Bought an old police trade in last week (Colt AR15)

Has a surefire muzzle brake that feels like it’s glued on with epoxy.

Tried boiling, propane torch, and just plain wrenching on it.

About to give up and cut it off.

Any ideas?

Oxy-Fuel is real heat. Make it orange, and unscrew it.

14.5 or 16? If 14.5 it’s welded and pinned. If 16” see JG’s advice above.

Make sure you have the correct vice block, I broke an ear off my upper trying to get a stuck FH off.

Boiling and wrench with 18” breaker bar has worked on everything for me

As others said sometimes things break before the muzzle brake lets loose

I have a vice mounted to a 4x4 post that I park my 2500 series Suburban on to hold it down nice and stout. That’s for when I need to get wicked on something

Very likely another example of rokset or red loctite does not belong in the firearm world.

Good luck...the guys above have you covered on options.

I had a guy tell me when I was looking for my blue to just use the red, it’s all the same. I told him to not ever work on my [censored].

I've got a 3' X 4'4" one inch thick plate steel top, heavy frame table. With a big post leg vise bolted and welded to it. It weighs 1000 pounds. I call that table The Marine Corps. When it absolutely, positively has to be destroyed. We are undefeated.

Some of us like our stuff to stay tight and in the same spot, now grant it a MB would not be one… but a rail, I’d use red and epoxy!!!!


FYI-red comes off with heat

Oh and paint pens are in between red and blue

Yeah right, like wiring. 220, 221, whatever it takes............Idiots, they're everywhere.

She’s a goner, almost twisted the front sight post off last night.

Map gas bottle ran out after a few minutes but I couldn’t get it orange.

Boogered up the brake but I just stopped giving af

Gonna keep it as my beater, zombie rifle for now

You could just lop off the end of the barrel and re-crown it.

re-barrel that trot line anchor

Heat works better if you can leverage a sudden temperature difference between the two parts you wish to separate. Try soaking the end of the barrel and muzzle break in ice cold water for 10-15 minutes or put the rifle in a chest freezer even longer if you have one. Take it out and wrap a wet, hot rag as hot as you can handle around the muzzle break. Give it a minute or two to warm the break and then use a tool to see if it will break loose. I've used this basic approach with everything from rifle bolt end caps to lug nut studs with great success. The key is to get the part you want loose to warm and expand while the other part is still cold or vice versa depending on the arrangement of the two.

If it was screwed on with rockset, the thing to do is soak in water for 24 hours. Then give it a go at removing it.
Heat makes rock set harder..

Red lock tite comes off easy with heat.

I don’t believe that one bit. I put a QD mount on an AR with Rockset. Soaked it for 24. Wouldn’t move. Soaked it another 24. Wouldn’t move. Set muzzle in boiling water for half an hour (several times) and it wouldn’t move.

Borrowed a torch, heated everything up, and the QD came off super easy.

I also have not had much luck getting rocksett loose with soaking in water. I'm really not convinced that there is any way for water to really penetrate threads on a muzzle device that is torqued at all, considering that the torque is coming from the threads pulling against one another. Maybe rocksett is water soluble, but that only matters if it can reach it.

The only reliable form of MD mounting I've found that also ensures that I can remove it when desired is torque. While I used to be a proponent of rocksett, I think I've just come to the realization that you don't really have to torque things to an extreme to keep them in place. Just take the extra 2 minutes to get a wrench and toss the gun in a vise, it'll save you a lot of headache down the line.

Also, Armadillo, are you sure the thing wasn't pinned and welded onto the barrel?

Red LocTite and even the stronger green has many uses for guns, Rocksett not so much. Red LT screws or muzzle devices can easily be removed with just a little heat from a propane torch. I would never heat a barrel up to where it even damages the finish, much less heating it orange. My bet is that someone did a nice job of pining and welded it on.

Rockset sucks, and I am not an advocate of it at all. I am just stating how it’s supposed to work.
I use red lock tite, and applying heat to a muzzle brake isn’t a big deal for me personally.. but I do agree with Bill in his statement about applying heat to barrels..

Everyone thinks they are gunsmiths on this forum..

Glad the torch method worked for you!

It’s not pin and welded, checked for that first thing.

Was reading about how the threads can become galled when the brake is installed, causing it to seize due to the deformation in the threads.

Not ruling that out. Thinking I just lop it off.

Dremeled off the delta ring and now the handguard cap is putting up a fight.

Is it just me or does anyone else feel like their truck, lawnmower, gun always has to be the one with the stubborn parts!!

No problems if built/put together properly!