AR barrel twisting in receiver

[Matt8090]

Anyone ever seen this before? This is a Radical Firearms 8.5" 300 blackout barrel. I went to change the flash hider. Put it in a vise block like I've done with countless others, put the armorers wrench on it and turned. The whole barrel twisted! I'm thinking the pin that holds it into the receiver broke. I can't know for sure since the torx head bolts holding the handguard on were so tight they twisted my torx bit and stripped the head... Needless to say, it's back with Radical right now being fixed.


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[Garufa]

The barrel turned in the extension, the pin is probably still where it is supposed to be.  It doesn't always happen but it does.  That's why many recommend clamping the barrel itself when changing muzzle devices.

Edited March 22, 2016 by Garufa

[Dolomite_supafly]

What Garufa has said is probably it. I will ALWAYS drill down through the extension and into the barrel before installing the pin.

 

If they are fixing it under warranty you are a lucky, lucky man. I would venture a guess that most others will not.

 

BTW, some manufacturers have been know to use "permanent" Loctite on their guns to prevent them from being disassembled.

[Matt8090]

I guess this is a great lessons learned for me. Any other AR I've had I assembled the entire gun myself and never had issue changing/modifying things later on. But with this one everywhere I looked for parts at a reasonable price was out of stock so I just went with an already assembled upper.