The Delta ring assembly must be cut off in order to install the rail, and this is the part that seems to scare people the most. In order to prevent raking the upper receiver or barrel with your dremel cutting wheel, or hacksaw, it would make sense to cover these parts.

In the below picture, you can see that I covered everything except the Delta ring with shop rags, and then I taped them in place. By wrapping the rags around the parts, they have several layers of protection.





With the upper protected, take your Dremel with cutoff wheel, hacksaw, or other metal cutting implement, and make a cut in the Delta ring.






By making a cut on each side of the top (not into the gas tube!), you will have enough clearance to remove the Delta ring. I didn’t cut all the way through, and I used a flathead screwdriver to twist inside the cut and pop it free.






With the Delta ring shell out of the way, you can now see a coil of springs. By using pliers, I compressed the springs, and twisted them off the barrel nut. The below picture illustrates the method.






This is what the assembly looks like with the spring out of the way.