Here's what a loose 15-22 barrel looks like!

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emjayw

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Thought I'd post this as I just returned from another range session with my 15-22. As I've stated in previous posts, my barrel nut keeps backing itself out as I shoot. After the last session two weeks ago, I came home and removed the barrel and thoroughly degreased the thread area and the barrel nut, then put just a touch of lubricant back on the threads and torqued it with the "tool" as tight as I could twist it without a barrel vise. Today I continued my 30 yard efforts with a new, cheap ($32) Tasco Red Dot from Wal-Mart. It took me a while to "see" the correct sight picture as my 62-year-old eyes don't focus as well as they once did. Once I settled in, so did my groups. I was really knocking the crap out of the bull at 30 yards with that 5MOA dot covering it! My last 25 round magazine was a disappointment however. I wasn't sure what to think until I got home and checked the barrel nut again...it had backed off a full 3/4 turn during those last 50 rounds! I re-torqued it again but I'm getting ready to add a drop of Blue Loctite to the threads this time. I love this little rifle. It never fails to feed, shoot or eject..if only I could keep the barrel tight! Here's a shot showing my final target with the first 25 rounds cutting a nice hole in the bull and the last 25 getting further and further left and low. hope this is an isolated problem. I may contact S&W about it but I don't want to be without my 15-22 for very long. Note: mine was purchased in October '09 at a gun show in Fort Worth, TX and has been stone reliable for over 2500 rounds. Mike in TX
 

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Yep make sure you only use blue, because if you use red that bugger will never come back off! :) 272 is more like red dyed super glue :)
 
a dot of the old ladies clear finger nail polish works great to keep it from viberating loose but still easy to remove
 
I've been using my hands only up to this point but I'm going to pick up a small strap wrench tomorrow and give that a try. Mike in TX
 
Ya you can't get them tight enough with your hands I've removed sevel barrels from these and only 1 was loose enough I could get it loose without an aid.. it doesn't take much.. just a good snuggin works... its pretty solid when it seats
 
If you can torque it down to about 20 ft-lbs it should stay tight without any thread locker. Hand tight without a wrench and it will work loose again during shooting. If you have a foot long extension handle on your strap wrench and put 20 pounds of force on the end of the handle, you are probably good. The long handle is what helps you. Applying 20 pounds of force isn't pushing the wrench all that hard.

If your forend isn't tight up againt the upper receiver and you can easily move the forend in relation to the upper, your nut may be loose. The nut both holds the forend on and secures the barrel into the upper.
 
JRD said:
If you can torque it down to about 20 ft-lbs it should stay tight without any thread locker. Hand tight without a wrench and it will work loose again during shooting. If you have a foot long extension handle on your strap wrench and put 20 pounds of force on the end of the handle, you are probably good. The long handle is what helps you. Applying 20 pounds of force isn't pushing the wrench all that hard.

If your forend isn't tight up againt the upper receiver and you can easily move the forend in relation to the upper, your nut may be loose. The nut both holds the forend on and secures the barrel into the upper.
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JRD, who are you? Back in October you posted an ammo list here. It just happens to be the same exact list that is being reported released by S&W? What's the story?
 
Ur forarm will begin to wiggle... build you a tool you will prob, need it if you plan on shooting it a lot anyway
 
Temporaryscars said:
Um...so...how can you tell if it's loose again?
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Because when I removed the barrel the first time I left the end cap off to free-float it. It's a simple task to look in the end with a flashlight and see if the nut has moved after you've torqued it. That's how I knew it was loose again, not loose enough to feel the forearm wiggle, but loose enough to cause accuracy problems.
 
ChattanoogaPhil said:
I don't get what it is you don't get. What don't you get?
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1. Why would this thing come loose anyway? Is that normal for a rifle to just fall apart from regular use?

2. How can you tell if it's loose? One person says when your forearm wiggles, another says that it can even be loose when it doesn't wiggle.

3. How do we fix it? I've seen those little metal things on ebay, but how would we get that down to where the nut is to tighten it? Do we need that AND the PVC pipe?

4. How does one make these tools? What if you don't have a dremmel or something to cut the PVC with?

I took the endcap off the forearm and looked down and I could see the nut, but I didn't know of any way to tell if it was loose.
 
Temporaryscars said:
1. Why would this thing come loose anyway? Is that normal for a rifle to just fall apart from regular use?

2. How can you tell if it's loose? One person says when your forearm wiggles, another says that it can even be loose when it doesn't wiggle.

3. How do we fix it? I've seen those little metal things on ebay, but how would we get that down to where the nut is to tighten it? Do we need that AND the PVC pipe?

4. How does one make these tools? What if you don't have a dremmel or something to cut the PVC with?

I took the endcap off the forearm and looked down and I could see the nut, but I didn't know of any way to tell if it was loose.
Click to expand...

1. The nut comes lose from vibration like any other nut can come lose on anything else.

2. Make a barrel nut tool. Using the tool, make sure the barrel nut is tight. Make note of barrel nut position and check it out from time to time to see if it moves at all. That's what I have done and the barrel nut has shown no movement.

3. I and many others here have made the entire tool with a piece of PVC. There are many threads here that go into complete detail how to do this.

4. If you don't have any tools... go buy some. I just happened to use a $7 dremmel tool from Harbor Freight (I use it to grind my dogs nails down) It comes with cheap cutting wheels about the size of a quarter and razor thin that worked great for the job. Took just a few minutes.
 
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