AR handguard help

[Yukon227]

I have a 16" bull barrel upper with full round handguard....varmint type setup, the other day it came loose, I tightened it back by hand.....and now my bipod is way off center. Suggestions?

 

[netsecurity]

How about: Loosen, center, tighten? I dunno, I only have quad rails.

 

[Yukon227]

I haven't messed with it much, its a Harris bipod and I'm curious as to whether I need a specific tool to tighten the threaded ring at the receiver end

 

[ryknoll3]

There are usually two types with the round free-float handguards. One type threads onto a special barrel nut and then is held in place by a jamb nut that is on the barrel nut that you spin against the handguard. The other type just has the free float tube tighten onto the barrel nut itself.

It sorta sounds like you have the first. Do you have a thin ring that tightens up against the handguard? Do you know what brand the tube is?

The barrel nut should not come loose because it is captured by the gas tube. Either way, that can be tightened with a regular AR barrel wrench.

If you have a jamb nut type ring, there might be a special tool for that brand, otherwise pad the jaws of a channel-lock pliers and tighten with that.

If you just have the type of tube where the tube tightens onto the barrel nut, without a separate jamb nut, you can tighten it with a strap wrench.

ETA: Here's what I was referring to with the jamb nut: