Is my friend's SR-15 safe to shoot? Muzzle device swapped on the ground (Passed drop test, but intermittent "click")
Hey everyone, looking for some technical advice for a friend to see if his SR-15 upper is compromised or if he got incredibly lucky.
Someone worked on his rifle using a wrench on the muzzle device while simply holding the rifle on the ground—with absolutely zero reaction rod, barrel blocks, or a Knight's Stick. They took the KAC muzzle device off to use it on a shorter upper for a bit, and then wrenched it back onto his original SR-15 upper the exact same way (tightening it by hand on the ground).
We were really worried about a sheared index pin or a gouged upper receiver slot, so we ran a couple of checks:
Gravity/Bolt Drop Test: We stripped the bolt carrier completely bare (no bolt, cam pin, or firing pin) and did the drop test. It slides completely free under its own weight and bounces off the barrel extension with a clean metal clink. There is absolutely no catching or dragging on the gas tube.
The Flex Click: The barrel snaps back to the dead center of the URX 4 handguard every time. However, if you really rock the end of the barrel hard with a lot of force, it will occasionally make an intermittent, metallic "clicking" sound.
Given that it passed the stripped carrier drop test perfectly but makes that occasional clicking noise under heavy leverage, is the index pin slot inside the aluminum upper receiver definitely gouged, or did the URX 4 handguard just lose its factory torque?
Does it need to go straight to an authorized KAC armorer to be torn down and inspected?
Appreciate any insight from the KAC armorers or gurus here