I don’t know what I’m going to use
Don’t buy this, I guess it used to have a different design that was orange and worked but they changed it to black, now it won’t work. You can even tell from the product picture that it won’t work, it isn’t profiled correctly it’s just flat and unfinished inside the channel where there should be the profile of the front sight block. Furthermore the holes don’t line up to any variant of the mil spec fsb i have access to. Hopefully i can find something that will work because this wont
Doesn’t work as advertised
Attempting to remove pins on the front sight of my Colt AR6951. I have the barrel removed and the handguard separated. The barrel fits in the block fine, but it’s noticeably wobbly, causing the punch to slip and scratch my barrel and sight. After banging away for a while I removed the barrel from the bench block to see the pin had left a dimple in the block due to the holes not being aligned with my pins. Now I have a scratched sight, scratched barrel and a damaged bench block because of the terrible design. Thanks for nothing
Into the trash it goes!
Worthless.
I've driven out stubborn taper pins a couple times in the past using jerry-rigged blocks of hard maple to support the barrel and FSB, but I decided to get the proper tool for the job this time. Well, I gambled and lost. The FSB and barrel rotated and squirmed around in this block so badly I could never get a good solid hit on the pins, and even nicked the FSB with the puch a couple times. I had to go back to using blocks of wood as a fixture to get the job done.
This block has quite a few positive reviews, so I'm guessing the old orange block that's been around for years had a different design or machining. This new black block is only useful as a paperweight.
Sight tower too review
Used this tool to remove the front sight tower on a Colt AR15. When the pins were driven out, one of the holes did not line up with the pin that was being removed. The tool had to be modified to work correctly. Might work well on another brand, but not on a Colt. As a result, the tool is now damaged and likely cannot be returned. (To be fair, I have not looked into a return) This is my first negative Brownells purchase experience.
Worthless
Tried to use this to remove pinned gas block on an A2 barrel. The barrel/site easily rotates and is not supported by the block. You will never get a solid hit on the pins with this.
Site block
Never had a problem with Brownells tool, till now. Main problem is the barrel turns when you hit pins, area where pins go through block should be raised to support area around pins. Save your money maybe Brownells will correct problem woith site block.
Needed mod's to work at all
Had to modify to fit lug into block. Barrel rotated during pin removal. Had to drill one new hole and enlarge another to allow pins to drop into. Helped getting pins out but could not use after install a new quad rail. Costs to much and helped to little. Not recommended for others. I too could have used an old leather sand bag instead of this block.
Great idea, very poor design
Does not work with a free floating forend, does not work with a basic m4 forend. Even if you manage to clear the handguard your barrel will simply roll in this block. What would have been nice is a block that actually was fit to this oh so common gas block. Want something better? Try drilling a couple holes into a board and using that to remove your pins.
Nearly worthless
Barrel rocks pretty bad, making it nearly impossible to strike the taper pins squarely and with sufficient force. Honestly I think plain sand bags would be better.
Poor Design
The block is machined flat but the FSB and barrel are curved so the block does not hold the barrel from twisting when hitting the taper pins. Any movement in the barrel significantly decrease the force applied to the taper pins. This may be acceptable for manufacturers with loose taper pins but for very tight ones this block does not work.
