FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Have a question? If it's one that is asked frequently you may find the answer you're looking for below! If not, or if you would like to suggest an addition to our frequently asked questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.

• Where Can I find additional White Oak Instruction Sheets?

• What is Rear Sight Pinning?

• What is the difference between a White Oak Precision upper and a White Oak Armament upper?

• How should I break in my barrel?

• What twist rates do you offer?

• Why don’t you offer a twist rate of 1-9?

• But won’t a 1-7 or 1-8 overspin my bullets?

• What's up with the Winchester small rifle primers? I hear they pierce, but I don't have any problems with them.

• What is your opinion of single stage AR triggers?

• Barrel Installation Tips

• How to identify a short cycling issue

• What does "In Stock Backordered" mean? 

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Where Can I find additional White Oak Instruction Sheets?

Instruction sheets can be found paired with our product pages or, a list of more common instruction sheets can be found here.

 

What is Rear Sight Pinning?

Please note that since the switch to scopes for service rifle we no longer offer uppers with front/rear sights and are no longer offering the pinning service.  Uppers with pinned rear sights have two hardened steel tracking pins fitted down through the sight base and into the receiver, preventing rotational play of the rear sight. The tracking pins also allow the elimination of the detent ball and spring on the left side of the base, greatly improving repeatability.  

 

What is the difference between a White Oak Precision upper and a White Oak Armament upper?

The difference is the barrel. For White Oak Armament barrels and uppers start with either a Wilson or Shilen barrel blank. White Oak Precision barrels and uppers start with a cut-rifled barrel blank from either Krieger or Bartlein.  With White Oak Armament I wanted to offer something for the new shooter that would be competitively priced with the uppers from RRA, Bushmaster, or Armalite, and perform at the highest level.  Both are built with the same top notch components so that if you wish to upgrade all you have to do is replace the barrel. You won't have to throw away a bunch of sub standard parts. Whether White Oak Precision or White Oak Armament, all barrels are contoured and chambered in-house to the same exacting specifications.

 

How should I break in my barrel?

I suspect that more barrels have been damaged than helped by "breaking in". Barrel makers take a lot of care to get a uniform finish on the inside of a barrel. Barrels are lapped not so that they will be smooth, but so that the finish and dimensions will be uniform over the entire barrel. When you use an abrasive cleaning compound you will change the finish on the inside of the barrel. Since some areas of the barrel are going to be protected by copper that you are trying to remove, and others areas are not, the surface finish is no longer going to be uniform. Since I got a bore scope I have backed off on my use of abrasive bore cleaners. I use them, but not nearly as aggressively, particularly on a new barrel.

My personal break in procedure is to take a new upper to the range, zero it, and shoot a group or two. This will take about 15-20 rounds. Bring it back to the shop and clean it good with your favorite bore cleaning solvent and a good quality brush. That's it, it is now broken in. Since I have a borescope at the shop I may check it with a borescope, but generally very little copper fouling is present. Depending on how it looks I may hit the throat lightly with some JB. 

This is for all for good quality hand lapped barrels. I will get a little more aggressive with mass produced barrels.

For general cleaning and barrel maintenance we use Hoppes #9 for cleaning, Break Free CLP for lube, and only use Dewey rods.

 

What twist rates do you offer?

The standard twists we offer for .223/5.56 barrels are 1-7, 1-8 and 1-12.

Varmint, Predator, SPR and other .223/5.56 barrels are available in various combinations of barrel lengths and twist rates, including 7, 8, and 12 twist. We feel this offering covers the needs of most shooters.

Service Rifle barrels are available in 1-7, 1-7.5, 1-7.7 and 1-8 twist.

Our 20 caliber barrels (204 Ruger and 20 Practical) are 1-10 twist.  6.8 SPC II barrels are 1-11 twist.

 

 

Why don’t you offer a twist rate of 1-9?

1-9 won’t handle heavier bullets and is faster than needed for light bullets. For heavier bullets a 1-7 or 1-8 will work and will also stabilize lighter bullets. If shooting exclusively light bullets then a 1-12 twist will better fit your needs. For these reasons, we find no advantage to the 1-9 twist.

 

But won’t a 1-7 or 1-8 overspin my bullets?

When selecting twist rate it is important to remember that you want to stabilize the heaviest bullet weight you will be shooting and anything lighter will be stabilized. While inaccuracy due to overspinning was a concern in the past, with the higher quality bullets being produced today, a shooter doesn’t need to worry about a light bullet being inaccurate if overspun.

Even though accuracy is not of concern, if shooting a very light bullet at high velocity with a fast twist, it is possible to spin the bullet fast enough for it to come apart before reaching the target. If you will be shooting light bullets exclusively, we recommend a 1-12 twist.

 

What's up with the Winchester small rifle primers? I hear they pierce, but I don't have any problems with them.

It does not happen in every upper every time, but a lot of uppers will pierce the WSR primers with anything but mild loads. You should be able to swell a primer pocket before the primer will pierce. The old WSR primers were the same way, it's not just the new ones. Again, not every upper, and not every shot, but it happens enough that I don't see any reason to risk it when there are so many other primers that work just fine. If you are having good luck with them, then go ahead and use them, but I'll keep an new firing pin on hand with your name on it.

The first few times it happens it is very hard to see, but as it gets worse, it gets very obvious, and with enough time it can ruin the bolt also. Just this weekend I was shooting next to a shooter that was using them and every one of his had the primer all pierced and the anvil was even protruding through the hole in the primer cup. He needs a new firing pin, and probably a new bolt. If you are not having problems with them then fine, but keep a close eye on the firing pin indentation, and the tip of your firing pin. It is enough of a problem that I cannot recommend them.

 

What is your opinion of single stage AR triggers?

You will never get a single stage trigger on an AR that will stand up to the constant use of a competitive high-powered rifle unless it has a lot of creep, and I don't think you want that. The ONLY way to reduce creep in any of the single stage AR triggers is by reducing sear engagement. By time you get the sear engagement to the point that you do not have any noticable creep, you do not have enough left for reliability.

For the casual shooter who shoots 500 rounds a year, or for the guy who likes to shoot little groups off a bench and can readjust his trigger every shooting session, that may be fine. However, the HP shooter needs a trigger that breaks the same every time, and a trigger that can make it through at least two weeks of the nationals, preferably a whole season, without having to tinker with it. Also, if you get the creep down to a point where you do not have any perceivable trigger movement when you break the shot, the safety is not going to be reliable. The safety in an AR blocks trigger movement, not the hammer.

If you only have .010" of trigger movement, then you are going to have to have the safety within .010 of the trigger when in the safe position. This is a little tougher than just removing the safety.