Changing muzzle device without tools

[Droppin Deuces]

I see this sentiment in every hobby I've been involved in. For the record, I like to work on my own stuff, but I understand that many people do not. You are clearly not alone as a lot of people think the way you do, but I think it smacks of elitism. It's a very prevalent mentality in cycling too: how can you not know how to do x; that's half the fun! Well, some people like to tinker, and some people like to just do the hobby and not deal with the tinkering.

You - shut it and go ride your bike!

[jasonnorcal]

You could put the rifle on the ground and back your car up on it.
That would hold it pretty steady.

Lol....always helpful

[tal3nt]

I usually do simple muzzle brake swaps for free as they fall into my "1 minute jobs are free" policy.
I do accept good glass-bottled root beer and skor bars for such jobs...

If I remember correctly, my barrel shortening only took 2 minutes..

Had I known I would have brought you a week's worth of root beer

[mod1217]

You could put the rifle on the ground and back your car up on it.
That would hold it pretty steady.

I do that to remove the barrel nut

[FMJBT]

Thats half the fun IMO

Agreed. I'd break it down like this for fun %

50%- Building rifle, tinkering with part configurations, etc.
20%- Fondling rifle, spending quality time (Eating dinner with rifle on table while the wife glares at you angrily, etc.)
10%- Taking pictures of rifle to post on Calguns. Extra points for posting pics in as many threads as possible.
10%- Slinging up and running house clearing drills at midnight, in your boxers.
5%- Checking on Calguns to see if anyone commented on your pics.
5%- Shooting rifle on BLM land, getting a sunburn that ends up removing several layers of skin from your neck, forehead and ears.

[FMJBT]

KRYLON!!!

That requires some basic level of skill. When I do it, it ends up filling the bore and siezing the BCG into the upper. Much harder to do that with a fine tip sharpie....

[Mossy Man]

Agreed. I'd break it down like this for fun %

50%- Building rifle, tinkering with part configurations, etc.
20%- Fondling rifle, spending quality time (Eating dinner with rifle on table while the wife glares at you angrily, etc.)
10%- Taking pictures of rifle to post on Calguns. Extra points for posting pics in as many threads as possible.
10%- Slinging up and running house clearing drills at midnight, in your boxers.
5%- Checking on Calguns to see if anyone commented on your pics.
5%- Shooting rifle on BLM land, getting a sunburn that ends up removing several layers of skin from your neck, forehead and ears.

QFT

[ar15barrels]

If I remember correctly, my barrel shortening only took 2 minutes..

Had I known I would have brought you a week's worth of root beer

Barrel shortening is certainly 2 minutes or more and therefore not qualified for the "1 minute or less" price.

[e90bmw]

You could put the rifle on the ground and back your car up on it.
That would hold it pretty steady.

Now that was funny....

[220]

I just installed my Battlecomp this morning. I was able to the the FS off just by placing it between my legs and using a large crescent wrench. The hardest part was shimming it to the correct timing. Just make sure you remember to use Rocksett or some high temp Locktite when installing the compensator.

Agreed. I'd break it down like this for fun %

50%- Building rifle, tinkering with part configurations, etc.
20%- Fondling rifle, spending quality time (Eating dinner with rifle on table while the wife glares at you angrily, etc.)
10%- Taking pictures of rifle to post on Calguns. Extra points for posting pics in as many threads as possible.
10%- Slinging up and running house clearing drills at midnight, in your boxers.
5%- Checking on Calguns to see if anyone commented on your pics.
5%- Shooting rifle on BLM land, getting a sunburn that ends up removing several layers of skin from your neck, forehead and ears.

[freethemouse]

I moved here from the other side of the country 2 years ago to attend graduate school. I had a bunch pf useful tools back home but they're still there obviously. I'm also living in a small apartment, so getting a lot of big tools is a huge hassle. I have some smaller tools tho that I need to do general ,maintenance crap like punches, mallets, etc.

that said, I know its not essential to have a vise and proper clamp to swap out muzzle devices. I made this thread to assess the risk of doing it without all of the tools. seems that the consensus is to do it right, so I will go to ar15barrels since he's charging only root beer. I'd also like to meet him as I've read a lot about him and his website was very useful when deciding on what ar to get.

ar15barrels: I'll hit u up sometime in the next week or two

[ar15barrels]

I just installed my Battlecomp this morning. I was able to the the FS off just by placing it between my legs and using a large crescent wrench. The hardest part was shimming it to the correct timing. Just make sure you remember to use Rocksett or some strong Locktite when installing the compensator.

If you shim it correctly, there is no need for rocksett or loctite.
Shim so it is hand tight to 11:00 and then wrench tighten to 12:00.

[umd]

If you shim it correctly, there is no need for rocksett or loctite.
Shim so it is hand tight to 11:00 and then wrench tighten to 12:00.

What shims do you recommend?

[ar15barrels]

What shims do you recommend?

I have a huge selection of shims left over from installing KAC, Surefire, AAC and PRI muzzle devices that came with shims.
I sorted them all into a compartmented box by size.
I just reach in and grab the size I need.
I don't really care who made them as long as they do the job.

[1CavScout]

If you shim it correctly, there is no need for rocksett or loctite.
Shim so it is hand tight to 11:00 and then wrench tighten to 12:00.

I just put a break on my DTA, and that's exactly what I did. It still does not look exactly straight to me, but it might be my OCD. I kept trying different shims until I though I was as close as possible to the 11:00 position, then tightened.