Stuck Castle Nut on My AR-15

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If he's going to break or damage it, then YES.
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First of all, a castle nut is like $5. Even if you had to cut it off, it's a much better idea than building a whole new gun.
Second of all, there are solutions to the problem of adding a sling point for less that $30 that don't require removal of the nut.
Third, there is almost no risk whatsoever of damaging the receiver itself; most likely, worst case, and a long shot, he might damage the $20 tube.

In my opinion, your advice is completely unreasonable.
 
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kcshooter said:
First of all, a castle nut is like $5. Even if you had to cut it off, it's a much better idea than building a whole new gun.
Second of all, there are solutions to the problem of adding a sling point for less that $30 that don't require removal of the nut.
Third, there is almost no risk whatsoever of damaging the receiver itself; most likely, worst case, and a long shot, he might damage the $20 tube.

In my opinion, your advice is completely unreasonable.
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Who said anything about building a whole new gun? Many an AR lower has been screwed up by trying to remove a tube that is either staked or secured with red loctite.

It's not uncommon, and is actually encouraged, for people to have different uppers and lowers. You can swap them out.

You can have a different lower, or upper, for whatever reason you please. I have different ones for different reasons. Some for just pure aesthetics!
 
kcshooter said:
First of all, a castle nut is like $5. Even if you had to cut it off, it's a much better idea than building a whole new gun.
Second of all, there are solutions to the problem of adding a sling point for less that $30 that don't require removal of the nut.
Third, there is almost no risk whatsoever of damaging the receiver itself; most likely, worst case, and a long shot, he might damage the $20 tube.

In my opinion, your advice is completely unreasonable.
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Oh there is risk that he might damage the lower receiver.
 
I know nothing about ARs so I have no idea what size this nut is. If you can get to the nut, I'd suggest heat and an impact driver. Good luck and keep us posted.


Craftsman Tools #00947641000
 
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Who said anything about building a whole new gun?
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You did. Lower is serialized. Lower is the gun. Therefore, rather than giving advice on how to solve a problem, you recommend a new gun. I can't figure out what makes this reasonable.
Many an AR lower has been screwed up by trying to remove a tube that is either staked or secured with red loctite.
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How? Show me an example. How does one screw up a lower to the point of replacement by properly trying to remove a stuck castle nut? Not the tube, the nut.

It's not uncommon, and is actually encouraged, for people to have different uppers and lowers. You can swap them out.You can have a different lower, or upper, for whatever reason you please. I have different ones for different reasons. Some for just pure aesthetics!
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Not really the point here, is it? Sure there's LOTS of good reasons to have more than one lower (although much more common to have more than one upper), but a difficult to remove castle nut isn't one of them.


Oh there is risk that he might damage the lower receiver.
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How??
 
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There is a product out there which basically clamps on the buffer tube to provide a single point sling attachment however you lose the ability to move the stock all the way down. Unless you shoot with body armor thats not really a big deal.
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I think I may have found it: http://www.botachtactical.com/kzamagslmo.html

I haven't had time to try again to get the castle nut off lately, but if I can't seem to get it off without using excessive force I'm going to go with the above attachment option. It seems cheap, easy and effective.
 
kcshooter said:
You did. Lower is serialized. Lower is the gun. Therefore, rather than giving advice on how to solve a problem, you recommend a new gun. I can't figure out what makes this reasonable. How? Show me an example. How does one screw up a lower to the point of replacement by properly trying to remove a stuck castle nut? Not the tube, the nut.

Not really the point here, is it? Sure there's LOTS of good reasons to have more than one lower (although much more common to have more than one upper), but a difficult to remove castle nut isn't one of them.


How??
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Last I checked, one of the easiest things in the world was to damage a lower receiver. Threads get stripped. Cosmetic scratches/gashes happen with great regularity.
 
Threads get stripped.
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Nut is threaded onto the tube, not the lower.
Cosmetic scratches/gashes happen with great regularity.
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I guess if you're a safe queen guy, that might have more significance. I use my guns.


OP solved his problem for $20. New lower and parts kit including buffer tube would run about 10 times that.
Said it before, saying it again. Unreasonable advice.
 
Ah. So this discussion has come to that. Good.

I guess if you don't have any other point to make, a sad, pathetic attempt to poke fun at the other person is your last resort.

So in order to keep up with this level of discussion:

I remember when I was 12 years old and made comments like that, too.
 
I tried freezing it and getting it loose and that didn't work. I'm going to try to contact bushmaster and see if they have any advice. If not I'm going with the easy attachment.

Ooooohhhhhhhh.... Look out. He uses his guns.... Oooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.......
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Wut?
 
You really want to shrink the tube or expand the nut, not both, if you had a lighter you could give the nut a little heat, again that's an assumption based of my work with cars
 
Why not both? Shrinking the tube while simultaneously expanding the nut is an excellent way to get it loose. BTW this works well for fasteners on cars too, shrink the inside part while expanding the outside part makes many "stuck" fasteners come loose.
I wish I had a video of when I once dipped a shaft in liquid nitrogen and it easily slipped into a hole it was too big for when at the same temperature. Once the temperature equalized it was as good as welded.
I too had a heck of a time getting the nut off one of my Bushmasters to put on a sling point.
 
Nice tools but in my case the problem was not holding the weapon it was getting enough "traction" on the nut to get it loose without boogering it up. I was actually afraid the pins on my universal AR tool were gonna shear off first!
Specs I've seen say the nut should be 40 INCH LBS...the Bushmaster I had to loosen must have been about 80 FOOT LBS. For the math challenged that is 24 times too much:scrutiny:
 
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Nice tools but in my case the problem was not holding the weapon it was getting enough "traction" on the nut to get it loose without boogering it up. I was actually afraid the pins on my universal AR tool were gonna shear off first!
Specs I've seen say the nut should be 40 INCH LBS...the Bushmaster I had to loosen must have been about 80 FOOT LBS. For the math challenged that is 24 times too much
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Your lucky there wasn't any damage when they put it on. I've had them come loose in the past. Never had one that tight.
 
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