I've been stuck on a dumb idea to combine two of my favorite things: M-14s and shooting suppressed. This is a Bula Arms 18" Paratrooper model that I just picked up from Atlantic a few months back with a shootingsight.com 5/8″-24TPI thread adapter and front sight and a 5/8" SilencerCo ASR flash hider suppressor mount with a Velos LBP flow-through suppressor attached.
I went through several other thread adapters from Smith and Fulton Armory (the basic bulky cylinder from Fulton and the castle nut style from Smith) and both of those options had my alignment rods basically touching the edge of the suppressor cap hole. This ShootingSight adapter is maybe 20% better aligned but still definitely not centered on the bore. I'm checking it here in these photos with a fiberglass rod from Kratos as well as a basic 22" steel rod from McMaster-Carr. Both are showing basically the same thing with the rifle upright and upside down: the bore is clear with maybe a 1/16" gap on the close side.
Should I send it or rethink it/send it to Bula to have them take a look?
I also test mounted all of the thread adapter with the receiver still in the stock using a small mallet and SilencerCo muzzle wrench to get the adapters and flash hider tight. Should I pull the receiver all of the way out and lock it into my vise to see if more torque would help or would I just be asking to make it worse? All of the adapters here are very tight and locked down with Rockset, I'm just wondering if tapping with the mallet could have been providing uneven torque as I just had the rifle held down by hand.