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I don't shoot that much. I bought an off the shelf armalite 556 about 20 years ago and it has run flawlessly. This last go round with the bad ejector spring in my 6.8 build project was a wake up to me.

With lots of rough use what is breaking?
I have an older friend who had a bolt break apart in the middle of a fire fight in Vietnam.
What have you guys seen actually break?


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Run hard enough and long enough, just about every part in an AR can break.

Good quality bolts typically break somewhere in the range of 60-100K rounds.
Upper receivers wear out around 300k-500k rounds.
Ejector spring are cheap. I think Blue replaces his once a year.

Personally had a magazine catch break on my Bushmaster around the 20 year mark. Of course, I had an extra on hand, so it was a 5 minute fix to be up and running again.


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Seems to me pivot pins would die.


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I did replace mine once a year until I switched to Sprinco. They're rated for something like 30K cycles. Every new gun gets that right off the bat and then I don't mess with it ever again (although I do spot check when I irregularly clean them). Same with buffer springs.

***I'm talking about extractor springs, not ejector springs. I've only had to replace ejector springs on a PCC***

Last edited by Bluedreaux; 03/13/19.

Originally Posted by SBTCO
your flippant remarks which you so adeptly sling
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From the front of the gun going backwards and I'll include stuff that didn't actually break but wore out or caused malfunctions due to improper assembly. If it's listed it caused a problem significant enough to diagnose and fix.

Gas blocks improperly aligned because of a lack of dimple.

Glas blocks not torqued or dimpled that have come loose.

Gas tubes worn and leaking.

I suppose you could consider the MANY barrels that are improperly gassed

Barrel nuts improperly torqued and coming loose.

Barrels with burrs in the chamber that you could snag cleaning patches on.

Barrels with poor chrome plating that would rust.

Upper receivers worn that won't keep a charging handle closed.

Broken charging handles.

Bend charging handles.

Broken springs on ejection port covers.

Trigger springs improperly installed.

Trigger pin holes oversized that wouldn't hold pins.

Bent safety selector springs that wouldn't actuate the safety.

Safety selector detents that were too rounded at the tip that wouldn't keep the safety actuated.

Prematurely weak extractor springs.

Broken extractors.

Bolts with broken lugs.

Bolts broken completely in half.

Loose carrier keys.

Improperly staked carrier keys.

Carrier keys that were out of spec so they rubbed against the gas tube.

Improperly staked castle nuts.

Castle nuts that have come loose and allowed the stock to wobble.

Bent buffer tubes (6061 aluminum).

Prematurely weak buffer springs.


Originally Posted by SBTCO
your flippant remarks which you so adeptly sling
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Blue,
Was all that you, or you have seen all that?


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Not much I have actually seen
Even though I run lots of steel through mine
Many would make me believe my guns are doomed

Nice thing about an AR what ever breaks is an easy fix

Hank


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Originally Posted by Dillonbuck
Blue,
Was all that you, or you have seen all that?


Not all me, just stuff I’ve seen.


Originally Posted by SBTCO
your flippant remarks which you so adeptly sling
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Ok.

If you need, you can borrow my wheelbarrow.


Had you broken all that,
Not a dam chance! grin


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Fantastic list!
Thanks.
Things to keep an eye on


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Off the top of my head,

Castle nut come loose.

One lug broken off on a bolt.

Loose gas key, was factory staked and it was a Colt too...

Gas key loose and leaking.

Ejector broken.

dpms bolt catch broken.

A receiver extension broken at the threads, commercial tube (same gun had a loose barrel nut)

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I broke the rear taken down pin lug off the upper

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As mentioned before, everything goes eventually. For a "range day emergency kit", keep a spare BCG (the PSA premiums are cheap enough it's easier to just do this than keeping all the spare small parts to swap out), gas tube/roll pin, and FCG springs/pins.

Anything that is more serious than that won't be fixed at the range, so no point in keeping that stuff around unless you have lots of rifles.....in which case, who cares about one you've got more rifles to shoot. (grin)


(seriously, the difficult thing about 'spares' is they eventually turn into 'spare rifles')

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I've seen some hammers break.
Obviously the barrel is a consumable. That's what you'll probably replace the most beyond the dime parts.


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Originally Posted by armedferret
(seriously, the difficult thing about 'spares' is they eventually turn into 'spare rifles')


That's a great configuration for your spare parts. AR for everyone in the house, plus one.


You didn't use logic or reason to get into this opinion, I cannot use logic or reason to get you out of it.

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bent aluminum magazine lips not feeding, extractor failure, over gassed barrels, barrels with straight gouge cut across the twist (colt). Not broke a bolt yet, I guess I don't have 10,000 rounds on any "one" gun, maybe 5-6k on three of them


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Originally Posted by antelope_sniper
Originally Posted by armedferret
(seriously, the difficult thing about 'spares' is they eventually turn into 'spare rifles')


That's a great configuration for your spare parts. AR for everyone in the house, plus one.



"one"? (grin)

(i'm around plus 10 or so after outfitting both of us.....if you count the ferrets i'm still plus 4 or 5; i've kinda lost count on the rifle front)

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I've seen the buffer retainer fail. Locked the guy's gun up pretty solid.


Don't be the darkness.

America will perish while those who should be standing guard are satisfying their lusts.


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Originally Posted by armedferret
Originally Posted by antelope_sniper
Originally Posted by armedferret
(seriously, the difficult thing about 'spares' is they eventually turn into 'spare rifles')


That's a great configuration for your spare parts. AR for everyone in the house, plus one.



"one"? (grin)

(i'm around plus 10 or so after outfitting both of us.....if you count the ferrets i'm still plus 4 or 5; i've kinda lost count on the rifle front)


AF,

I was paraphrasing the "minimum" standards....I left off the 1k round per rifle minimum as well.

If you have more, so much the better.

Last edited by antelope_sniper; 03/15/19.

You didn't use logic or reason to get into this opinion, I cannot use logic or reason to get you out of it.

You cannot over estimate the unimportance of nearly everything. John Maxwell
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Originally Posted by antelope_sniper
Originally Posted by armedferret
Originally Posted by antelope_sniper
Originally Posted by armedferret
(seriously, the difficult thing about 'spares' is they eventually turn into 'spare rifles')


That's a great configuration for your spare parts. AR for everyone in the house, plus one.



"one"? (grin)

(i'm around plus 10 or so after outfitting both of us.....if you count the ferrets i'm still plus 4 or 5; i've kinda lost count on the rifle front)


AF,

I was paraphrasing the "minimum" standards....I left of the 1k round per rifle minimum as well.

If you have more, so much the better.



Ammo ain't a thang. Or at least the guns and ammo weren't a thang, till that horrible kayaking accident while goose hunting a couple months back.....

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