New rifle, noticed charging handle is creating two grooves on lower from use. How much is too much? More curious than concerned. All the anodizing is worn away and the wear when compared to my other rifles isn’t as bad.
The rifle in question is brand new with just a few hunded through it. When manually cycling the charging handle, you can actually “smell” the friction between the charging handle and lower receiver. Sounds weird.
If they are really deep ugly grooves I would contact the manufacturer. All of mine have worn through the anodizing there, but I have many thousands of rounds through mine. I personally wouldn’t worry about it if it doesn’t hinder the chambering of a round and the rifle functions fine. A pic would help.
ETA: Mine also gives off a weird smell when operating the charging handle and I sometimes wonder where its coming from but don’t worry about it too much. Weird.
Mine wears through the anodizing, I think that is normal. Mine also gives off the weird smell I believe choffman is talking about.
Ok, now that is strange. I’ve noticed mine giving off a smell.
Smells like… VICTORY!
WTF…I have thought I was going crazy at least a cpl. dozen times when catching a whiff of this “smell”.
What is so crazy is how pronounced this “smell” really is:confused:
I only charge my weapon once when shooting. Back when Ronnie Reagan was President the standard S.O.P. in the U.S. ARMY for the AR was to charge once and use the bolt release after mag switches. I’m guessing that the S.O.P. has changed?
i don’t know about SOP… i was in for the end days of clinton and early days of W. im pretty sure we were taught you could do it either way, and not a lot of emphasis was put on one way or another.
seems everyone was teaching to pull the charger a few years ago- reason being that it gave you a little extra runway for stripping and lockup. but it takes more time, requires more manipulation of the weapon, requires pulling the weapon farther from your body, and introduces the risk of a ride-in, which is contrary to the goal of giving it “more.”
as far as wear and smell- keep the weapon well lubed on all contact and wear spots. the wear is normal, but the smell usually only happens when it’s not sufficiently lubed. the smell is just the smell of anodize burning through anodize. whatever the case, it’s not really anything to be concerned about.
Thanks BK. I know that Armed Forces S.O.P. changes quite regularly and I don’t know the current standards. Charging via the handle with the carrier back makes me think of big-time wear on the handle and the upper. I’d think that wear with lots of rounds would be totally normal. Friction will do that.