Just bought an AR Accu-Wedge

[kenno]

I placed an order with CDNN Sports and seeing that Accu-Wedges were $1.99 I bought one. Thanks to the inter-weeb I even learned how to install it.
Question: do they work to keep the upper-lower tight or have I wasted $2 ?

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[BillM]

Yes, they work. It will get rid of the rattle between upper and lower on a loose gun. I really haven't
seen any other benefits---if there is an improvement in accuracy it's not noticable at my skill level.

 

[blindfox]

you may notice a slight increase in accuracy, but probably not much.
you're going to have to shave it down to fit between your receivers, and the material it's made out of is just hard enough that when you try to cut or shave it down with a razor blade it makes it very difficult and a little dangerous. by the time you're done cutting it will be a torn, ragged wisp of rubber.
a better way is to just take a foamy earplug and shove it down in there. if it's too big cut a third off and that should work just fine.

 

[MountainBear]

Shoving any item, whether it be an accu-wedge or a foam ear plug, that may come loose or come apart and lodge in your fire control parts is generally a bad idea. Any minimal increase you may see in accuracy is not worth the potential reliability issue that these introduce...

 

[24ARTucker]

Why don't you just get an lower that will fit your upper, then you will have no reason to need an ACCU Wedge.

I use plum crazy lowers on my AR's and have no slop in any of them

 

[andreys21]

I have 1 in my AR. It made the contact between the lower/upper "slightly" better. It still wiggles. After I bought it and installed it, I did some more research and found out that the wiggle between the two is perfectly normal and in fact "mil-spec" condition. I can't speak about accuracy or anything but at least my AR doesn't rattle like an AK (i have one of these as well). But I have to agree, unless you can make sure the Accu-Wedge doesn't fall apart inside the gun, it is a reliability issue. I wont get rid of mine until i see signs of that.

 

[keystir]

I have found that the accu-wedge works great for shooting wolves, wolf hybrids, or even the common mis-identified husky that gets "dropped" in my backyard.

 

[Dutchy556]

Shoving any item, whether it be an accu-wedge or a foam ear plug, that may come loose or come apart and lodge in your fire control parts is generally a bad idea. Any minimal increase you may see in accuracy is not worth the potential reliability issue that these introduce...

This ^^^

Waste of $2

Play between the upper and lower of an AR is completely normal. Unless you're shooting a precision setup with match grade ammo or handloads you're not going to see much if any appreciable difference in accuracy between an AR with tight upper-lower fit and one with some play in it.

 

[NoAim]

It's a nice thing to have, but be aware, it is plastic. When you break down the gun you do need to check for brittleness/cracking, etc.

But, I've had one in one of my rifles going on 6 years now.

 

[RallySoob]

I have never heard of these falling apart until I read this thread. I've never had to use one but my buddy has an Oly arms with some play in the upper/lower recevers (more than normal) so he uses one. Im sure he has around 3K rounds through it by now, his accuwedge still looks good last I saw it. I wouldn't think they would make it out of a material that chips away but you never know I guess. I would use it if I were you...keep an eye on it when you clean your rifle...Im sure you can tell when its wearing out.

I can see how the accuwedge might improve followup shot accuracy if your gun has a lot of wobble. It might be very noticable if you have an out of spec upper or lower. The lower I use (Tactical Innovations T15-BDX) has a built in teflon receiver tensioner screw that I can adjust to remove any play...works great. Feels like I have a 1 piece AR15 when its all together...I love it

 

[asiparks]

when the sights/optic, barrel, chamber,bolt etc are all attached to the upper, can someone explain how removing a few hundredths of play between it and the lower make ANY difference in accuracy, follow up shot or otherwise ?

 

[NoAim]

when the sights/optic, barrel, chamber,bolt etc are all attached to the upper, can someone explain how removing a few hundredths of play between it and the lower make ANY difference in accuracy, follow up shot or otherwise ?

Think of it this way, if a bolt rifle isn't properly seated/bedded into the stock, does it make any difference in accuracy?

 

[RallySoob]

go watch AR15 firing in slow motion on youtube and you will better understand.

The 'play' in the recievers comes into effect during the recoil and thus adds some 'play' to your follow up shot accuracy being that you have some movement to compensate for before you line up your next shot. Also, even on your first shot there can be play right before you press the trigger thus making the upper move a fraction of an inch one way or the other. for me, Its really hard to explain on a forum...sorry. Watch the slo-mo vids though, they really help understand how much movement is actually taking place between shots. (hold your rifle in shooting position and try to rotate the handguard clockwise/counter clockwise while keeping the buttstock firm in your shoulder...feel that play? now imagine your lined up on a 3" target thats 100yds away and try shooting it repeatedly and fast without letting that play hinder your accuracy...you can't) A lot of it comes from having one hand on upper reciever hand guard and one hand on lower reciever grip...your creating movement between the upper/lower when trying to stabilize, manage recoil etc

A single shot or bolt action gun has 0 play and thats why it is most accurate. no room for movement in the design so the sights are 100% true with each shot

 

[Rix]

I have found that the accu-wedge works great for shooting wolves, wolf hybrids, or even the common mis-identified husky that gets "dropped" in my backyard.

Oh boy.

 

[asiparks]

Think of it this way, if a bolt rifle isn't properly seated/bedded into the stock, does it may any difference in accuracy?

I'm likely confusing practical accuracy for objective accuracy...If you're shooting a bolt gun for accuracy, then your stock is going to be platformed as statically as possible with sandbags, bipod etc. Obviously if your barrel is then moving relative to that platform, accuracy will suffer shot to shot accordingly.

This is why some pistols shoot marginal groups from a ransome, but do pretty well when there's a person shooting them.

With an AR, especially in a situation as described by Rallysoob, your shooting platform is you and how you choose to best hold your rifle. Between shots, your body platform, your head and eyes, are dynamic, constantly making subconscious micro adjustments relative to the sighting plane on your AR to pick up and align sights as you prepare for the next shot. Maybe your AR's have a hilarious amount of play, but trying what was suggested, rotating the the lower against the upper, produces a scale of movement so minute my eye/brain/arms would compensate for it as part of the normal aiming process......

Call me cynical, but if an accuwedge was even a tiny key to producing greater precision, they wouldn't be just $2.......

 

[blindfox]

some people will be shooting their AR platform chambered in 7mm-08, all snipered the bubblegum out, data book at their side, bipods bagged and a sand sock. those guys who are lucky enough to have an 800 meter range are trying to squeeze every decimal point they can and an accuwedge may have some, if only minor, impact.

but i agree, if you're doing shooting and moving and battle-focus training then an accuwedge isn't going to make any difference and would be a waste of 2 bucks. even those guys with a couple grand in their rifle with a half-way decent scope aren't going to notice an appreciable differnce at their local 200 meter benchrest range.

 

[NoAim]

I'm likely confusing practical accuracy for objective accuracy...If you're shooting a bolt gun for accuracy, then your stock is going to be platformed as statically as possible with sandbags, bipod etc. Obviously if your barrel is then moving relative to that platform, accuracy will suffer shot to shot accordingly.

This is why some pistols shoot marginal groups from a ransome, but do pretty well when there's a person shooting them.

With an AR, especially in a situation as described by Rallysoob, your shooting platform is you and how you choose to best hold your rifle. Between shots, your body platform, your head and eyes, are dynamic, constantly making subconscious micro adjustments relative to the sighting plane on your AR to pick up and align sights as you prepare for the next shot. Maybe your AR's have a hilarious amount of play, but trying what was suggested, rotating the the lower against the upper, produces a scale of movement so minute my eye/brain/arms would compensate for it as part of the normal aiming process......

Call me cynical, but if an accuwedge was even a tiny key to producing greater precision, they wouldn't be just $2.......

Which is like driving a car with a loose steering wheel. Yes, it can stay between the lines, but it drives like ***.

In a rifle where the lower (i.e. buttstock and grip) are wobbling around it makes it difficult to keep it on track.

 

[Ryo]

Maybe tap the lower and add a screw to help eliminate the play. Seen some stripped lowers have that feature.

 

[RallySoob]

I think by 'increasing accuracy' they mean it increases accuracy of rifles that have a bad woble. I cant see how it would improve an AR15 with no wobble, in fact it may not work on a real tight fitting setup like mine...I know it won't. So it does increase accuracy and could potentially increase it a large amount depending on how bad your receivers are. I'm tellin ya my buddy's AR has such a bad gap you can slide a credit card in and out of it with ease. Funny part is that the shop he bought it from put the accuwedge in there before he bought it. Later on he was asking me why my gun didn't come with one...lol. S&M guns in Eugene are some sly dogs