Smyth Busters: Can You Un-Stake an AR-15 Castle Nut?

If you've watched our earlier videos about staking an AR-15 castle nut, you know Caleb is very much in favor of staking. His Gun Tech™ colleague Steve likes to reconfigure his guns often, so he's less of a staker. Maybe you've seen some of the internet forum / social media talk that once you've staked a castle nut, it's permanent, and you can't un-stake it. Fact or fiction? Caleb calls, "MYTH," and shows us HOW to un-stake an AR-15 castle nut......

Get out your AR-15 armorer's wrench or a dedicated castle nut wrench, properly interlock the wrench's teeth in the castle nut's notches, and go "loosey-lefty" to loosen the nut. It takes hardly any extra leverage to break the stakings and free that castle nut to unscrew it. That's because staking simply prevents the castle nut from vibrating loose and letting the receiver extension (aka, buffer tube) work loose in turn. It's doesn't weld the castle nut permanently in place or anything like that.

The myth is handily BUSTED with practically no effort. A staked castle nut is by no means permanent and can be removed with the same ease as an un-staked one. In fact, you can say the guys are willing to stake their reputations on it!

CALEB'S RECOMMENDATION: When you remove a staked castle nut and then go to reinstall it, replace the endplate. A mil-spec endplate costs only a couple-few bucks. You want clean metal on the plate for the new staking notches.

Wondering why we stake the castle nut in the first place? Check out "Smyth Busters: Does an AR-15 Castle Nut Have To Be Staked?"    • Smyth Busters: Does an AR-15 Castle Nut Ha...  

Want to learn how to make your stake well done? Check out our earlier video, "Quick Tip: The Right Way To Stake an AR-15 Castle Nut"    • Quick Tip: The Right Way To Stake an AR-15...