GunStuff Posted February 12, 2023 Share Posted February 12, 2023 Hey everyone, new here but a long time lurker. I bought myself an M4 a while back and I’m getting around to making it the way it is supposed to be. Have a new magazine tube from SOCOMguy coming in on Monday, and replaced my polymer trigger housing with an A&S trigger guard. Other than the dang safety detent spring and the c clip fighting me (due to me not using my snap ring pliers and following some ham-fisted advice I found on youtube and not StrangerDangers straight forward trigger housing guide), it all fit together without much cussing and seems to be functioning the way it’s supposed to. The sears are catching the hammer during the cocking and reset phase with plenty of overlap when connected, the trigger pulls with no noticeable difference, the safety is as tough to activate as it was in the original trigger housing. I have one question on the trigger housing though. The hammer seems to fall forward quite a good ways. In my excitement to change out the housing, I didn’t pay attention to how far forward the hammer can go. The picture below shows what I’m talking about. Is this an issue or normal? And I have a couple questions on the removal of the magazine tube. I did the heat gun method, took me about 20 minutes total with stopping every couple of minutes when smoke started to rise and testing the magazine to see if it would budge. I spent probably 10 minutes or less with heat application in total. My heat gun is an ancient one and is rated for supposedly 700 degrees (one setting). My mom used it 20 years ago to remove old paint and wall paper and it hadn't been used since. I put the heat in the opening for the barrel unit, directing the heat down to where the threads are: There doesn’t appear to be any discoloration to the finish I oiled the receiver afterwards. And here is the amount of red Loctite that was on the threads: The receiver got fairly hot during the heating process and you wouldn’t want to touch it with your bare hands. I removed all the plastic parts; all that was left was the rear sight and slide release. I probably should have removed both in hindsight. My questions are with that heat level in the receiver, do I have anything to worry about with the strength of the aluminum being compromised? And will I have any issues with the sight and the slide release? The slide release spring seems to be fine and just as tough to use as before I did this work. These are probably needless worries, but this is my first time truly doing “gunsmithing” level of work and I guess I’d like to alleviate any worries. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truckcop Posted February 12, 2023 Share Posted February 12, 2023 As to the hammer travel, with the trigger group out of the receiver, that's normal forward travel. With the trigger group removed, DO NOT pull the trigger and let the hammer go forward on its own. Like the AR15 lower with the upper receiver removed, you could cause some damage. Heating the receiver to remove the tube is highly unlikely to have damaged it. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evolution Posted February 12, 2023 Share Posted February 12, 2023 Agree with truckcop on the hammer business but, am I seeing things? What's with the fried egg appearance on the finish around the bolt release hole? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GunStuff Posted February 12, 2023 Author Share Posted February 12, 2023 (edited) Good to know that the hammer movement is normal! Never paid attention to it before and now I notice it. Thank you truckcop and Evolution. I figured the heat wouldn't damage it as these things I'm assuming undergo some pretty potent heat in the manufacturing process. Still always have been a bit cautious about these things, especially when it comes to firearms. Last thing I want is some type of bad failure! 33 minutes ago, Evolution said: Agree with truckcop on the hammer business but, am I seeing things? What's with the fried egg appearance on the finish around the bolt release hole? Sorry about that! It's left over oil from when I put oil on the receiver. Wiped everything down afterwards but a bit of oil always gets missed around the bolt release and the axle bushing for the trigger. Wiped it off real quick and you can still see some around the edge of the hole. Edited February 12, 2023 by GunStuff 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evolution Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 (edited) Yeah, looks much better! As an aside, I have found that it is not necessary to apply loctite to the mag tube threads and I like the added ease of accessibility to the receiver during cleaning, being able to remove it. Just cranking it on as tight as I can holding the receiver between my knees; stays on tight, and I can remove it as I will without the fuss of having to put it in a vise and heating it. Just an FYI Edited February 13, 2023 by Evolution 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GunStuff Posted February 13, 2023 Author Share Posted February 13, 2023 13 hours ago, Evolution said: Yeah, looks much better! As an aside, I have found that it is not necessary to apply loctite to the mag tube threads and I like the added ease of accessibility to the receiver during cleaning, being able to remove it. Just cranking it on as tight as I can holding the receiver between my knees; stays on tight, and I can remove it as I will without the fuss of having to put it in a vise and heating it. Just an FYI I’ve read about that and was planning to go that route! Glad to hear it that it works for you as well. I’m going to give this a shot and at the most I’ll end up putting a small drop of blue loctite on it to help keep everything in place if need be. But red is staying away from the new tube. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph Fisher Posted March 22, 2023 Share Posted March 22, 2023 Gun Stuff Quick question when you replaced your OEM trigger housing did it need to be replaced or is available to purchase? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evolution Posted March 22, 2023 Share Posted March 22, 2023 3 hours ago, Joseph Fisher said: Gun Stuff Quick question when you replaced your OEM trigger housing did it need to be replaced or is available to purchase? My H20 M4 (2014) came with the OEM original cast aluminum trigger housing. All was good. Then when the A&S trigger housing came on the market and was shown here on this forum, I saw how superior it was to the OEM housing as far as machining and finish was concerned, so I decided to buy one. I was one of the first 100 to buy one. For a 2K firearm, the A&S housing is not a necessity but, a significant improvement over OEM. I am not interested in getting rid of any of my OEM parts, just because. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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