This is my second post today regarding possible damage. Hopefully my luck turns soon. After speaking with Spike’s and getting the return situated, I pulled the lower and upper apart. I walked out of the room to make a quick phone call and left my buddy with the disassembled rifle. I walked in as he was pulling the trigger on the separated lower and resetting it. Not lowering it down. Just pulling the trigger and resetting it. He claims he did it five times. I was decidedly unimpressed. Is there any damage or way to check for damage?
As a side note I’d like to say that I really like this forum. There is plethora of excellent information thats meted out in a no B.S. kinda way as opposed to arfcom. I am sure this is the beginning of a beauitful relationship!
Please post pics asap of your buddies shiner you gave him for being such a dumbass…i might have cried a little bit.
Only thing you can do is visually inspect for hairline cracks on the areas in question like the gent above said…but, more than likely you would know if your dumbass pal broke the lower I would think just by doing a good once over and then a thorough functioning check once assembled with fcg.
Just hit it with the flashlight and if you don’t see any cracks, you’ll be ok. Like I said if you don’t see a noticable crack and your bolt catch still works, you outta be good to go. Most lowers will withstand a couple of hammer drops, but as you know- not recommended.
This is true. I can still endlessly hear that hollow click in my head from mass-weapons cleaning marathons. Uninformed troops do it all the time. Not saying it’s right, but I would not expect your hammer to go flying the next time you pull the trigger either.
Have to agree with the military side on this one also. It’s not something I advocate but I’ve even seen small arms repairmen do it. My second M16 in the Army was an XM16E1 lower (1989). In laymen terms, an experimental M16A1. I’d guess dated to somewhere around 66 or 67 timeframe. Just a guess. But think of all the Soldiers that had handled and done the same thing over 20 years.
As mentioned above, you’re probably alright. Not knowing any better, we used to do this in the Army as well.
It’s a bad practice though. There have been guys who have reported on the various boards that dry-firing without the upper receiver installed, resulted in the hammer striking the bolt catch and cracking or snapping it off, as well as causing damage to the lower receiver material between the FCG pocket and the bolt catch pocket.
Again, a bad habit, one that can possibly cause damage, but it rarely does. Slap your buddy for touching your weapon when he shouldn’t have been.
Your other thread got locked before I could ask if you are shooting reloaded ammunition. The one pic you posted of your bolt seems to show a gas burn ring on your bolt face. This can be cause by reloaded ammo that used a .30 carbine primer instead of the 5.56 primer. The 5.56 primer is thicker and made to withstand the higher pressures of the 5.56 and the .30 carbine primer will allow a lot of blow by which will ruin your bolt.
I know this now because I did it to my varmint gun because I didn’t know any better and the clerk who sold me the primers didn’t know any better either. 500 rounds and it was toast.
You know after you and cpl. of gents above weighed in w. your experimentation days in the Army…makes me think about joining so that I can do all those things I have wondered up over the years…but never tried as a result of not having a big enough pair to try on my personal ARs:D:D
LOL……backing up what “kry226” stated above, the hallways around the Arms Room during weapons mtx, used to echo with the sound of dry-firing separated lowers.
Really wasn’t at the time experimentation of any sort. No one stopped us, or told us anything different, so we had no second thoughts about doing it. In a way, we sort of did it as a means of conducting a half-ass function check of the FCG.
Fast forward to today, I certainly refrain from this practice/habit with my personal weapons.
Supervision is so great. But what happens when the supervisors are not educated. More often than not, even in the world of combat arms, Soldiers and leaders are coming from a background where shooting is not known. Maybe a weekend here or there at Uncle Bernies, but other than “point in a safe direction”, zero training or passing of knowledge/know-how. First thing I ask my trainees when they get to me is do you hunt or shoot on a regular basis. At most, I’d probably say 2 out of my class of 12 say, and eventually can talk it, yes.
I accidentally did this retarted shit myself the other day(one time, not five). I think I was wiping down the silencer filth on my lower and oops. :rolleyes:
“The one pic you posted of your bolt seems to show a gas burn ring on your bolt face. This can be cause by reloaded ammo that used a .30 carbine primer instead of the 5.56 primer. The 5.56 primer is thicker and made to withstand the higher pressures of the 5.56 and the .30 carbine primer will allow a lot of blow by which will ruin your bolt.”
Brick
Are you referring to magnum primers vs standard? or crimped in primers? I have never heard of .30 carbine primers or a 5.56 primer. Please elaborate.
