What Is Staking An AR-15 Castle Nut And Should You Do It?

He mentioned torque specs, but I don't know how you'd measure it on that type of nut. I've worked on lots of cars so I understand the concept, but how would you measure it on that type of nut? Is there a special adapter you just put on the end of your normal torque wrench or do you just have to have a well calibrated elbow? lol Sorry, never built an AR before and am just curious.

Meat, point, castle, peanuts

My son-in-law his castle nut backed off so much that the buffer tube also backed out to the point that the buffer spring retention pin popped out into the lower receiver

Staking is a preference imo. Also situational. Range and training options I feel staking is less important. The one's that are tried and true and are for bumps in the night are typically worth the extra precaution.

Blue loctite here always.

Wear your proper eye pro ear pro… and make Alek do it

i have never had a castle nut come loose and i haven't had anyone's i know back off either. that said and because i have seen it done wrong, if you are going to use Loctite it has to dry to work according to the company. so i torque the nut and mark it , i back it off and put blue loctite in threads. then when it dries i tighten till the marks line up. why? because the thread locker will make the torque reading wrong.

I just got a Colt CR 6920. Did I mess up? @Classic Firearms

Clint, you’re the best. It’s your good friend Kang here. All I want for Christmas world peace, prosperity + to win this contest so I can help the world be more peaceful + prosperous.

Can you do a video on those omni hybrid maxx ar's that have been on the site lately, a lot of people don't like polymer uppers and lowerd even when reinforced

I use blue loctite on mine never had a problem with them coming loose

When the AFT bans the pistol brace, I think a bunch of goodies-goodies are going to have to back that nut off, staked or not. F#@*kers

Bought a ruger ar 556 m-lok rail model and around 400 round mark mine was halfway off before I noticed it was loose

That little guy,don’t worry about that little guy.👍🏿

My wife's 1st build she ( I ) forgot to torque the castle nut. Even with her-hand tightening it was many months & K's of rounds before I noticed it loose. Torqued it up and haven't had an issue since.
FYI, her final groups of the day were still MOA. No noticeable difference from earlier trips.
PS, if you can't find an armorer's wrench a ¾" electrician's lock nut wrench ($7.99) will work well. Much smaller in the range bag too.

I had a castle nut backoff while shooting. I probably didn't fully torque it when i changed out buffer tubes so after I fixed it, I staked it.

Will staking the castle nut make it more or less difficult to change the buffer components later on down the line?

I never had any issues on any of my AR's, but then again I use lock tight to prevent the castle nut from walking back.

My Tactical II is staked already.

I have a couple lowers I have for just range toys that I change stuff around on so I don’t stake them castle but on or always torque to spec. A castle nut can loosen easily on its own if not torqued enough, but if or when the stock and buffer tube also start rotating because it is loose, the threads are fine enough that it doesn’t cause significant change in stroke length of the action that it would cause malfunctions. What could cause a malfunction is if using a standard buffer tube, it rotating could possibly end up not holding in the buffer retaining pin and let it pop out into the lower. If using a tube with an anti tilt lip like the POF tube, that will keep that pin in and prevent the buffer tube and stick from rotating under normal casual range use.

🔥🔥🔥

Ask shool of the American rifle on YouTube chad is the best. All smiles and happy staking.