I’ve had a few customers call me since we introduced the Carbon Fiber rifles saying they were trying to install a free float handguard and the barrel nut would not fit on the upper receiver. The barrel nut on our Carbon Fiber rifles has a different diameter thread than a standard AR15 barrel nut. This area of the Carbon fiber upper was beefed up to make this critical area stronger. In so doing it was necessary for us to increase the size of the threaded area and therefore change the thread on the barrel nut to fit this. The outside dimensions of the barrel nut are exactly the same as a standard barrel nut. Only the inside diameter and thread of the barrel nut was changed. Any carbine length free float handguard that is designed to work on a standard AR15 barrel nut will work fine, but no free float handguards that require the change of the barrel nut will work.
Also for gunsmiths that are trying to remove the barrel on a Carbon Fiber rifle, it is important to have the upper on a barreling device that engages the lugs in the barrel extension. The clamp style vise blocks will not fit the Carbon Fiber upper, and you should never secure the upper by only the upper receiver takedown and pivot pin lugs. Torqueing against the lugs is likely to cause damage to the receiver. When we barrel the uppers at the factory we only use barreling spuds that engage the lugs in the barrel extension. Also note that we use a bit of Loctite on the threads. So if you remove the barrel nut it is very important to clean all of the dried Loctite out of the threads on the barrel nut so you don’t risk cross threading during re-installation. It is also recommended to reapply a little Red 262 Loctite to this area, and not exceed 30 foot pounds of torque when tightening the barrel nut.
Cleaning / Maintenance
I’ve also had inquiries about whether we offer a cleaning/maintenance video for our rifles. We do not but I don’t think we could offer any video better than the excellent one put out by NSSF. Therefore I always refer people to their YouTube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kLkXJWfwLQ
And lastly, we are now offering this excellent tool that makes cleaning your bolt carrier very easy. It is a bolt scraper, firing pin cleaner, scraper for removing carbon inside the carrier, and has a slot to hold a patch for swabbing the inside of the carrier out.
If you ever have questions about your rifle, you are always welcome to call Windham Weaponry Customer Service (Toll Free: 1-855-808-1888). Shoot Safely!
