AR15/M16 Gas in my face...
You are shooting an AR15/M16 rifle with a suppressor on
it. You notice that after every shot you take a breath and in comes a
bunch of noxious gases. They are not friendly smelling either.
Q: What do you do?
A1: You can buy a expensive special gas reducing charging
handle and install it on your firearm.
or
A2: You can use the trick that a high-power shooter passed on
to me. It is inexpensive and easy to do.
You will use GE Silicone II black caulk to create a seal to
fill in the void where the gases emit from the charging handle/back upper area!
Your goal is to get the caulk to adhere to the charging handle
only.
- Get some GE black Silicone II caulk
- Get some wax - bees wax works best
- Degrease the areas where you are going to put the caulk and
wax. You want the wax to adhere well enough to keep the caulk from adhering.
You also want the caulk to adhere to the charging handle and no where else.
- Take the wax and put it where you do NOT want the GE
Silicone II black caulk to adhere.
This would include the face of the upper, where the charging handle is close
to meeting. Under this upper area (top of charging handle) where the
charging handle slides into upper by a 1/2" or so - the caulk will try
to go under the upper and charging handle when you push the charging handle
in place with the caulk.
Wax EVERY place where caulk might go and you do not want it
to.
- Once the caulk is set and "dried" you can trim it
where needed. Read the instructions for drying off of caulk
container. Having a little extra caulk that is higher than the
charging handle is no big deal and can easily be trimmed off with a sharp
knife.
- Pull the charging handle back a couple inches.
Make sure you have put some wax on the charging handle where you do not want
it to adhere - mainly the part of the charging handle under (inside) the
upper.
- Put enough caulk in the top back of the charging handle
that will almost meet the upper so that you will have to trim the top of the
caulk flat and so that it goes a little around the sides of the upper, that
you waxed.
You want the caulk on the charging handle to meet up with the upper, to
create a tight seal.
- Push the charging handle in slowly until it
"clicks." Do not push it any further, as doing so would
create a gap between the charging handle and the upper, once it has dried.
- Let set required time, pull charging handle back slowly and
check your work. Have a knife handy to trim off any caulk that tried
to attach where it should not have.
- Trim ay excess caulk - but not too much so you will reduce
the seal between the upper and charging handle. Trim flush with top of
charging handle.
- If you messed up, clean it up the best you can and do it
again.
Remember your goal is to create a seal between the upper and the charging
handle so the gas blow back does not seep out the back of the upper.
Last update: 9/7/2002
