Ok...I'm gonna come clean....I need some help

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Great Crouton

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I've been hesitant to write this post as it has to do with an NEA rifle and an AR noob putting it together. I've had a rough go at the end.

What happened:

I bought all the parts for this AR over time to spread out cost. I LOVE doing things myself. Lower build went smooth as silk, LOVED the process and learning how it all goes together. Then I attempted the upper.

I bought an AR wrench and upper reciever block from a dealer on this sight. Right off the get go I had an issue, the upper block didn't seem to close properly on the upper. None the less, got it in the vice and it all seemed snug. Inserted the barrel into the upper reciever and screwed on the barrel nut. 2nd issue. Not sure how many have used NEA barrel nuts but when I tightened down the barrel nut pretty tight, one of the "teeth" that run the perimeter of the nut was in the way of the port that the gas tube needs to pass through into the upper. Two optionis, loosen or tighten. Lossening it didn't seem like a good option as it didn't seem anywhere as tight as what people were doing in youtube vids. Second option, tighten it even more. However, the amount of force that was needed to be applied was far more than I was exepcting but did eventually get it cinched down enough that the tooth was out of the way using the lossen/tighten method. Finished putting the upper together and was very excited to pair the upper and lower.

Then I noticed the last and fatal issue, the bolt would'nt run all the way into the upper. Kept hitting something near the barrel end. I was quite dissapointed at this point and figured the only way to figure out what the hell the issue was I had to take it apart. So I did. What I found was hard to understand. The indexing pin that guides the barrel into the upper reciever had sheared off and the whole barrel had rotated about a quarter inch in the reciever. ARGH!!! I'm assuming this happened when I was trying to tighten the nut down but guess it's possible that it may have happened when I was screwing on the muzzle brake?

Contact NEA and they agreed to replace the barrel. I was quite relieved as I wasn't sure if I had done something wrong. Got the replacement barrel back. When I attempted to fit the barrel back into the reciever that's when I noticed that when that pin sheared off the previous barrel, it had gouged that slot in the reciever pretty good and as a result, the new barrel wiggled back and forth more than I was comfortable with.

As luck would have it, SFRC had a big discount on NEA uppers so I bought a new one. It's on its way shorlty. I thought maybe NEA should replace this too but as I didn't know for sure if I screwed up, I figured I'd suck it up and just get it.

Now...based on the above experience, I'm kinda nervous to try again.

Is there any chance anyone in the Calgary area would take pity on an AR newb and possibly show me how to do this properly? I've been in touch with CSC and TSE and both want a minium of $100 to assemble the upper. As far as I can tell, this is a very simple build (despite the fact I managed to screw it up) and minimum $100 is a bit pricey and I learn nothing. I NEED to know what I did wrong and how to do it properly going forward.

More than happy to bring over the alcohol of your choice as compensation.

Thank all for reading my story of tragedy and noobishness.
 
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Did you clamp the barrel in a vise block when installing the brake? If not, that's most likely what caused the index pin to come out.

All barrel nuts will have the same issue with respect to lining up the gas tube.

The NEA upper is billet and not a standard profile. That may be why you had issues with it fitting into the vise block. It may require some fitting to work correctly with billet uppers. Mine did.

Get someone with experience to help you. It's not difficult, but as you're aware, it can be screwed up.
 
Stevo said:
Did you clamp the barrel in a vise block when installing the brake? If not, that's most likely what caused the index pin to come out.
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Well I guess that was the issue then. No I didn't and that makes sense as it was the only rotational force applied to the barrel. Didn't think it could be the barrel nut as all it seems to do is squeeze the collar the barrel fits into. I did think about clamping it in my vise but I don't recall seeing anyone do that before and was worried about the teeth on my vise carving up the barrel.

Now that we have established thatis the likely culprit, how DO you clamp a barrel in a vise securely?

And interesting that you mention that the NEA upper is not a standard profile. I did mention to NEA in my emails that I was having issues getting the block to wrap around the reciever completley. They said they were surprised as all they use is "Standard Brownells reciever blocks".
 
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Insert the barrel in the upper and hand-tighten the barrel nut down. Remove the barrel nut. Re-install the barrel nut and lightly tighten it down with a wrench. Remove the barrel nut. Re-install the barrel nut and tighten it down as close to 40ftlbs as possible, without interfering with the gas tube.

That's all there is too it.

Also, spray the threads down with some penetrating oil or something before you install the barrel nut the last time.

If the indexing pin sheared off the barrel, you did something wrong. That nut doesn't have to be on there He-Man strong, just get it to 30-40 ftlbs. That's just barely more than light pressure with a wrench.

Additionally, I wouldn't worry too much about a little barrel movement in regards to the indexing pin. The barrel should fit snuggly within the upper, but we're not talking medical device precision here.
 
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Great Crouton said:
Well I guess that was the issue then. No I didn't and that makes sense as it was the only rotational force applied to the barrel. Didn't think it could be the barrel nut as all it seems to do is squeeze the collar the barrel fits into. I did think about clamping it in my vise but I don't recall seeing anyone do that before and was worried about the teeth on my vise carving up the barrel.

Now that we have established thatis the likely culprit, how DO you clamp a barrel in a vise securely?

And interesting that you mention that the NEA upper is not a standard profile. I did mention to NEA in my emails that I was having issues getting the block to wrap around the reciever completley. They said they were surprised as all they use is "Standard Brownells reciever blocks".
Click to expand...

All the barrel vice does is stop you from damaging the finish on your upper. If it doesn't fit 100%, don't worry about it, upper designs vary wildly.
 
Look into things like this
http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-t...-barrel-extension-torque-tools-prod27452.aspx
http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-t...l-tools/ar-15-m16-reaction-rod-prod55168.aspx

One of our site sponsors sells them but I can't remember which one right now. Hopefully someone else can remember.

I luckily had 2 barrel nuts to try when I put my upper together. One wouldn't come close and I thought I would break the upper If I tried to turn it enough to line it up and the other was tight but I was able to get it lined up.
 
cr5 said:
Look into things like this
http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-t...-barrel-extension-torque-tools-prod27452.aspx
http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-t...l-tools/ar-15-m16-reaction-rod-prod55168.aspx

One of our site sponsors sells them but I can't remember which one right now. Hopefully someone else can remember.

I luckily had 2 barrel nuts to try when I put my upper together. One wouldn't come close and I thought I would break the upper If I tried to turn it enough to line it up and the other was tight but I was able to get it lined up.
Click to expand...

He doesn't need either of those.
 
Mr. Spectacular said:
He doesn't need either of those.
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They are a much better way to put together an AR, No torque is transmitted to the aluminum receiver so other than over tightening and stripping the threads you can't damage your upper. An AR can be assembled correctly without one but If I was putting rifles together regularly I would have one. My favorite smith also uses one and I value his opinion over pretty much all others on this site.

Perfect tool for installing the barrel nut and muzzle device.
 
K. First mistake was using a clamshell style clamp for a billet receiver. They clearly state that they are not to be used for billet or specific other receivers like my Vltor upper receiver. You needed to do some more reading about what you had before you started. There is possibly the best tool for mounting a barrel available from Brownells and other suppliers. It is made by Geissele and clamps into the vise block and applies the torque directly to the barrel, through the barrel extension. Your lucky you didn't crush the upper receiver and damage it to the point that the BCG wouldn't go into it.
 
jawsman said:
They clearly state that they are not to be used for billet or specific other receivers like my Vltor upper receiver. You needed to do some more reading about what you had before you started.
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Who clearly states this?

http://ctcsupplies.ca/collections/the-budget-build-sale/products/ar-armorers-kit

This is the one I bought an no where does it "clearly" state that it's only to be used on a certain type of reciever. NEA also told me they just use standard Brownells upper blocks, at no point did they advise I needed a specific type. And this was AFTER I mentioned to them that the block I had didn't seem to fit perfectly as I was expecting it to.

I've also asked in other threads about what type of upper block to buy and not one person asked me what type of reciever this was for.
 
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jawsman said:
K. First mistake was using a clamshell style clamp for a billet receiver. They clearly state that they are not to be used for billet or specific other receivers like my Vltor upper receiver. You needed to do some more reading about what you had before you started. There is possibly the best tool for mounting a barrel available from Brownells and other suppliers. It is made by Geissele and clamps into the vise block and applies the torque directly to the barrel, through the barrel extension. Your lucky you didn't crush the upper receiver and damage it to the point that the BCG wouldn't go into it.
Click to expand...

He's referencing the item in the second link in my earlier post. If you want it done right that's the tool to use. Impossible to damage your upper.
I've seen them on one of our site sponsors websites just can't remember which.
 
All of the fancy tools are great - if you're assembling AR uppers for a living.

This guy is just trying to put ONE upper together, once.

Just put it together, OP. Seriously.
 
Mr. Spectacular said:
All of the fancy tools are great - if you're assembling AR uppers for a living.

This guy is just trying to put ONE upper together, once.

Just put it together, OP. Seriously.
Click to expand...


Just saying, if you want to do it right you need the tools to do it.
If your not lucky enough to have the barrel nut line up without a lot of torque then you need more than the armourer wrench.
 
Step 1: READ every assembly procedure you can find.

Step 2: Take all your parts to someone that knows what they are doing.

Shearing off an indexing pin is a blatant sign of incompetence and a lack of comprehension of simple mechanics.
 
There are 2 things here.

1) the way you clamped the upper is not the issue. However, you should use a torque wrench and follow the procedure of tightening/loosening 3 times with the proper grease on the barrel nut thread.

2)Torquing a muzzle device by clamping down the upper is iffy, but lots of people do it, even gunsmiths! The ghetto way is to wrap a towel around the barrel and have it clamped down by the vice. This is more tricky with some handguard system where the handguard must be installed before the muzzle device , such as KAC urx and monolithic uppers. I was told that the KAC factory uses something similar to the reaction rod.

This is probably how you shear the index pin.
 
Great Crouton said:
Not sure how many have used NEA barrel nuts but when I tightened down the barrel nut pretty tight, one of the "teeth" that run the perimeter of the nut was in the way of the port that the gas tube needs to pass through into the upper. Two optionis, loosen or tighten. Lossening it didn't seem like a good option as it didn't seem anywhere as tight as what people were doing in youtube vids. Second option, tighten it even more. However, the amount of force that was needed to be applied was far more than I was exepcting but did eventually get it cinched down enough that the tooth was out of the way using the lossen/tighten method
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SO we think that he twisted on the muzzle break /Flashider so tight when installing it that it sheared off the index tab on the barrel after he tightened it down way more than he figured he should?? holy crap what were you using to tighten it a 3' pipe wrench? I think if you applied enough force on the assembly when installing the flash hider to twist off the tab under the excessively tightened nut than you should have effectively twisted that housing right around and ruined it first don't you? do the nuts not push the barrel into the receiver and "clamp" it down tight?
and I think those brownells torque tube thingies are the bees knees, and for 49 dollars what's not to love
 
There are 2 types of upper vice blocks. Clamshell and takedown pin models. Should clarify with nea which one they are referring to

Don't forget some grease on the barrel nut and upper receiver threads, also should use a torque wrench when tightening the nut

Clamp the barrel when tightening the flash hider

It is not an overly complicated job, just need the proper tools
 
Armedsask said:
Step 1: READ every assembly procedure you can find.

Step 2: Take all your parts to someone that knows what they are doing.

Shearing off an indexing pin is a blatant sign of incompetence and a lack of comprehension of simple mechanics.
Click to expand...

Seriously dood, pound sand. A massive hill of it. I honestly have no idea why anyone would feel the need to write drivel like this. If you got something constructive to say fine, if you just going to write crap like this don't bother.

Thanks in advance.
 
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