Aluminum Barrel Nut

[redneckclimbing]

JE-

Another question, since I've got you on the line. What do you think of TIG welding a pic. rail to an action and then truing it up after it is welded on?
I was thinking that this would stiffen up the action tremendoulsy, (the same reason that Surgeons are built with an integral rail). I would think that you would have to do small portions at a time and then let them cool again to keep it from getting distorted. What do you think?

 

[Clark]

This is a Fort Picatinny rail front and rear, but the rear one is TIG welded on.

This one I TIG welded Russian sniper steel rings right to the receiver.

 

[J E Custom]

JE-

Another question, since I've got you on the line. What do you think of TIG welding a pic. rail to an action and then truing it up after it is welded on?
I was thinking that this would stiffen up the action tremendoulsy, (the same reason that Surgeons are built with an integral rail). I would think that you would have to do small portions at a time and then let them cool again to keep it from getting distorted. What do you think?

It would be almost impossible to keep the action from being warped.

If you want to stiffen a action the traditional method is to sleeve it by turning the outside of the action true and then heat shrinking the sleeve over it. (This was/is a common practice with bench rest
builders.

There are a lot of barrels and actions that the metallurgy is wrong for welding (Such as Free machining steel designed for better/longer tool
life and welding can harm the material.

J E CUSTOM

 

[eddybo]

Nothing to gain with a barrel nut, especially an aluminum one. You do not have to go with pre determined barrel contours. Get a barrel contoured to dupe whatever your looking for.

Barrel nuts are great when you have a barrel you want to shoot on multiple guns, not really the best answer when you have one action and swapping multiple barrels. I can swap barrels with shoulders much quicker and easier than quicker because headspace is already set. I would never build a custom with a barrel nut, not even a savage.

 

[Clark]

I am about to build a rifle with an Aluminum barrel nut.
The nut's inner threads will lock up the threads of the barrel to the threads of the receiver without having a barrel shoulder. The outer threads of the barrel nut will attach a tube that is the bipod mount.

 

[redneckclimbing]

I am about to build a rifle with an Aluminum barrel nut.
The nut's inner threads will lock up the threads of the barrel to the threads of the receiver without having a barrel shoulder. The outer threads of the barrel nut will attach a tube that is the bipod mount.

That would be interesting, defenitely keep me posted. I think that JE has made the best point I have heard against this so far. In that the dis-similar metals could work themselves loose over time.

Do you have any plans to counteract this, such as thread lock, or something? Or, are you going to just roll with it and see what happens?

 

[Clark]

I designed a lot of electronics for the military that always had "no dissimilar materials requirements", but we had Aluminium, Copper, and stainless steel in all of them. The Aluminum directly touched the ss.

Galvanic series - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In the galvanic series [remember from 8th grade shop?] SS is high, Copper is in the middle, and Aluminium is low.

That means the Aluminium will be the sacrificial anode for steel, like the sacrificial anode of Aluminium in a hot water tank that protects the steel tank.

We only had trouble with electronics qualification in the "salt bath test" or "salt fog test" for electronics.

I have repaired enough of my own outboard motors that have bad water pumps that have been is salt water and not flushed. The failure is the pump, but replacing it once meant getting stainless steel fasteners to unscrew from Aluminum castings. They would snap off rather than come out. Newer outboards have stainless inserts so they can be serviced easier.

What does it all mean?
The big problem with dissimilar metals is around salt water and it does not make things unscrew, not even with outboard motor vibration, it makes them get stuck.

I have done calculations of what it would take to get a rifle barrel to shake loose, and I think I know why the Mausers and early Mosin Nagants had inner C rings that are so hard to manufacture. I think I know why the Rem 700 rifles I take the barrels off have goop in the threads. Rifles are right at the threshold of having the barrels fall off with simple receivers like a Rem700 or Sav 110. That may mean tightening the threads or putting in Loctite.

 

[J E Custom]

I designed a lot of electronics for the military that always had "no dissimilar materials requirements

I think I know why the Rem 700 rifles I take the barrels off have goop in the threads. Rifles are right at the threshold of having the barrels fall off with simple receivers like a Rem700 or Save 110. That may mean tightening the threads or putting in Loctite.

The "GOOP" in The threads is not like Loctite, It is a sealer that prevents the bluing salts from
interring the threads during bluing and corroding the threads because they could not be removed.
Barrels and actions are blued at the same time (Together).

Most all stainless rifles don't have the sealer because there is no treatment that attacks the threads.

Also with 65+ foot/lbs + of torque they wont fall off so there is no need for Loctite. you would shoot
the barrel off before it fell off.

J E CUSTOM

 

[Clark]

The "GOOP" in The threads is not like Loctite, It is a sealer that prevents the bluing salts from
interring the threads during bluing and corroding the threads because they could not be removed.
Barrels and actions are blued at the same time (Together).

Most all stainless rifles don't have the sealer because there is no treatment that attacks the threads.

J E CUSTOM

I have read the debates on the internet over "bluing salts vs Loctite" and cannot prove it either way.
I do have a Rem700 with original 1962 stainless barrel that had black goop on the threads, while I have a Rem700 with original 1964 Chrome Moly barrel that had white goop on the threads.

In the bible it says something about never knowing the true motivations of rulers.

But I enjoy the question.
This guy cracks me up when he says it smells like Loctite
loctite on barrel threads - Page 2

 

[J E Custom]

I have read the debates on the internet over "bluing salts vs Loctite" and cannot prove it either way.
I do have a Rem700 with original 1962 stainless barrel that had black goop on the threads, while I have a Rem700 with original 1964 Chrome Moly barrel that had white goop on the threads.

In the bible it says something about never knowing the true motivations of rulers.

But I enjoy the question.
This guy cracks me up when he says it smells like Loctite
loctite on barrel threads - Page 2

Hey, Its a good debate anyway, right !!!!

As far as I know I have only encountered Loctite in the barrel threads once and It was a bitch to
remove the barrel. The owner had filled the scope base screw holes with it and it went into the blind hole over the threaded tenon. This was a stainless Rem 700 and had nothing in the threads to stop
it from getting in.

You could see where it came from and it had covered half the threads on the side opposite the thrust
side of the threads.

J E CUSTOM

 

[J E Custom]

This guy cracks me up when he says it smells like Loctite
loctite on barrel threads - Page 2

I read the link you posted and some of the guys were spot on, others were so far out that it amazed me.
Scary to think that these guys are assembling rifles for others to shoot.

The one guy set head space with locktite. Unbelievable !!!!!

A good Smith can nail the head space with the proper bolt to tenon clearance and Proper barrel
torque. If locktite is used these tolerances are never accurate like they should be.

It was a very interesting read though. Thanks

J E CUSTOM

 

[jbj]

Because the nut is just a jam, can't it be flat? The sloping shoulder is really just there for aesthetics. It doesn't have to be very wide either.

 

[Clark]

Because the nut is just a jam, can't it be flat? The sloping shoulder is really just there for aesthetics. It doesn't have to be very wide either.

Also ergonomics.
So it won't snag a girl's nylon stockings.

 

[webs]

If you had any go-no go gauges it would be interesting to see what happens to the fit of an aluminum nut when heated up. Also if you went with an aluminum nut I would definitely get it anodized.