Makes the job much easier
Makes a difficult job much easier. It will hold the barrel in place and also show you which side to drive the pins out. I still use mine whenever I need to do gas block work.
using as temple to drill new FSB pins
basic plan... Install FSB on barrel, gas port must be located / place tool on FSB using pin holes as guide drill out with proper carbide drill.
It worked well enough for me.
I could have spent most of an afternoon making a sight bench block from wood and epoxy. Instead, I purchased this one. I have since dissassembled and re-barreled two AR15 upper receivers with this item. It has work as avertised. I wish there was a special bench block for installing the trigger guard roll pin in lower receivers. I will make that bench block myself.
Very Useful
This block is just the thing when you are working with mil spec front sights. It's not much help with any other type of gas block.
Don't Assume Anything
I had a S&W M&P-15 in a couple days ago to remove the original hand guard & front sight/gas block, and replace with a low-profile gas block & free-float hand guard. On the front sight bench block it is labeled "Pins In", and on the other side "Pins out." The problem is on this S&W the large end of the pins is the opposite of the standard Colt.
Generic fit, but gets the job done
I was removing a front sight on a Colt 6920. The front pin was removed without much problem or effort. The rear pin was a monster to get out. After using a sledge hammer for a couple of hours and ruining two cheap punches I ordered the block. Was it a perfect fit? No. But with my son stablizing the barrel in the front sight bench block, the rear pin popped right out. It did what I needed it to do and was a time saver.
Worked as designed
Worked great removing the pins from two pre-ban rifle length uppers and one carbine length upper. All were Bushmasters. After the YHM Diamond Pattern Free Float handguard tubes were installed I was able to position the bench block to provide support while re-installing the pins. The rails prevented a proper fit. I'll have to check and see if I can't dremmel a relief cut in the block for the tubes and rails but that is a project for another day. Useable as is though.
Worked great
Worked great. I did add a tiny piece of steel stock under the bayonet lug on FSB to prevent any twisting under hammer strikes. No need to dremel fit. I removed taper pins from the notoriously difficult BCM FSB (light weight contour, no less, so no barrel contact on the block). Five wacks on the front pin and the pin was flush - five light ones more with an undersized pin punch and it was out. The rear pin needed no shimming and the block fit perfectly on this portion of the FSB. I am not giving it five stars because I agree with other posters that it would be a fairly easy improvement to provide that additional support in that front sight pin area. I understand that it isn't there to accommodate an non-milspec pin hole location.
Nice Idea.....But Limited Use
As others have found out before me, this block has limited uses. If you have a Stag Arms AR, your tapered pins go in and out of the FSB from the opposite side. Please look at the pins before you start and make sure you are tapping on the small ends to remove. That also makes the holes in the block not align properly. None of this is the blocks fault, however, and it is handy for it's intended purpose. I will modify mine, as others have done before me, to fit my application.
Not with free float tubes-----------
Works well on barrels without handguards, but with free float tubes it will not work without a few mods on a milling machine to the block for clearance of the large handgaurds.
