adjustable spanner wrench

[ddk1]

Has anyone ever used an adjustable face spanner wrench to install a barrel nut? It should work the same as one of the "AR" multitools.

[klewan]

Might work; only two pins in contact with the nut tho. If you look at the reviews on Midway about barrel tools, only a few work almost all the time. And those are the ones with multiple contact pins. Some of those barrels are really on tight, you're cranking on it hard enough to move the work bench....

[ar15barrels]

Has anyone ever used an adjustable face spanner wrench to install a barrel nut? It should work the same as one of the "AR" multitools.

What kind of barrel nut?
Standard barrel nuts do not have holes.
Standard barrel nuts have grooves which the face spanner pins will jump right out of when you apply torque.

[ddk1]

Good point. It is a yhm barrel nut

[ar15barrels]

Good point. It is a yhm barrel nut

One warning on yhm barrel nuts since I have been there and done that...

They are aluminum.
Aluminum is pretty soft.
You WILL rip the holes if you use a 2 pin wrench on them with short pins.
When the holes rip, the external threads get damaged and you will not be able to install the rail on them without correcting the threads.
For a yhm barrel nut, you want 3 or more pins at least 1/2" long into the nut.

It's no surprise that the yhm wrench has 3 long pins...