Removing Gas Block on an MP44 Barrel

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Planejack

Well-known member
I am going to remove a Gas Block from an old MP44 Barrel. Are there any tricks, or is it as simple as it appears? I wasn’t sure if these were tapered… and such that there was a “Tap from the Left or Right only” secret that is known to someone?
 
Oh….Im sorry, I guess I kinda thought everyone knew what I felt silly asking! I was told that these pins are not of the tapered variety. Therefore, I was told to look carefully at both side of the block where the pins were. The side that seems to occupy most of the holes opening….should represent the side it was installed upon. His reasoning was that the pin head that was most flush…or maybe even mushroomed outward a bit is NOT the side to try to drive from. He said to place a few drops of “Kroil” to the side that you’ll drive from….and let it stand for an hour in a good normal room temperature to allow it to seep into and around the pin. I did that, and after an hour used a smaller dia. Punch than the OD of the pin. Both came out fairly quickly without deformation. Now, my big question is how to drive the Gas Block forward a bit to allow the tube to be removed? I think I’ll try the same technique with the Kroil oil and gently tap it fwd.
 
OK….again I’ll be careful not to appear as if I’m someone who doesn’t fully disclose things in an attempt to help others ;-). Kroil (I didn’t know what it was) is a Penetrant Oil that stinks to high Heaven. It’s not very expensive, and can be found at local hardware stores and the Big Box stores sometimes! I had called my HD…wanting to take advantage of my military discount…and they were out….so I’m having them ship me more as I love it!
 
Planejack said:
Oh….Im sorry, I guess I kinda thought everyone knew what I felt silly asking! I was told that these pins are not of the tapered variety. Therefore, I was told to look carefully at both side of the block where the pins were. The side that seems to occupy most of the holes opening….should represent the side it was installed upon. His reasoning was that the pin head that was most flush…or maybe even mushroomed outward a bit is NOT the side to try to drive from. He said to place a few drops of “Kroil” to the side that you’ll drive from….and let it stand for an hour in a good normal room temperature to allow it to seep into and around the pin. I did that, and after an hour used a smaller dia. Punch than the OD of the pin. Both came out fairly quickly without deformation. Now, my big question is how to drive the Gas Block forward a bit to allow the tube to be removed? I think I’ll try the same technique with the Kroil oil and gently tap it fwd.
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Some type of block/drift that's softer than the sight base. I use a brass drift, but a hardwood dowel would most probably work too. Sounds a lot like our M/AR FSB which does use tapered pins.

People (even me too) like to hear about stories of successful repairs, especially with pictures.
 
Well, I was able to remove the pins, but the Gas Block is rather frozen. I’m attempting to apply Kroil to the area, hoping that it might seep in to break any rust or gas residue causing this to not budge. I haven’t really applied any extreme force to it….as I’m not really sure of a good method to use given that the areas to tap with a wooden dowel are rather small, and I’m hesitant to use a metal punch set as the surface area or lip/ledge that’s available close to the barrel is rather limited and I want to prevent any damage? My objective here is to move in a slow and deliberate manner….”SLOW IS SMOOTH, SMOOTH IS FAST”! If anyone has any advice, I’m interested in hearing it. Perhaps twisting it loose….instead of tapping it fwd??
 
Well, Kroil should seep in there. It's called 'the oil that creeps' for a reason. Twisting seems like a good option.
 
The AK builders use a 20 ton press to install and remove barrel components. Also some folks use a jig made up of all thread and blocks. Look at the AKforum in the Build Section.

The barrel components are typically a 0.00005-in interference fit
 
If it’s that tight….i might be best to accept the rust on the gas tube….and forget about an option of replacing with a WWII NOS one.
 
If you can move it slightly side to side it will come off. I caution you about some people on weaponsguild because you'll find guys who'll tell you that it's not possible to do ANYTHING without $400k worth of specialized equipment. Don't believe me? Take a peek.

There were a few guys (not sure if they're even still active) but they were considered 'cave man builders', but most they'd get shouted down by the a-holes with $400k worth of equipment.
 
You can probably buy the barrel fitting tool that uses allthread for 150$

Should be easy to use and not near as likly to damage something as a hydralic press
 
Here's the funny thing. In my world, you can have no dollar tools and not f things up. But you can certainly have a metric shite-ton of high dollar tools and absolutely f things up. People have done things without high dollar or specialized tools for years and neither f'd things up or blown stuff up.

Here's a caveat to that above statement. YOU need to be honest about your own skill level. If you're that guy who breaks something taking it out of the package, you should probably pass. This is NOT meant as a bust on you specifically, just an observation.
 
I’m very thankful to all for your responses. I won’t lie…I’m a uniform, helmet collector kinda guy….but just retired and thought this might be a challenging, but worthy restoration for display. I welcome all the advice from those who’ve been kind enough to share. Again, I have nothing but appreciation and respect for you all!
 
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