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Thread: AR Upper

  1. #1
    Boolit Buddy
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    AR Upper

    I want to rebarrel an upper to a 6X45. I have a lower, my question is should I buy a complete upper and pull the barrel or buy upper parts? I have a shelf full of 6MM barrels that have been retired from benchrest, so if I buy an upper, I would have everything but a different gas block and barrel adapter to be in business? I can do the machining.

    Palmetto State Armory has some good deals on uppers.

  2. #2
    Boolit Master

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    I have a 16" 6x45 that I built last fall. I purchased a McGowan barrel and have carbon fiber buttstock and forend. It is light. I have only shot 58 grain vmaxs so far, but it is accurate.

    My suggestion, if you are hapoy wirh all the extras that come with the PSA upper go for it.

    If you plan to change the forend or any parts, then build it from scratch.

    I never come out ahead buying something cheap and then changing out parts. All i end up with is parts no one wants and the same money or more in it than if Id just built it from scratch.

    You might get $75 or maybe $100 out of an unfired barrel, maybe.

  3. #3
    Boolit Buddy
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    I really didn't think a factory barrel would be something to recover money. I think I'll buy parts.

  4. #4
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    I just did a build with an Aero Precision upper and forearm. I am happy with the way it looks and the was the forearm attaches to the upper itself and not the barrel nut.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by PopcornSutton View Post
    Palmetto State Armory has some good deals on uppers.
    I have a PSA assembled upper in 300, whatever they used to secure the barrel they weren't playing that day, we had the tool that locks into the lugs clamped in a big vise, we heated the barrel nut, and the guy who was torquing on it is a pretty big fella, it refused to budge. It was to the point where any more force against the barrel nut might have permanently damaged the parts so we had to abandon attempts to remove the barrel. JS, YMMV...
    Got a .22 .30 .32 .357 .38 .40 .41 .44 .45 .480 or .500 S&W cylinder that needs throats honed? 9mm, 10mm/40S&W, 45 ACP pistol barrel that won't "plunk" your handloads? 480 Ruger or 475 Linebaugh cylinder that needs the "step" reamed to 6° 30min chamfer? Click here to send me a PM You can also find me on Facebook Click Here.

  6. #6
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    Hi,
    Should of saved the pic, but saw where a guy trying to remove a barrel nut...

    Ripped the face, with the threads, right off!

    To the OP, yes, put it together yourself!
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  7. #7
    Boolit Master
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    Delete
    Last edited by seagiant; 07-29-2022 at 03:28 PM.
    “If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace.
    We ask not your counsels or arms.
    Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you.
    May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.” -Samuel Adams
    Janet Reno, killed more children at Waco, with Bill Clinton's permission, than Adam Lanza killed, at Sandy Hook.

  8. #8
    Boolit Grand Master

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    I’ll never get comfortable with an 18 inch breaker bar wrenching on that flimsy aluminum forging.
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  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by imashooter2 View Post
    I’ll never get comfortable with an 18 inch breaker bar wrenching on that flimsy aluminum forging.
    If you're doing it right, the forging has no stress against it really, the stress is applied to the locking lugs and to the barrel nut, the upper is just along for the ride.

    If you're doing it wrong, clamping the upper in the vise and twisting on the barrel nut, you will learn abruptly that the only thing holding the barrel in alignment in the upper is one tiny little pin, and if it turns it won't shear off, it rips a gob of aluminum loose and carries it with it as it turns, the upper is toast at this point.
    Got a .22 .30 .32 .357 .38 .40 .41 .44 .45 .480 or .500 S&W cylinder that needs throats honed? 9mm, 10mm/40S&W, 45 ACP pistol barrel that won't "plunk" your handloads? 480 Ruger or 475 Linebaugh cylinder that needs the "step" reamed to 6° 30min chamfer? Click here to send me a PM You can also find me on Facebook Click Here.

  10. #10
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    The other possibility is if you do not have a good set of mounting blocks is racking the upper. You won't know until you go to install it in the lower and the pins don't line up quite right. I had it happen on my first build. I had bought the cheapest vice blocks I could find thinking no big deal. The second set were a bit more money, a lot more money if you tack on the cost of the first set and the ruined upper.

  11. #11
    Boolit Master


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    I see our double post glitch is back.

  12. #12
    Boolit Grand Master popper's Avatar
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    Yup, some assy notes include using RED lock tight on the extension. Wow.
    Whatever!

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by popper View Post
    Yup, some assy notes include using RED lock tight on the extension. Wow.
    That's mostly done by people building competition guns, and is intended to keep the barrel from ever moving in the upper, without heat - sometimes a goodly amount. Some builders use epoxy on the barrel extension, as well.
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  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by DougGuy View Post
    If you're doing it right, the forging has no stress against it really, the stress is applied to the locking lugs and to the barrel nut, the upper is just along for the ride.

    If you're doing it wrong, clamping the upper in the vise and twisting on the barrel nut, you will learn abruptly that the only thing holding the barrel in alignment in the upper is one tiny little pin, and if it turns it won't shear off, it rips a gob of aluminum loose and carries it with it as it turns, the upper is toast at this point.
    The threads are on the forging. You can put a bar into the locking lugs if you like. It doesn’t eliminate torque through the forging.
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  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by imashooter2 View Post
    The threads are on the forging. You can put a bar into the locking lugs if you like. It doesn’t eliminate torque through the forging.
    Yeah you are right I don't know what I was thinking, maybe that none of the thin part of the forging behind the barrel threads is stressed when you lock the lug tool in the vise.
    Got a .22 .30 .32 .357 .38 .40 .41 .44 .45 .480 or .500 S&W cylinder that needs throats honed? 9mm, 10mm/40S&W, 45 ACP pistol barrel that won't "plunk" your handloads? 480 Ruger or 475 Linebaugh cylinder that needs the "step" reamed to 6° 30min chamfer? Click here to send me a PM You can also find me on Facebook Click Here.

  16. #16
    Boolit Grand Master

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    That is true. I have good fixtures, and the Geissele Reaction Rod. I still cringe.
    ”We know they are lying, they know they are lying, they know we know they are lying, we know they know we know they are lying, yet they are still lying.” –Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn

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  17. #17
    Boolit Master
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    Past that one and can't get to the next one is probably the out of the gate problem for some. I have heard the statement "I just tighten till the tube goes through", and one wonders why and how uppers are damaged or destroyed. One can find every piece of information and all the tooling to properly assemble this platform to design specification, some choose not. It ain't a rocket ship!

  18. #18
    Boolit Master Moleman-'s Avatar
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    OP, if you have the ability to make your own barrel using a better blank than psa would use than I'd go that route. I've had at least one 6x45 upper since 91-92ish. Accuracy on the current barrel is dropping off but it still around 3/4 inch off of a bench.

  19. #19
    Boolit Buddy
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    Quote Originally Posted by Moleman- View Post
    OP, if you have the ability to make your own barrel using a better blank than psa would use than I'd go that route. I've had at least one 6x45 upper since 91-92ish. Accuracy on the current barrel is dropping off but it still around 3/4 inch off of a bench.
    I have the means to turn the barrel and chamber it. I'm a bolt guy and have put together more bolt action guns than I can count, but these black guns are new to me (even though they are so popular). I can certainly appreciate the comments of those who have struggled getting a factory barrel off. I've gone though my share removing old military barrels and even some of the modern guns are a b**ch.

    I used to make my own 6MM benchrest bullets, so I have those, and a 6X45 will be just the ticket to burn through these.

  20. #20
    Boolit Buddy
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    Quote Originally Posted by Moleman- View Post
    OP, if you have the ability to make your own barrel using a better blank than psa would use than I'd go that route. I've had at least one 6x45 upper since 91-92ish. Accuracy on the current barrel is dropping off but it still around 3/4 inch off of a bench.
    I have the means to turn the barrel and chamber it. I'm a bolt guy and have put together more bolt action guns than I can count, but these black guns are new to me (even though they are so popular). I can certainly appreciate the comments of those who have struggled getting a factory barrel off. I've gone though my share removing old military barrels and even some of the modern guns are a b**ch.

    I used to make my own 6MM benchrest bullets, so I have those, and a 6X45 will be just the ticket to burn through these.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check