Removing the flash suppressor was too easy..

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Brentn

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I was reading the faq and noticed that Hungry was mentioning that to get it off, you want to hammer it off with a piece of wood or punch, but I found a much easier and better way.

The weld spots, at least on mine, are pretty weak. I figured that I would use the castle nut itself as leverage to get the flash suppressor off.
A member on this board (forget his name) mentioned that he would back the castle nut off and put pressure on the welds, then hit the suppressor and back it off some more.
I found that you don't even need to hit the suppressor at all, and the castle nut will do all the work. You also don't even need to use castle nut pliers, I didn't have any and I hate buying tools in which I feel that I can improvise otherwise.

Taking a flat heat screwdriver of a good length and a medium sized tip, you can use a hammer and slowly unscrew the castle nut with the hammering force, to break the welds and have the flash hider slide off nice and clean.
I went in the basement on a cement floor, took a length of cardboard for the rifle to lay on (the rifle was stripped of everything but the reciever and gas system) and put my knee down on the rifle to hold it steady.
Taking the flat head screw driver I placed the corner edge onto one of the edges on the castle nut after I had backed it out as far as I could by hand. Hammering gently the cast nut began to move rearward towards the muzzle and after it moved far enough I would then place the screwdriver on a new edge of the castle nut and continue.
I did this for about two 1/4 turn movement and the flash suppressor was free of the welds.

The castle nut obviously is of forged steel cause the hammer barely even knicked it.

Food for thought.

After reading some of the replies I should maybe put up a warning that there seems to be two types of flash hiders for norinco. Ones that are welded on not so well, and ones that are welded on so tight that you must cut the flash-hider off.
With that in perspective, I think I should also point out that if you have a norinco with a flash hider that is welded on very well, you will wreck the threads of your castle nut and the barrel trying to hammer it off as described above. I suppose I took a gamble, but when I was doing it after the first 1/8th turn of the castle nut, it could see the flash hider giving, a good observation to note that it wasn't on there all that well
 
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.... so.... what kinda condition does this leave one's castlenut in?? I guess this method is o.k. if you are removing it to not put it on again.... or if you have a few spare undamaged castlenuts on hand.....
i'll stick with a cold chisel and a hammer :D , nothin gets wrecked that way ... but the welds
 
Keep taking off the castle nut with a screwdriver, and you will wreck it.

In my limited experience, I have taken off about a dozen flash suppressors off norcs. Some just come off, some require some hammering, some require drilling, and virtual mutilation of the flash suppressor.
 
I guess I did get lucky, but the castle nut held up fine like I previously said...

I guess the welds go through the same quality control as the gun, intermittant.
 
Hey Bretn,When you remove your rifle stock,on the left side(where the scope mount mounts) is the first number a 3 or a 4?
 
My Flash Suppressor was a breeze to remove as well. Thought it was going to be a royal pain in the..... but, it just eased right off, with the help of a Brass Drift Punch.

Millwright:

The number on mine is 3. Is this an indicator of something?
 
I have two with the number 3 and they both came off easy.At the Nov clinic in Edmonton one gentleman was removing his when I walked up.He got a real big smile after one little wack.His also had a 3 as the first number.Also in talking to a few others with good luck like us theirs also had the # 3 build date. Just trying to draw some sort of correlation between the build date and the ease of the flash hider removal experience. Hey did you guys flip your gas cylinder lock at the same time.Made a huge difference in the tightness of my gas system.(meaning no shims needed)
 
carbonrod said:
Keep taking off the castle nut with a screwdriver, and you will wreck it.

In my limited experience, I have taken off about a dozen flash suppressors off norcs. Some just come off, some require some hammering, some require drilling, and virtual mutilation of the flash suppressor.
Click to expand...

I didn't wreck it, it is still very usable and shows no sign of damage. I can show you a picture if you still don't believe me.
 
Yea, I see that now..

Looks like your theory is down the tubes well based on the first number.

If you can tell me what the numbers mean, maybe we can all help identify what M14's were manufactured with a poorly welded hider and what were not?

I remember when I bought mine from pro line shooters, the guy there was telling me that the one I had came from the "better" factory of quality control. I really don't know much about the different factories or even how to tell which rifle was built at what particular one.
 
btw, the welds are very clean and I had to do no sanding or emry cloth whatsoever, there is only a slight discoloration.
 
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