Tweaking AR Safety.

[TACAV]

Question here if anyone can help,

One my ARs i installed the lower parts kit in, Stag Lower with RRA parts kit.

Well the rifle works and functions just fine but...

The safety lever is very stiff. I can easily engage/disengage it on my other rifles with my strong hand on the grip but on this one in particular its very hard to to move. Going from Safe to Fire is easy as to the direction you move the part down but going back is a pain in the butt.

It almost feels like its rubbing and "draggin" when I use it. I took it apart and put it back together but same result.

Again everything, both the safety and the entire rifle works fine. Its just annoying. I have to totally change my control hand's grip to re engage the safety which I really prefer not to have to do.

Any suggestions? Perhaps the part is just a tad bit out of spec?

[Pothole]

did you use the correct spring for the selector detent?




because if you used a longer one it may not be compressing and grinding along the detent

Assemble your own LOWER, UPPER, FREE FLOAT, TRIGGER, GAS BLOCK - Step by step instructions! - AR15.COM

[TACAV]

Yup I might just order a new one though for like 15 cents and try that out if i cant think of anything else.

[tenringdriller]

get some good sharp cutters and cut one coil at a time off the safety detent spring till it feels right....also look at the rotating barrel of the safety and see if it shows signs of wear, and if so where the wear is... does it rotate freely without the detent and spring installed? if not it could have a slight interference fit with the lower. hope that helps.

[gbear-48]

Echo what they said. Check parts & holes for alinement and any roughness. Smooth and adjust alinement as needed. IME , the grip hole moves ( sometimes ) based on how tight the grip screw is turned -- a little chamfer can help things to line up.
I'm picky about the safety being just right. Making things line up plus a little polishing of parts & a touch of grease can make a big difference.
I usually trim a coil at a time last and sometimes not at all.

[DWARREN123]

Check the cut outs in the safety lever where the pin hits it and holds it in position. Sounds like the pin is bad or the cutouts for it were not made properly.

[at4rxj]

It's easy to pop out... Check for any burs, and put a drop of oil in the hole on the safety before re-assembly.

Make sure to oil it good all around, then switch it back and forth for about 30 min while you watch tv or something... It'll help.

[TACAV]

ok cool thanks.

[at4rxj]

I wouldn't cut that spring... Just a personal opinion. It was made to be that length, and if something is tight, that's for another reason...

[YugoM59/66]

i have noticed that some AR's are different when you assemble some of the kits. i have had to cut a little bit off of one of my springs to make it function a little more smoothly. and i have also heard of our armorer's doing it when the have to replace them. so its not too crazy. just if its really tight you can cut it down little by little. just make sure you dont cut it too much. im sure you can figure out what would happen then. if it moves too easy your looking at a safety that will just go on fire by bumping the rifle. and i agree with at4 about engaging and disengaging it for a while. whenever i get a new AR or especially when i build one, i'll sit there forever just opening and closing the ejection port cover, charging the weapon, popping the reciever retaining pins in and out, and using the safety. its good to just break it all in

[GlockMeister]

Originally Posted by at4rxj

I wouldn't cut that spring... Just a personal opinion. It was made to be that length, and if something is tight, that's for another reason...

I couldn't agree more.

And, FWIW, in another thread about building an AR lower, the original poster posted a link, which I've also linked below, and the person in this video that shows one how to build and or install the parts into an AR lower says if the safety is tight you can "trim" the spring.

I think and thought while I watched the video that is and was a very dumb thing to tell a person to do. Especially when the odds are in favor that a person most likely to use this video for help in assembling an AR lower is someone that has never built one and already isn't sure of what they're doing.

So to tell them to cut a spring to one of the most important parts and functions of ANY firearm, to me, is very ignorant. And this occurs at approximately 9:33 in the video.

Here's the link to the video.

http://www.lifelibertyetc.com/RangeB...ippedLower.wmv


And, since I can honestly and completely admit that I've NEVER assembled or installed a part into an AR lower, I don't know if this is even possible to do or have happen or not (what I'm asking below that is)? And I'm basing this solely on what I saw in the video, linked above and that I did watch again I to make sure.

But in watching that video, I thought I saw a couple springs that looked similar in size and or length? If that is indeed the case, I suppose it then is and could be possible that the wrong spring was put into the safety? If it is possible, might that then be something to check? To see if your safety is tight due to having the wrong spring?

Is the detent even in place? Is it in the right direction as in the video I noticed that one end is kind of pointed while the other is flat?

Again, I openly admit I have never assembled an AR lower let alone seen the springs side by side to know. I am only going on what I saw of the springs in the video and that maybe 2 or 3 looked similar? In looking at two different parts diagram, the springs I'm talking about are the takedown detent spring and the selector/safety spring. They are different and I don't know if the slightly bigger one could fit into the other, but those are the ones I'm talking about. FWIW, these parts diagram.







But again, I thought and do believe it was very ignorant of the one in the video to tell someone, who is more than likely inexperienced and thus why they're watching the video, to "trim" the spring to the safety if it is too tight.

[gbear-48]

Trimming any spring requires a certain amount of training and also some significant real world experience at working on guns -- including that spring in that specific type of gun....
Hence the tactful comment , ".. last and sometimes not at all. " as applied to a specific spring in a specific civilian kit.

In my limited and underpaid experience trimming springs is very , very rarely needed with Milspec parts. Some springs should never be trimmed at all.

But these kits aren't Milspec.... are they?

[TACAV]

This my third AR ive built. All of them work just fine exception of this little spring issue, They were built from RRA parts kits. It might just be a fluke part. Im not gonna cut anything for now. Im just gonna work it over a bit more and see if it "breaks in".

[YugoM59/66]

yeah i guess it is a really really bad idea to tell someone to cut the only spring that can stop the weapon from firing, but, i did it so the safety disengaged to my liking. it still works flawlessly, it was just tight when i put it in. truthfully over time, the spring might wear anyways so who knows, maybe down the road my safety might fail and i'll have to replace the spring. until then "this my safety here, sir"

[at4rxj]

As long as it works fine, it's ok.... Obviously. Just follow the logical process of steps, and start with the things that won't screw anything up, need to happen anyway, and could screw something up later. Just think if you trimmed it first, then after a few hundred rounds the safety is now "broken in" and is sloppy....

Same goes for the takedown pin... And the bolt catch, and trigger/hammer.....

[tenringdriller]

Cutting springs is not that difficult, if you have the right cutters. Those springs are manufactured en mass and as a result, there is a chance that you could have one that's a little too long or a little too stiff. As long as you cut 1 coil at a time you don't have to worry about there being too little spring pressure and the gun going off safety by itself, as long as there is pressure on that detent, it will hold the selector switch. Of course, you should first diagnose that the spring is the problem. Theoretically if there is way too much spring pressure, it could wear out the other parts of the safety quicker, resulting in an unsafe weapon.