AR 15 Barrel Nut Lockup Solution

Looking on the internet people have said there are problems with barrel nut locking up to the upper receivers. The problem is dis-smellier metals! It does not matter which you chose copper and steel, aluminum and steel, etc. when they touch there is an electron exchange and corrosion begins and an untreated spark plug can fuse itself in an aluminum head. It seems the auto industry has already solved this problem. Mechanics have for years have had to deal with this but now they do not! At an auto parts store you will find small packets of a product specifically made for this purpose at Autozone it is called Anti Seize and sold in a small package for about a buck and should do one gun, For AR builders Napa it is called Anti Seize they sells an 8oz. bottle for $9 and a 16oz bottle for a little under $25. . If you have nothing else automatic transmission fluid works on car spark plugs works reasonably well and should work on an AR too.

Richard W. Norman author of American Handbook on Guns Ammo and Freedom  

AR Sight System, Scopes, Flash Llight Illumination, and Lazars

Lazar sights – Night self-defense offers some problems when using a Laser sight. Yes, you will hit what you are aiming at but your laser sight offers a target for your opponent to aim at. You are best served by a laser switch which lets you turn on the laser when you have your gun already pointed at your opponent. Push the button and fire.

Gun Flashlights- Flashlights offer your opponent an advantage as he can indiscriminately pepper the place where the light is coming from with indiscriminately shots keeping himself in the shadows. For a dollar or two buy a LED high powered flash light. Turn it on and from a secure position role it in the middle of the room with your opposition He will now be illuminated and you can stay in the shadow.

Red Dot Sights – These are particularly helpful as no laser is being used no origin of light is being sees by your opponent  back to you and no matter what if the dot is on your opponent (if the scope was properly sighted in) you will hit him.

AR Flattop Platform – Do not get me wrong these are fine guns but if there was a war parts get lost. People drop things, and there will be no replacing them. If your batteries are dead and your sight system is down you can only offer approximate shots. I think the military style A2 upper offers the best platform. On the A2 carry handle you can install a top rail with a single finger nut and run your read dot scope and it works fine. In a stress situation if your scope gets damaged you will still have your iron sights If you have the clip on A2 upper carry handle for your flattop and get separated from it you will have nothing at all.

Overkill on scopes—people many times do not know the limitations of the gun they own. The gun barrel length, gun barrel condition, shortcomings of the ammo, etc. can be factors in determining whether or not to put a scope on a gun. For example if a gun barrel is worn from years of use a scope will not improve gun accuracy you might as well get a brass lamp and rub it and wish for the gun to shoot better. Some old gun whose barrel is pristine and is extremely accurate using the iron sights is a different story and would well merit a scope.  Short barrel guns and  guns that shoot pistol ammo should not be considered as a scoped gun. The exceptions is guns where the scope matches the maximum accurate range or the weapon like read dot scopes on an AR M4 16 inch barrel carbine. To tack on a high powered scope would be foolish yet I have seen it done.    

Richard W Norman  Author of American Handbook on Guns Ammo and Freedom 

AR Head Space Gauges

 Head Space Gauges right now are like gold and so you should look for the best deal you can get. The question is whether you need one. Of course the gun needs to be checked with a gauge but depending on the gun shop this might be a nominal charge and keep you from having around  a product that you gave about $30 each for.

On the AR the bolt is removed and disassembled. The head of the bolt has the pins driven out and the ejector claw and the ejector cylinder pin removed leaving a striped bolt head. The striped basic bolt is temporally put back together and closed on the "GO" gunge and it should close. The bolt is removed from the receiver and the "No Go" gauge is inserted the bolt is brought forward but this time it should not close. The gun passed the test. If the gun will not close on the "GO" gauge it has a head space problem! If you shot the gun it may not close on a loaded round and you can have the bolt driven down your thought. If the gun closed on the No Go Gauge and you shoot the gun it can blow up.

Companies that make the gauges Forster, another Clymer,

Graff  and Sons sell  Head Space Gauges for about $5 to $10 under price of many others pricing and as much as $25  under others. www.grafs.com   No I do not have any connection with this company
Richard W. Norman Author of American Handbook on Guns Ammo and Freedom

AR Manufacture and Cartridge History

The AR started out as being designed for the military market by ArmaLite who ran into financial problems and sold the designed to Colt who redesigned the gun a little more and the gun was adopted by the military in 1963 The gun was originally not well liked by the soldiers in the military as it had functioning problems and the cartridge needed a different powder charge. Some were told to shower with the gun and one of the interesting instructions was to strike the gun butt on the ground and if jams persists turn in for repair. This is not even fine for a civilian market but for the military this must have sent dread and fear to the heart of a soldier. Some have said that if the opportunity arose they would have dropped their gun in favor of picking up an enemy AK 47. 

The cartridge was a scaled down 30/06. The 30/06 was a very efficient cartage and got its name 30 caliber #6 attempt in the development process or 30/06 for short. The scaled down cartridge was to use a 22 bullet whose goal was to injure the enemy and leave the enemy to care for them. This is an example of where our western idea of fairness was mistakenly placed on a foreign battlefield; This did not work in Vietnam as if the enemy was not able to walk he was shot by his own people. Knowing that they were dead anyway when our soldiers walked passed them they would shoot a US soldier. This started the practice or we should call it a necessity to shoot the downed man a second time before you walked by him. The Arab terrorists work the same way so our soldiers must shoot them a second time before they can go near them. Back in the day this was called double tapping but today to be politically correct it is called controlled seconds.
  The cartridge was called 223 Remington cartridge later would be adopted by NATO with a heavier powder charge and grater muzzle velocity as 5.56X45 or 5.56 for short. Whatever the cartridges deficiency it has the distinct advantage of letting the guns user carry a lot of ammo compared to 30/06 or 308 or even 7.62X39. At fairly close range the bullet caries a vacuum behind it which on impact creates about  3000 psi in the torso  and it would pay you to watch  a ballistic gelatin video on the Internet in slow motion. The cavity is expanded and the damage is not just from the hole the bullet makes but by the inflation rips and tares creating massive internal damage. The bullet many times bounce around in the body surrounding tissue from bone to bone. So whether fired from close or longer ranges the bullet will ricochets around the body creating more damage along with the vacuum effect.
Richard W. Norman Author of American Handbook on Guns Ammo and Freedom

AR Ammo, Barrel Twist, and Gas System etc.

AR Ammo
1) M193 Standard military cartridge 55 Grain Lead core boat tailed copper jacket bullet.

2) M196 Tracer Possible corrosive to gun barrel they come in orange or green tipped and should be used in a 1 tracer to 4--  M193 regular bullets. Used for signaling or for laying down accurate night fire or incendiary ignition.

3) M856 Tracer  same use and characteristics as above except the projectile is near 64 grains and has a longer burnout time.

4) M188 Dummy used for gun handling training. The shell has a series of about six long dents uniformly down the body of the shell.  

5) M200 Blank this is used with a muzzle clip on generally read in color which allows the flash powder to cycle the gun to keep from manual operation. This is for simulated fire with no projectile.

6) M855 Green tipped steal penetrator 62 grains. This bullet is good out to 90 meters and is not as susceptible to deflection from glass, thin metal, or small twigs and leave. Its sole purpose was to penetrate solders thin metal helmets. It was produced in abundance cheaply for a military market and filtered into the civilian market so its low price was very popular to sportsmen for hog hunting. Currently banned by Obama.

7) M862 SRTA  Short Ranged Training Ammo only efficient target ammo out to 25 meters for quick fire training,  silhouette short range target shooting. It is also used in indoor training where range use would preclude regular service ammo because of close quarters training dangers.

         

AR Barrel Twist Rates

A) 1 in 7 twist long rang Match ammo from 77to 90 Grains is what is suggested for long range sporting use but the military ammo seen above has a 62 M855 and so most military guns have a 1 in 7 twist but also fire the 55 grain bullet as well. The M855 performance out to 300 yards in the AR type guns with a 1 in 7 twist is good. This was probably why Obama banned this bullet. It makes one suspect that our political conglomerate may have other ideas besides the public good when it comes to disarmament.

B) 1 in 8 twist Medium to long range bullets  62 – 77 grains but Stabilizes many of the heavier bullets  as well for long range use. 55 grain bullets preform extremely well well at close range but as the range increases accuracy falls off.  

C) 1 in 9  twist this is for bullets from 40 to 62 grains but the gun can also shoot heavier bullets but accuracy diminishes somewhat for the heavier bullets.

D) 1 in 12 twist work best with light bullets at higher velocities for long range use for varmints

AR Gas System
Gas flow determines recoil- to much barrel after the gas tube can increase gas pressure and recoil and can cause excessive gun deterioration and ware. To short of a barrel after the gas tube can cause functioning problems such as insufficient cycling glitches causing jams. Military AR guns are set up for a faster cycle rate still allowing for recovery after recoil so you can aim and make your next shot. For civilian barrel purchases of different AR barrels gas function is usually thought about by the barrel manufactures to a great degree so what you buy will work. Some have experienced problems but in a pinch an adjustable gas block will let you tailor the gasses so you have the lightest recoil and the gun still functions but you sacrifice cycle rate.Though there are exceptions for the most part worrying about this gas system stuff is not necessary and the barrel you buy and the matching gas system is not a problem.

Muzzle Brakes verses Flash Hiders

Muzzle brakes are a good addition to a gun. What happens is that when the gun is fired the muzzle climes up on recoil. A good muzzle brake uses the spent gasses as the bullet leaves the barrel to physically hold the muzzle down allowing for quicker response for the next shot, and also allows you to cray a lighter gun barrel. in other words you can approximate more accurate shots of a heavy barrel gun and not have to carry the extra weight.Do your research before buying your muzzle brake,  some are no more than glorified thread protectors which do nothing but they look good and cost a pretty piney.

 Flash hiders are illegal but what they do is to allow the unburned powder from the cartridge to burn in a controlled situation lessoning the flash.  
Richard W. Norman   Author of American Handbook on Guns Ammo and Freedom  

Power beyond our own

Many times in life the way seems unclear, our future hedged or clouded, at such a time help is available! Though corny by today's standard, and useless by those who do not believe many times a simple prayer will push back the darkness and God will light the way just enough so we can exercise faith and take the next step and then the next until we reach our goal. It’s not magic, or psychological effect, but nothing less divine guidance.  

Richard W Norman  Author of  American Handbook on Guns Ammo and Freedom   

A 2 Upper Rear Sight Tool Homemade

Most AR 15 assembly of the gun can be done without all the tools I call these tools bells and whistles. Purchasing such tools would be helpful if building a number of guns but not critical as long as you are careful if building one gun. I was able to assemble the lower and the upper at the kitchen table with the exception of having to make this tool. This did not include the gun barrel!  Brownells  has an excellent video on the process of assembling the A 2 sight . In vest the time to watch the step by step video.  If you have a helper you can do just as good a job without all the expensive tools Putting together the rear sight on the A 2 upper is not hard on the kitchen table. Automotive Bearing grease is good but Vaseline will do for holding the ball bearings in place. Use some folded up bath towels so you protect the gun and table. The hard part is compressing the spring and putting in the final pin.at the base of the sight. In looking for something to use as a tool I pulled out a Paper Mate pen. The back fit in the hole for the spring. The pen I used was Paper Mate Write Brothers Grip M. I used a hack saw and made a grove deep enough to compress the spring and checked it by looking down the pin hole. Another way to check for depth is to use a quarter as a measuring device cover  the words In God We Trust  and the G should be showing but if you are a little deeper it could not hurt, but at least at least that far.  Put a little masking tape around the hole in the upper in case the person driving the pin misses. Explain to the person driving the pin that, it is better to take a number of gentle taps rather than a denting the gun. Start the pin in the hole but not to far. Now get your helper ready to drive the pin. align the grove you made with the pen and compress the spring using your other hand to hold the upper.  Leave the cap on the pen and use a wash cloth to protect your hand and compress the spring and your helper will tap the pin into place when you say when to start. A three  inch 16 pinny steal nail is good for a punch grind the point off flat. Use the nail head against the pin hitting the end you flattened to hit with the hammer. This will make it less likely to have the punch slide off and dent the upper. With about 1/8 inch of the pin sticking out now use a smaller punch and finish the job yourself.
Richard W. Norman   Author of American Handbook on Guns Ammo and Freedom