AR15 Front Sight/gas block pins, tapered?

[Janderso]

A co-worker asked me to help him build/change his AR upper barrel and hardware. Sure, no sweat.
As I recall, the A2 front sights and integral gas block are held with two tapered pins.
This particular upper was PSA built. It seemed pretty clear which side was the drive side. No luck.
He wasn’t going to reuse the sight so I mounted it in my mill and used an end mill to relieve the stress in an effort to remove this part.
Come to find out, they are straight pins. Am I losing my mind? I have built several of these over the years and I could have sworn they were tapered.
It all went swimmingly once I cut the darn things out.

 

[MontanaLon]

Mil spec is tapered pins but I have run across a couple that were not tapered and had been assembled with loctite or some other product that required heat to release. First one I saw I bent a punch trying to get the pins out cold. Seriously a pain in the butt. Warm they popped right out.

 

[Janderso]

I thought about heat. Would have been a heck of a lot easier. I'm not crazy? Tapered pins

 

[Cadillac]

You are correct with my S&W as you have oriented in the second picture the small end of the tapered pins would be on top. Would think loctite would loosen up with the heat of rapid fire?

 

[MontanaLon]

You are correct with my S&W as you have oriented in the second picture the small end of the tapered pins would be on top. Would think loctite would loosen up with the heat of rapid fire?

Probably, which is why they spec tapered pins. But a lot of people that buy an AR aren't ever going to shoot enough to get the barrel than hot. Probably a huge number of them never get fired at all, they are being bought as an "investment" or for TEOTWAWKI.

 

[Janderso]

TEOTWAWKI ????
I didn't get the memo.

 

[MontanaLon]

The End Of The World As We Know It

 

[eugene13]

OWALSTIB