Building my first AR with a Spikes Crusader stripped lower.

Do you prefer to stake or blue Loctite the buffer tube to the lower receiver?

I have read that you torque it to 40 ft lbs.
That seems like a lot.
How tight do you go with the castle nut?

I haven't staked, nor have I used loctite. I'm probably wrong for not doing one or the other.

Both ARs I've built, I've never had the castle nut come loose. One had a little over 1k rounds through it, this most recent one doesn't have that many, and neither were 'worked' or taken through a carbine class, which I suspect if it was going to happen it'd happen during something like that.

If I had the tools and knowledge, I'd stake it.

If it is anything but a few rounds every once in a while gun, stake it. IME blue Loctite isn't enough to hold it in place.

Stake.

I ground the end of a cold chisel to produce a nice rectangular Colt-like stake.

I coat with the correct grease, torque and stake as per the TM. I'm not in the habit of swapping buffer tubes but if I ever had to it's easy to remove and castle nuts and end plates are cheap.

I always stake. And new endplates are $2 if you ever need to remove the buffer tube for some reason. Loctite is an improper install.

Thanks, I was leaning toward staking.
Just ran across this guide which explains the danger of not staking.

How to stake your castle nut in 3 easy steps.

Stake.

Always stake it.

Stake.

I use a cheap spring-loaded center punch from Harbor Freight.

I'm a cheap bastard. I'll use a regular punch to stake. Haven't scratched any rifles yet.

Grease on the threads of the tube, hand tighten the nut, snug it down *firmly* and stake with a spring loaded center punch. I usually punch about 30x on each stake point or until I feel enough of the metal on the endplate is displaced into the notches in the castle nut.

Mine look like this:

I loctite'd a few, way back. I don't bother any more. Never stake.

I suppose if I were building rifles for other stupid people whom I didn't want taking the rifle apart, I would. But I'm not, so I don't.

quote:

Originally posted by cas:
I suppose if I were building rifles for other stupid people whom I didn't want taking the rifle apart, I would. But I'm not, so I don't.

It isn't about stupid people taking the rifles apart. Staking is done to prevent the rifle from taking itself apart. It is the same reason that the carrier keys are staked.

I stake because that's in the TM. But there is a threadlocker product (not 242 as was asked and I'm too lazy to look up what's needed for this torque and thread) that would accomplish this just as well.

Stake is the proper way to do it. Just because your particular gun hasn't fallen apart doesn't mean it's right.

Stake it.

I've never staked or used Blue Loctite since my first build in the early 90's and never had one come loose. I do stake carrier keys.

Stake, stake, and stake.

It's not hard to do.

quote:

Originally posted by Jus228:
Stake is the proper way to do it. Just because your particular gun hasn't fallen apart doesn't mean it's right.

Spot on.

quote:

Originally posted by jcat:

If I had the tools and knowledge, I'd stake it.

https://thearmsguide.com/5135/...nut-in-3-easy-steps/

https://www.amazon.com/TEKTON-...=spring+loaded+punch

Punch costs $5.49 delivered and it takes all of 5 minutes to do.