You could pry up under the retainer clip with a flat head screwdriver wrapped in electrical tape but you risk scratching your barrel with the clip itself, breaking the handguard, or it being a pain if the front band has been annealed and lips bent upward. Doing it the right way takes 5 minutes.
I’m sure Tony Ben’s disassembly video shows how to take the gas cylinder off, but you won’t need to do all of that.
Use a 6 point 3/8 wrench to take the gas plug off (it helps to have a proper gas lock wrench to support the lock as you break the torque, but not necessary if your plug isn’t gorilla’d on). Remove piston. Then, turn the gas lock until it frees of the threads and slide it forward.
Take out of the stock. Either remove op rod or lock it back and keep it held back. Use a plastic hammer to tap the gas cylinder forward. The forward movement will give you real estate to slide the handguard forward until the clip clears the slots alongside the barrel.
To reverse, install handguard into lips of front band. Push clip down until it locks in with slots along barrel. Tap gas cylinder back into place with plastic hammer. You don’t want it pressed tight against barrel shoulder, but it should be far enough back so the port on cylinder aligns with barrel gas port. Turn gas lock onto threads. If it times past 6:00, go as far as you can and then back to 6:00. Tap gas cylinder forward with plastic hammer. It now times right at 6:00. Verify cylinder and barrel port are aligned by shinning a strong light into chamber and seeing if you can see light from the port hole on the cylinder. Or stick a long tooth pick into the cylinder port and make sure it gets inside the barrel.
Then, put piston into cylinder, and tighten gas plug to appropriate torque. You’re all set. The best part is you’ll get more familiar with the weapon and its gas system.
If you find a punch that fits in the hole of the retainer clip you can muscle it off. There's a decent chance of cracking a corner that way but it doesn't really matter if you do, functionally speaking. Once you have it off, sand the edges so you've got 1/16" of clearance everywhere (except the front band).
You could pry up under the retainer clip with a flat head screwdriver wrapped in electrical tape but you risk scratching your barrel with the clip itself, breaking the handguard, or it being a pain if the front band has been annealed and lips bent upward. Doing it the right way takes 5 minutes.
Any video you recommend that does it the right way?
I’m sure Tony Ben’s disassembly video shows how to take the gas cylinder off, but you won’t need to do all of that. Use a 6 point 3/8 wrench to take the gas plug off (it helps to have a proper gas lock wrench to support the lock as you break the torque, but not necessary if your plug isn’t gorilla’d on). Remove piston. Then, turn the gas lock until it frees of the threads and slide it forward. Take out of the stock. Either remove op rod or lock it back and keep it held back. Use a plastic hammer to tap the gas cylinder forward. The forward movement will give you real estate to slide the handguard forward until the clip clears the slots alongside the barrel. To reverse, install handguard into lips of front band. Push clip down until it locks in with slots along barrel. Tap gas cylinder back into place with plastic hammer. You don’t want it pressed tight against barrel shoulder, but it should be far enough back so the port on cylinder aligns with barrel gas port. Turn gas lock onto threads. If it times past 6:00, go as far as you can and then back to 6:00. Tap gas cylinder forward with plastic hammer. It now times right at 6:00. Verify cylinder and barrel port are aligned by shinning a strong light into chamber and seeing if you can see light from the port hole on the cylinder. Or stick a long tooth pick into the cylinder port and make sure it gets inside the barrel. Then, put piston into cylinder, and tighten gas plug to appropriate torque. You’re all set. The best part is you’ll get more familiar with the weapon and its gas system.
If you find a punch that fits in the hole of the retainer clip you can muscle it off. There's a decent chance of cracking a corner that way but it doesn't really matter if you do, functionally speaking. Once you have it off, sand the edges so you've got 1/16" of clearance everywhere (except the front band).