Thermal seating a barrel in an AR 15

Never did the loctite on a thermal for myself but if you feel it’s necessary go ahead man. I thought I was so cool doing this for years turns out like way more than I thought do that installation process. Great vid brother…

Thanks for your comments. This is just an example on how you can do things. Although I agree with a lot of your comments, whenever you add heat to expand a part it is in essence “thermal”. I made this video for the average joe to easily fit a tight barrel. The reason I used a heat gun is because I have seen people use a torch and warp parts. I also didn’t want to go into depth about chucking the upper on the lathe and true the mating surface. Also shimming/red Loctite of a competition/race gun. There are way too many uppers to go into depth about on how to fit each. The reason I didn’t talk about polishing the inside of the upper is again, if you haven’t had the experience doing it properly, you can damage it. Again just a simple video for the average joe to easily do a “basement” build.
Sorry for the ramble. I do appreciate your points, which I do agree with.

Not real. Thermal fit

Steps take up a receiver use decent strength torch heat them up for about 10 seconds evenly have your barrel oiled Slip fit it in there when 10 seconds see if it needs more heat and then season your barrel nut
Whatever kind of oil Loctite 680 red or oil whatever materials you use just have them ready to go the way that you do that’s it on a true thermal fit where you can literally hold the barrel and have someone hold the other end and it’s not going to come out with the barrel, not even on the upper also, when you terminally fed, make sure you feed lambs are good to go. You never know with different companies. You might need your polishing on so there’s a smooth transfer from the ramps now. Make sure you set it in there all the way a tighter extension is better in my opinion definitely helps and it’s the tolerances that helps accurate true thermal fit NOT with this guy doing He may be talking about some the right stuff, but not a thermally fitted type of upper you can get forged ones as I said, but you have to specifically know accompany and know that they make them undersized and put them like my 300 blackout noveske barrel

That’s not a thermal fit truly for example, my ballot upper radian build the upper receiver is undersized. The barrel extension does not fit in at all, and I used a.416r noveske 10.5 barrel And they picked it up from JP enterprises and torching the threads is gunna open it up on true thermal fit that is just shit specs but if u can when cooled even before the barrel nut is installed can hold both ends and the barrel ain’t coming out once thermally fitted Who is able to carry clean eye season threads titan Titan hand crank over and over and the barrel is seated perfectly and tight so didn’t think 60 pounds was necessary so I kept mine around 40 lower end no, I on one barrel did use 640 which red Loctite 640 is a bearing compound which is great for thermal barrels and it expands with the heat. It’s meant for slick fit type joints which a barrel extension essentially is used and a pad more accurate maybe possibly you know .3 MOA which can mean a lot if the gun shoots the submit it and without it one to three minutes, but you can always take the shit off and put grease on and use grease and CLP and especially on the threads. I scrub them use CLP and then a little bit of grease and just make sure I get them in the threads, not too much. I don’t overdo it. I know some people that literally just use Clp Fitting is for under size extensions to open up to fit the barrel for a more tighter tolerance on the rifle not exactly Harbison. It would be undersize your barrel extension So you can torch it for 10 seconds and slip a barrel in quickly before it closes back up you will get that higher bill and a lot of firearms like radian and certain noveske and adm maybe I know there’s a few companies that make forged undersized receiver like Centurion arms BCM I believe maybe a few more that I don’t know if it’s an uneven surface that’s a different story and if you don’t have the right things to smooth out inside the right materials tools might need to bring to shop But if you have something like a radian note towards the threads on an aero Noooo lmfao

Why did you use Loctite here and not on the AR 10?

lol, all these "experts" are losing their minds about blue loctite. I like to use VIBRA-TITE VC-3 myself on all my firearm fasteners and mating (bed) my AR barrel to the upper. I also lap my upper because they are never flat on the mounting face. Takes about 5 min to do with the proper tools.

Always used anti-seize on the threads and the barrel extension. Loctite will make it difficult to remove when it comes time for a barrel change or removal.

Are you talking about Loctite 680 basically because it’s a slip fit joint are you basically bedding it as the Loctite will expand with heat help in keeping a tight Colorado is for accuracy no I thermally fitted a 300 black Noveske ss barrel into a Radian mod 1 upper and it was a very very tight fit me I could barely it’s very under sized that looks like you could hit it with a mallet using minimal heat and get it in I would honestly cold and a thermal fit because it’s not like where the barrel extension is undersized a group radian where is none of the extension will fit same as Barrel Company are used their uppers that are billet also and using the torch on the threads I find to be a better solution and use 680 as well as slip 2000 grease but once the torch it takes about 10 seconds or so on a using a decent torch and you have to quickly slip it in there you won’t have time to put the 680 and asked already be on there as the extension closes up within a couple seconds and within 10 seconds of fitting the barrel you will not be able to get that sucker out unless you heat it up it helps with guns that have high tolerance is like my model one that has tight tolerances on everything on it which is one reason is it so accurate and you just doing a 6 mm arc do you want it to be accurate and thermal fitting is what you want as far as keeping tight groups not all operators are made the same summer better than others and I find that not many people even know about the thermal sitting unless they’re doing a long range or high end or competition like radian got the thermal fittings from JP enterprises for example plus the CERAKOTE inside the extension was a little rough which also helps keeping it tight and their extension is nitrated or something I believe I’m not 100% it’s some sort of process like that but I do believe they are on the patent for nitrating but don’t use it I guess except on the barrel extensions and possibly lower parts kit which I find to be very good as I have some lowers that have no traded stainless steel heat treated and if some words didn’t come out right it’s because it voice messaging sucks and I’m too lazy to fix it or recalibrate it is it want you to talk very slow like a fucking robot but tight tolerances I’m all about in thermal fitting yes I would use a torch personally is easy to just twist it around on the threads using a reaction Rod very simple I suggest any one that’s doing gunsmithing or armory type would use one of those as it isolate your barrel from the upper and you are able to twist turn on it this guys got a vice block the geissele reaction rod and many high-end manufacturers use it for building just because of how good the product is for a building and isolating the barrel from the upper and not rolling it or causing any sort of issues obviously that can still happen if you’re not too tight for any other damage it’s the best easiest way for assembling an upper

Great video. I forgo any kind of Lite.. shrink fit is sufficient.

Blue loctite ? Loctite 680 red is what people use as its for slip fit joints like a barrel accent is basically as they say look at bearing mount and when your barrel heats up the red 680 expands to give you a tighter fit because shockingly he was able to put blue Loctite on their extension and then slipping the bell right back in normally with the thermal fit you have maybe like two or three seconds before it closes down and it’s under sized so what I’m thinking either a thermal fitting method wasn’t even needed or there any other dimensions in the outer with the receiver in the barrel it should not salute Bright in after like 10 seconds or so cooling literally when I’ve done thi I’d you need to slip that powerline fast because within five seconds or so it’s as one but that again talking about a Radian upper not a forged

Also most hoppers do not require thermal feeling as your powwow slip into the air if there’s some resistance you can torch the threads a little bit but if I was thermal fitting I would have red Loctite already on before I slip it in and I torched it for a good 15 years so 20 seconds made sure it was completely to the rear he Upper pin is and mostly you’re gonna have to do this only on billet receivers or if a certain company that you buy from offers if there will fit you’re better off with the thermal fat as you barrow maybe a chamber fluctuations because of how it was and having to twerk it down who knows but for my radian after I filled the barrel I season the threads as much is one can do and use SLIP 2000 as well as COPYLG or shooters choice 10 is a preferred lubricant it’s very thin but make sure your receiver and the threads and the extensions nice and clean before slipping it very same with the barrel nut threads as far as gas blocks go is there are pre dimpled not and just keep it dimpled no need for pinning Usually they’re dual dimpled and need to do is believe Loctite what is the way crane does it end you say yes but maybe that walked off on you I suggest them dimpled if not dimpled the set screw Buy into the barrel and stay snug I guess block is walking off on you that means you didn’t jdimpled and blue not red loctite and red 680 expandes as the rifles shot and gives better accuracy but I knew w people that don’t do anything besides maybe CLP for that upper and barrel I would’ve use six A.D. not blue it’s because of the extension barrel not the same size I don’t know if it was a thermal fit upper by for a reasonable with my radian I didn’t have to torque it more than the lower end of 35 to 45 foot pounds but if you’re going to use a compound like that red 680 never on your setscrews but sure on your barrel extension as it’s been proven to increase your and my way or decrease to where you’re shooting one minute groups brings it bathrooms and that’s a big difference

You demonstrated from the start of the video that the dimensions between the barrel extension and the receiver arent even tight enough to thermal fit them together. As soon as the temps return to what they were before hearing, those two parts arent fitting any tighter than they were before you started. Thermo fitting only works to fit slip-fit parts together when they wont fit together at the same temperature.

That was not very tight

That absolutely does NOT need loctite. NO ar15 barrel should ever have loctite. Wtf?

You don't need loctite. If it's thermal fit, it's tight by itself. All loctite will do is fill gaps and make it a pain to take off. And it doesn't not provide any anti-corrosion barrier between the steel and aluminum. Permatex anti seize is all you need. Gap filler, barrier, and it makes disassembly 100 times easier.

This is first time I've seen blue loctite. I've seen green loctite and also aeroshell ms33, but never blue loctite. 🤔

Good video. .

Question– is it ok to use anti-seize instead of blue loctite? What's the precaution or advise for or against anti-seize on barrels or barrel nuts?

On something that is this close I would probably just give it a tap to seat the index pin. I’ve had uppers/barrels that wouldn’t even start to mate until the barrel was froze and the upper was heated. Those builds don’t require loctite and they usually shoot quite well. Good video for a new builder!

I thought loctite 620 was the way to go on the extension. I'm sure blue would work too

Why loctite blue? Does it perform the same function as green but easier to remove?

Great video thank you so much for making this short and sweet.

Could you make a video showing how to remove a tight fitting barrel?

So do you recommend doing this on every install?

Hey, thanks for being concise! gotta love a 2 minute video explaining a 2 minute job! <3