GAS BLOCK

[BPTactical]

I'll agree with Bert on the Aluminum, but a properly designed clamp gas block is the best. Less leakage and actually more secure than a set screw.

The failures I have seen with a clamp style are: A-(most common) over torqued clamp screws.
B- the bands stretch (from over torqued fasteners)
I am not familiar with your gasblock design Mark.

A PROPERLY installed set screw gasblock will work fine. I have built a fair number of high end rifles for a particular customer that runs them VERY hard, all with set screw blocks and not a one has failed.
What is critical is the particular set screw used. A lot of the manufacturers use a plain flat point set screw which will fail. I make sure that a cup point serrated set screw is used. They are capable of holding a tremendous load if properly installed, I fall back on my machinery repair experience and I worked on some shafts that had very substantial loads imposed on them and the only mechanism holding the pulley/gear was set screws. They worked fine.
Some guys insist on spot facing the barrel where the set screw contacts it. I don't feel it really makes a difference if a cup point serrated screw is used, it will dig into the barrel well and on a non spot faced barrel it "bites" into the barrel a bit better because the contact surface is not flat.
If the barrel is hard coated such as Melonited it must be spot faced to get through the hard surface so the set screw can bite into the softer barrel steel.

Aluminum expands and contracts at 3X the rate of steel. That differential will cause the block to work loose.
Not to mention with enough rounds the gas impulse will do the same thing a plasma cutter will do. I had a gent bring me a ultra lightweight carbine he had built that was short stroking. He had used an aluminum gasblock and after about 2K rounds the hot gas impulse had blown out the gas block to the point the forend had aluminum spatter on the inside of it. Uhmmmmm, yeah, that will make it short stroke.

This is also a very good argument for making sure you use a steel base and rings on a rifle. You want everything to expand and contract at the same rate.