not grind the barrel under the welds. Go slowly and carefully it WILL come off. Then carefully dress up the barrel with a file.
The flash hider can be repaired with JB weld to replace the ground out weld spots. I did this but ordered a new one anyway to replace the old one. I like my firearms in pristine shape.
 
Dake21 said:
No offense taken, its a legitimate question. Yes I took off the set screw. I used a C clamp vise grip without success. I dont have the castle nut plier to be honest and was hoping to take it off without it. Id hate to buy one tool for one job, its hard to justify to my wife haha!
Click to expand...
You will use those castle nut pliers more than once believe me, order em anyway. Make sure U get the heavy duty ones.
 
eaglesnester said:
Use a dermal on the two spot welds on the underside of the flash hider. Carefully grind out these two welds do not grind the barrel under the welds. Go slowly and carefully it WILL come off. Then carefully dress up the barrel with a file.
The flash hider can be repaired with JB weld to replace the ground out weld spots. I did this but ordered a new one anyway to replace the old one. I like my firearms in pristine shape.
Click to expand...

But you have to loosen the castle nut before removing the flash hider, don't you? I'm using this video as a reference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xf0M9uAjks mine doesn't move at all. Im going to order the castle nut pliers along with more m14 tools to make my life easier. I live to clean my rifles thoroughly.

I also noticed my rifle doesn't make the ping sound when I dry fire since I tried to loosen the castle nut.
 
Yes U do have to loosen the castle nut slightly before removing flash hider. As for the ping I have never heard it, I am deaf anyway. Loosen castle nut, bang flash hider forward, carefully examine how far hider has moved, loosen castle nut again, bang again, loosen castle nut again, well you get the idea.
 
First remove the set screw under the front of the front sight?
Castlenuts go nowhere if that set screw is still in there.
 
chalkriver said:
Getting the castle nut loose is just the first step , once it is loose get a BIG hammer and a punch . Use vicegrips to hold the punch against the bayo lug and hit it HARD. Once the welds break free the flashider will move up against the castlenut again . Back off the castlenut some more and then lightly tap the flashider forwards again .

At one of Hungrys clinics here in Petawawa a person took a grinder to his flashider as it had a VERY stubborn castle nut that just wouldn't come off .
Click to expand...

Yup... I had one of those at 45ACPKING's clinic last year!
 
I removed my FH today, took my time, first removed the metric/standard Norinco set screw holding the castle nut in place. Then using the plyers i got from by Tactical Teacher i was able to remove it. then the hard part, the welded FH :) Started byt drilling a 1/8 hole and working my way up with larger bits. Once i was satisfied i clamped in a vice with soft jaws and used a brass punch with a hammer and give it 1-2 whacks and surprised it came off. Whew! what a relief, had to touch up the barrel where the welds were but no biggie.

Thanks for all the help, new USGI on now and looks 100% better and sure it will make a big difference.
 
84fuegoturbo said:
I removed my FH today, took my time, first removed the metric/standard Norinco set screw holding the castle nut in place. Then using the plyers i got from by Tactical Teacher i was able to remove it. then the hard part, the welded FH :) Started byt drilling a 1/8 hole and working my way up with larger bits. Once i was satisfied i clamped in a vice with soft jaws and used a brass punch with a hammer and give it 1-2 whacks and surprised it came off. Whew! what a relief, had to touch up the barrel where the welds were but no biggie.

Thanks for all the help, new USGI on now and looks 100% better and sure it will make a big difference.
Click to expand...

Please tell me if you see any difference in accuracy. I still have the norinco on , its canted a bit but I still hit the bulleyes so I dont care too much. im just affraid to break mine by taking it off, the weld spot are almost a quarter inch wife each.
 
on one of barneys first m14 clinic videos, from his basement, he talks about the difference in flash hiders.
He mentioned that the competition shooters would bore out the inner diameter of the milspec flash hiders to around 0.5in or something like that. He also mentioned that the norc flash hiders have an inner diameter close to that 0.5in or so.

For most of us hackers/bush blasters, we will not notice any difference. But if you're a decent shot doing longer range stuff, then it is something to consider.
 
LeftFootOfDoom said:
on one of barneys first m14 clinic videos, from his basement, he talks about the difference in flash hiders.
He mentioned that the competition shooters would bore out the inner diameter of the milspec flash hiders to around 0.5in or something like that. He also mentioned that the norc flash hiders have an inner diameter close to that 0.5in or so.

For most of us hackers/bush blasters, we will not notice any difference. But if you're a decent shot doing longer range stuff, then it is something to consider.
Click to expand...

Ah yes, the old Number 7 Tapered Pin Reamer that I bought from Brafasco back in 1990. The only source of flash suppressors we had back then were ONLY the real USGI versions. We could buy them for $35 and then had to ream them out for accuracy purposes. We used this #7 Tapered Pin Reamer since we would end up with a 0.406" Interior Diameter hole at the end of the FS unit. That was the ideal size for accuracy as determined by the US AMTU and USMC shooting teams.

I've been passing it around STILL at my clinics to show what used to be done. :)

Today, the Norc FS units are already reamed out. The Kommies got that one right....

Now the FS units I sell are already reamed out from the factory. That's a good thing. If I encounter any USGI factory FS unit in my travels, I flatly refuse to ream them out because they are a collector item and should be respected as that. :eek:

Lots and lots of choices these days. Things were very different back in the 80's for M14 shooters. We had no choice but to modify the USGI parts! :(

I feel awful having to permanently change a USGI part, even if we need to make it shoot better. It's a wiser choice to buy a commercial part and modify at will! And without guilty feelings, too! :cool:

Oh yeah, the new ones PING like crazy! :evil:

Cheers and keep helping them nooobs out there!

Barney
 
Yes!

I finally received the heavy duty castle nut plier thanks to TacticalTeacher. It took a lot of torque but I got it loose now. There was so much carbon build up it felt like sand!
 
The M305 Project I have been working on is almost done, putting a muzzle brake on it and the hand guard from M14.ca then side mount a flash light and maybe a laser sight I have a new not Norinco Op Rod coming and all the other work other then a paint job is all done... I LOVE love love the M14 comp rear sight I have on the rifle and that went on with such ease compared to the Norinco trash that was there.

I know my flasher nut will come off easy and it looks like the welds will brake clean with a good smack, but I am saving that project for when I get my new light bulb project done that will make removing flash suppressor a dream...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom