Barrel/handguard change?

[wojo14]

How hard is it to change out a barrrel and bolt to upgtade to a grendel?
I am new to ar's.
I am this close to purchasing my first AA grendel.
But I am thinking of a dif barrel and hand guard??
I am mechanically inclined, and I can usually figure things out, but, I never worked on guns!
Also, I want to install a muzzle devise. Do I need to put the barrel in a vise, put locktite on the threads, and tighten her on??
Any help would be great!

[saiga12]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOurwaQ3J2Q

[CBronson]

Hey there Wojo,

That is one of the great things about the AR platform. With a little mechanical inclination and some good research it is very friendly to DIY gun smithing. There are a LOT of resources out there that will give you step by step instructions. Of course its very important to be well informed and more insured to have a qualified gunsmith perform the work, but much less fun.

Since you know about this site and the Grendel, you are probably aware of the other blogs such as AR15.com or calguns.net. YouTube is an excellent source of knowledge and has an endless supply of tutorials for the AR. There is also a wide selection of books available for smithing the AR. You might want to check out MidwayUSA.com's selection of books these will provide you will detailed schematics and step by step instructions.

Changing out a barrel, bolt and hanguard are not complicated tasks. You will pretty much need an AR wrench, a vise block, vise and workbench, maybe a set of hex keys, a torque wrench and the new components. Here is a link showing how to remove a standard AR barrel. There are a few varieties of barrel nuts, depending on the type of handguard you are working with, but they all go on the same way. Changing the bolt is a very easy task, but the headspace will have to be checked with a set of go/no-go gauges or by a gunsmith, very important.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=h5bkOmkFsDc

With that said, keep in mind that the barrel and hanguard are two of the most expensive parts of the rifle. I'm not sure what your plans are, but if you are considering purchasing a prebuilt AR only to swap out parts and customize it, you would save a lot of cash by just buying it piece by piece and assembling it yourself. That way you can have the exact gun that you want. If your are mechanically inclined you will probably also get the same satisfaction that many of us AR fans do by building it yourself. For the most part assembly just requires the insertion of pins and the tightening of a couple of nuts. The most difficult task is assembly of the lower which has all of the pins, springs and detents, but is still not very difficult. YouTube has many videos showing how it's done.

Hope that helped! Good luck with your new AR and let us know how it goes.

How hard is it to change out a barrrel and bolt to upgtade to a



grendel?
I am new to ar's.
I am this close to purchasing my first AA grendel.
But I am thinking of a dif barrel and hand guard??
I am mechanically inclined, and I can usually figure things out, but, I never worked on guns!
Also, I want to install a muzzle devise. Do I need to put the barrel in a vise, put locktite on the threads, and tighten her on??
Any help would be great!

[Drifter]

Hey there Wojo,


With that said, keep in mind that the barrel and hanguard are two of the most expensive parts of the rifle. I'm not sure what your plans are, but if you are considering purchasing a prebuilt AR only to swap out parts and customize it, you would save a lot of cash by just buying it piece by piece and assembling it yourself. That way you can have the exact gun that you want. If your are mechanically inclined you will probably also get the same satisfaction that many of us AR fans do by building it yourself. For the most part assembly just requires the insertion of pins and the tightening of a couple of nuts. The most difficult task is assembly of the lower which has all of the pins, springs and detents, but is still not very difficult. YouTube has many videos showing how it's done.

+1. You'll be better off to pick your parts and build it instead of buying complete then dismantling to make changes. Plenty of instructions with pics and vids on the 'net. Probably someone on this or other forums that isn't too far away that would help if needed.