Bolt failures

[bkb0000]

By keeping it indexed, you are allowing the surfaces to 'mate' with the slot in the bolt carrier.

wouldnt mating parts allow for more play? play is half the recipe for bolt hole breakage

[Heavy Metal]

It should let them take a set and then wear at a reduced rate. If you keep reversing it, then it can never do this.

[KYPD]

It should let them take a set and then wear at a reduced rate. If you keep reversing it, then it can never do this.

I see (said the blind man as he picked up his and saw). Allow me to ask two more obscure questions:

1. Is the hardness of the cam pin consistent across it's cross section, or is it it surface-hardened?

2. What are the critieria/ wear tolerances used to determine when a cam pin should be replaced (this may have been answered earlier)?

[Miale]

hardness would depend on the process the manufacturer used but i would suspect that it would surfaced hardened only to avoid the part being too brittle.

iirc the lwrc cam pin was made of pre-hard steel, not sure what but these were originally subcontracted components.

one of the benefits of indexing the pin is a much smoother unlocking. wear on the part should be too great and i have never seen one worn out but i have seen a broken one.

[Heavy Metal]

I see (said the blind man as he picked up his and saw). Allow me to ask two more obscure questions:

1. Is the hardness of the cam pin consistent across it's cross section, or is it it surface-hardened?

2. What are the critieria/ wear tolerances used to determine when a cam pin should be replaced (this may have been answered earlier)?

You will have to call LWRC for info. All I can tell you is I have one with around 9K rounds on it and it is in great shape!

[m4fun]

I recently sent an LWRC upper receiver back, and old upper receiver, since one of the screws that held the gas tube on the Bolt Carrier sherred off(yes I know it looks like a gas tube but it is solid and that is what the piston rams against, pushing the BCG back)

I thought it kinda weird but I wanted to simply buy a new BCG to have as a spare and simply send the broken one in for repair. They were not doing that yet, that is selling BCG parts, but said they should be doing that soon (about now.)

That said, my upper reciever came back and I almost could swear it was brand new. Barrel looked great - different gas block for sure and one hell of a great looking BCG - I mean this was different and impressive. Especially impressive at no cost to me and all for a sheared screw. I know some folk rag on them but I find their Customer Support awesome and they do stand behind their product.

[scrambler]

Anyone seen a Failzero cam pin up close and personal with an acceptable round count on it?
Was wondering if their coating held better than the hard chrome as advertised.

Blankwaffe, I'm the gunsmith at FZ. an EXO coated cam pin will not wear like a painted or phos coated part. the coating is nodular structured and will not flake off. instead when mated with an EXO coated carrier, it shows very limited wear. you can see a burnished mark where it makes contact, but even impact does not separate it from the part. we have been an OEM part coating for LWRC rifles since Jan of this year.

[BLACK LION]

Ya know what else I have noticed on my Carbine? ...(get ready for a Master Of The Obvious type statement...) The firing pin retaining pin gets positively Beat To Shit when I run Green Tips through it. I hate it when that happens...

Is this because its a cotter pin type retainer???

I used the KNS perma pin to hopefully negate it getting "beat to sheet"...I was informed that they are closer to the original Stoner design than the cooter pin that is normally used...

[Blankwaffe]

Blankwaffe, I'm the gunsmith at FZ. an EXO coated cam pin will not wear like a painted or phos coated part. the coating is nodular structured and will not flake off. instead when mated with an EXO coated carrier, it shows very limited wear. you can see a burnished mark where it makes contact, but even impact does not separate it from the part. we have been an OEM part coating for LWRC rifles since Jan of this year.

Thanks again for the info scrambler.
Ive been eye balling the Failzero BCG for a couple months now...guess I need to get off the wallet and get one to see for myself instead of asking stupid questions all the time.

Are the cam pins and other individual EXO coated parts available as replacements/spares as well?

[HPLLC]

That's interesting. Given these statistics it is surprising the market isn't glutted with reinforced bolts like the LMT SOPMOD bolt which is thicker at the cam pin hole.