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swapping hand guard


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I have a PSA AR10 Gen 2 with the GI style plastic handguard that i would like to swap out for a free float tube.  Since i don't expect to be doing this multiple times, i'm looking for a way to minimize the investment in upper receiver blocks and barrel nut wrenches.  Any suggestions for where and what style of tools to buy or a place i can borrow/rent them?  Maybe send off the upper to get the nut broken lose? I have all the tools for this with an AR15 but that doesn't help me here other than with the knowledge of how to do it. 

i am in florida on the space coast if someone knows of a gunsmith in the area who does this kind of work.

I've already pulled off the GI front sight/gas block and converted it to a very nice low profile gas block( i am NOT contemplating any bayonet charges at my age.  Maybe a bayonet walk, but...).  The 18" nitrided barrel is giving me pretty nice accuracy, under 2MOA with the milsurp ammo it likes best, so i have great hopes for the right hand load.

gasblock.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Specifically ... what brand and model of free float tube ?

You will find PSA Uppers are a beast unto themselves as far as FF tubes go.

IE ... high tab v. low tab, even ODIN Rifle works measurement system..... means nothing on a PSA PA10 GenII.

Ultimately, the Picatinny rail heights... between the PSA Upper, and the FF tube will not match .

So far the only ones I have found to fit a PSA .308 Upper are the one made By JL Billet... and even then.. makes sure to phone them and tell them you are installing one on a PSA PA10 GenII... maybe they will sell you one.

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JL billet may make wonderful handguards, but their cost is way more than i can justify .  I never intend to use BUIS on this rifle, so i don't really care that much about rails meeting perfectly, my scope fits just fine in the upper alone. 

But, got in a combo wrench that fits the nut and an upper vise block for a .308 that doesn't even come close to fitting,  I mean i ground about half of it away to even come close,  put maybe 40 lbs torque on the nut just to see if it would budge(it didn't).  since the upper vise block was such a kludge, i didn't want to risk really laying on the wrench and screwing up an upper

The more i think about it, the only reason i wanted the free float was to mount a bipod and to float the barrel for a bit more accuracy.  Since i adapted a piece of rail to the plastic handguard. and am not strapping in with a sling,  I can't see a freefloat doing that much for accuracy.  The sling tension was why we really floated AF-15's for highpower matches. 

I am not going to get any weight reduction to speak of,  i could care less about being tacticool, and i cannot imagine needing a flashlight on it. .  screw it, i'll shoot it as it is. 

 

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3 hours ago, terrt_tr6 said:

 I can't see a freefloat doing that much for accuracy.  The sling tension was why we really floated AF-15's for highpower matches. 

 

I am not going to get any weight reduction to speak of,  i could care less about being tacticool, and i cannot imagine needing a flashlight on it. .  screw it, i'll shoot it as it is. 

 

It does a great amount for accuracy - and you should know this already, with shooting all the AR15s in the highpower matches...

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